Flexible working arrangements, wellness programmes, volunteering opportunities, professional development, flexible annual leave allowances, and clear career paths have all become increasingly attractive ingredients of the employee value proposition. The nature of the organisation and its values and behaviours in relation to ESG and other matters have also been growing in importance.
Boards should work with the CEO to ensure the organisation has clear sense of its purpose and mission. That will guide decisions on the position the organisation takes in relation to the social and environmental issues that have an impact on its ability to compete in the recruitment market.
Upskill existing workforce
The rapid pace of technological change and the evolving market landscape means that organisations need to constantly acquire new skillsets in areas such as cybersecurity and AI to survive and remain competitive. Given current labour market constraints, the most effective means of accessing these skills will likely be through investment in upskilling the existing workforce.
To address their skills gaps, organisations should invest in strategic workforce planning and training, including reskilling and upskilling. To do this most effectively, they need to know what their skills requirements are and how best to meet them to support their long-term talent objectives. Boards should work with management to assess the intergenerational needs of the workforce to ensure that employees are upskilled in areas such as technology and sustainability as well as in soft skill areas such as leadership, critical thinking, agility, communication, and teamwork.
Boards should explore with management if the organisation’s workforce model can be updated to access talent from non-traditional sources. Opportunities to be explored include optional continued employment for older employees beyond retirement age on a full-time or part-time basis or as freelance workers, along with gig workers, neurodiverse people, and managed service providers.
Boards should also ask if existing workforce management policies and talent strategies are fit for purpose to accommodate the needs of new employment models.
Questions for boards to consider:
Key actions boards need to take
Boards have a responsibility to advocate for the development of new talent strategies that will enable their organisations to overcome current skills challenges and to grow by acquiring the key competencies required now and in the future. Those strategies need to be monitored and assessed against a range of talent and culture related metrics to ensure they meet their objectives.
Workplace culture should become a standing agenda item for board meetings. While boards may not be able to directly influence the organisation’s culture, they can consider how it might need to change to support long term strategic goals, particularly in the ESG arena.
To help their organisations succeed on the talent agenda boards should:
Summary
An organisation’s ability to compete in today’s marketplace is inextricably linked to its potential to attract and retain skilled talent. Boards have a responsibility to ensure that their organisations have the future-focused talent strategies and employee value propositions in place that will enable them to access the skills needed to meet their goals now and in the future.
