Let’s are honest, the lack of labor is hurting many businesses. Work is being done more expensively; huge unsupportable pay increases are being used to attract workers and yet, some of them still ghost you, leave you or simply cannot do the work at the quality level you and your customers demand. This issue is harming your business growth AND the sustainability of your business. You feel like you’ve tried everything and frustration is everywhere. Your Cost of Goods Sold is increasing primarily due to excessive overtime and increasing wages to compete with your competitors who are doing the same. What more can you do?
There is a solution.
There is no one size fits all solution for all businesses all of the time. To resolve your labor or workforce staffing issues, you must have a process that is right for YOUR business, AND that can be sustained. A quick fix solution, that only puts a bandaid on your current situation, requiring you to have to address it again later is not a viable solution. A strong strategic long term fix will not only set you apart from your competition, but it will also help you dominate the marketplace. It doesn’t rely on gimmicks like “Employer of Choice” or “Best Place to Work” designations, slick advertising campaigns and “fun events” that take time away for important business performance and productivity. Further, a solution should add value; value in performance, productivity, profitability and shareholder value.
It starts simply by understanding your businesses needs. The needs from a Strategic Plan that hopefully you have developed and are using. This plan will tell you what you want to accomplish in the future, where you want your business to go, how you want it to grow and what you want it to be.
The next step is asking yourself the following question – “who is going to execute that strategy and allow the business to accomplish our strategic goals?” I’ll give you the answer; it will be your workforce.
Now you are probably thinking, “I already know that.” Yes, you probably do, but what are you doing about it other than throwing money at the issue in the form of rapidly increasing unsustainable wages, sign-on bonuses and recruiting ads that generate nothing? You need an executable workforce plan and that plan should:
- Align workforce requirements directly to the business’s strategic and tactical business plans
- Define both current workforce needs and future requirements
- Identify skill gaps and develop strategies to fill them
- Develop appropriate measurements to identify workforce success measures and the corresponding alignment of the workforce with organizational needs.
- Identify and change the behaviors that act as barriers to effective workforce strategies and success.
Workforce Planning for your business can not only address the shortage but also make your company more productive and profitable. It is a strategic solution that solves your talent problems now and in the future.
The basic steps to developing and executing a Workforce Plan are:
- Develop a Business Strategic Plan
- Identify the necessary Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Experience, and Behaviors (KSAEB’s) necessary to execute the plan
- Identify the gaps between your current workforce KSAEB’s and the needed ones
- Fill/Correct the gap
- Execute your strategic plan
- Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control the process.
“The most valuable part of your company is the people—the human capital—and any plans to move your business forward have to start there.” – Harvard Business Review
No business can ever achieve its strategic or operational goals without a high performing workforce. Developing an effective results achieving Workforce Plan will help ensure that through the success of your workforce you will achieve success as a business. Taking the strategic approach instead of bandaid throw money at the problem approaches will ensure the long term sustainability of your workforce and move your business into a dominating the market position.
You can learn more about Strategic Workforce Planning, the value it brings, and how you can implement it for your business by downloading our free epub, Strategic Workforce Planning, Planning for Business Success Through a Strong Workforce Strategy.