RFL: Building Your Bench from Unused Parts

(Continued from an article posted on April 8, 2009. Click here to see Part 1.)

Through careful and thoughtful analysis of the skills that are required to carry out your business functions, and the ancillary or unused skills present in your workforce, you can begin to build engagement while operating more efficiently.

During staffing reductions, either by layoffs or attrition, there is often a work gap left behind by the departed employees. That is, when a company lays off one person, it is common that some portion of the work that person performed must still be completed. Customarily, this work is picked up by the remaining employees (see scenario below), adding a sense of increased burden to the insecurity they are already feeling.

Consider this theoretical scenario, and please share your thoughts on how common, or uncommon, this practice is within your company.

10 people can do 100% of the work for a department.

• On average, each person is responsible for 10% of the work.

Staff is reduced by 20%, while production is rolled back by only 10%.

80% of the original staff must now complete 90% of the original work.

• Each person is now responsible for 11.25% of the work- a 12.5% increase.

Normally, there is no bump in pay provided to the remaining workforce.

There is an alternative to this process, however, which can have a splendidly opposite- increasing our employee engagement and sense of security. It's what we call the Auxiliary Workforce Plan (AWP).

Essentially, the AWP provides the roadmap to identify, develop, and utilize untapped skills and talents present within our current workforce. Through this mechanism, we can provide interdepartmental and cross-functional opportunities to our employees, which lead to stronger engagement, and better overall understanding of our business. For the employees, it manifests as professional development, resume building, and increased variety in their day-to-day job activities. This is truly a win/win practice that will provide the greatest benefits when the economy is at its worst.








To be Contnued...

RFL: Developing Your Bench

We are all on the same path...finding ways to do more with less. It is widely known that workforces are becoming leaner and leaner, while most are still faced with maintaining and even growing market share and productivity. It seems like an impossible task: reduce the number of people working for you, and increase your revenue. Unfortunately, as markets have become more crowded and competitive over time, most businesses have routinely been increasing expectations and output of their workforces to drive profits. Because of this well-established culture, economic belt-tightening has proven to be even more difficult than in times past. We ALL ran lean operations BEFORE the economy started its decline.
So where exactly do we go from here?

The first step on the path toward success is to look within. That doesn't mean we need to set up meditation schedules and personal reflection time, though those aren't bad ideas, but rather that we need to figure out just what our companies are made of. Specifically, what skills our workforce is made of. I am willing to stake my reputation on the fact that there are employees working in all our organizations today who have valuable skills that we are completely unaware of. That is, our current employees may present us with the skills we need to operate lean and thrive while other businesses merely survive.

There are numerous studies available that provide statistics on the dollar-value of engaged employees, and the damages caused by bored ones. For access to a number of these reports, visit SHRM, and type "engaged employees" or "bored employees" in their search engine. You'll find volumes of surveys and articles to this point.

The Life Cycle of an Employee, Used With Permission from SHRM

To be continued....

RFL Question of the Moment: Recruitment Advertising When You're Not Hiring

With so many people hopping on the optimism bandwagon that we all hope is taking us to the river of economic recovery later this year, I'm hearing more and more staffing and personnel professionals wanting to develop candidate pools before there are any jobs available. It got me thinking about the ethics and best practices around this issue.

What do you think?

Does your company advertise job openings even when they're not available? If so, why?


What do you think of this practice?