Critical Skills Shortage : What 's The Risk?

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Critical skills shortage
What’s the risk?
Not having the right people in place ?with the skills you need to compete, ?innovate or grow can seriously hamper ?an organisation’s future.
“Look at how many companies want to grow in emerging markets,” says Conference Board’s Mary Young. “Their biggest concern is not finding the right people.”
Industries with an ageing workforce – such as oil and gas where it is predicted that 50% of the workforce will be retiring by 2015 – have even more to worry about.
Why should HR care?
As Young says: “These are things HR does all day. It’s your bread and butter.” HR probably already looks at workforce planning in terms of risk management, but now you need to translate that to the rest of the organisation.
What to do now:
Collect data and analysis that builds ?a compelling case for adding this to ?the enterprise risk map. Concentrate ?on getting it on the business’s agenda ?if it’s not there already.

Succession planning
What’s the risk?
As HR magazine explored a few ?months ago, only 32% of companies actually have a full CEO succession ?plan in place (according to SHL). ?With 43% of UK companies ?admitting to having experienced ?an unexpected change in leadership ?in the last 12 months, that’s a pretty ?big risk. Not having a future leadership plan in place can cause share prices to plummet and even leave organisations ?at risk of hostile takeover if a CEO ?leaves unexpectedly.
Why should HR care?
HR plays a critical role in leadership development and should be investing time and money in the leadership pipeline of the future. Getting involved with CEO and senior-role succession planning can also mitigate the occasional ‘old boys club’ mentality of the C-Suite.
What to do now:
“When it comes to...

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...revealed some of its products were being built by employees working in slave-labour conditions?
Why should HR care?
As Skanska’s Francis says: “No longer can companies get away with what they could – everything happens in real-time on Twitter now.” So any scandal can translate into major reputational damage, which could impact on engagement, retention and attraction of talent. Plus, any issues involving outsourcing of labour will come back to HR.
What to do now:
The Staff Wanted Initiative, a project led by the Institute for Human Rights and Business and Anti-Slavery International, advises using the SEE formula. SEE stands for scrutinise, engage, ensure. Scrutinise and monitor relationships with staff, recruitment and employment agencies; engage with the workforce to uncover any potential issues; ensure you provide ?a fit and proper workplace, whatever the location.

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