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Hybrid working: organisational development
Hybrid working: organisational development

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8.1 Developing your workforce

As we came out of the pandemic there was a focus on the ‘great resignation’ and the impact this has for organisations, such as considering how you retain existing staff or attract new staff when the demand is greater than supply.

Where competitive salaries, which can be challenging for public sector HEIs, cannot be offered, the focus on the employee experience, the culture and opportunities within the organisation become more important. How these are communicated and implemented requires a commitment to change, not just in the way an organisation operates, but also in its polices and processes. In the video contributors Jessica Leigh Jones, Elise Lockyer and Jacob Morgan provide insights into developing your workforce and the employee experience.

Download this video clip.Video player: hyb_1_2022_sept128_creating_a_good_employee_experience_compressed.mp4
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Activity 24: What are workers hopes and fears for new ways of working?

Timing: 10 minutes

Read the following article from the Guardian, and the PwC summary of their Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022 and think about the video above. Consider why people leave an organisation, whether generational expectations are different, and how might your organisation be better equipped to retain staff?

Turns out the Great Resignation may be followed by the Great Regret [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022

While retaining staff is important, organisations also need to consider how to attract staff, and what skills and experience they want to bring into an organisation. The workforce is continually evolving as new opportunities open, so organisations have the dual challenges of retention and skills gaps. Often it is the most valuable employees who will seek new opportunities.

Ensuring that strategies for recruitment consider the new environments and needs of the organisations allows for more effective planning and efficient recruitment. Those involved in recruitment need to develop the skills to not only attract the right people, but where salary expectations cannot be met, have innovative strategies around reward, reputation and opportunities to ensure their organisation is an attractive offer. The recruitment process should be a positive one for all involved, and recruiters need to ensure that the capabilities and competencies are met by designing clear and effective job descriptions, selling the organisation and considering new approaches for assessing potential candidates.

Internal recruiters who may not be specialist in certain fields need to work collaboratively with specialist units within their organisation to understand the needs and requirements, and to consider their competitors, especially where salaries are not as attractive as other organisations.

Continual workforce planning and strategy needs to become a priority; the CIPD workforce planning process, shown in the diagram below, provides the steps that should be taken. Collating the right data and information to understand the organisation and its environment is critical. Data will ensure that you can effectively analyse your organisation’s workforce to determine what your actual needs are.

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Figure 30: CIPD workforce planning process

Activity 25: Understand your workforce planning

Timing: 20 minutes

How your organisation approaches work planning will differ. In the video below contributors share insights about approaching recruitment and retention of the workforce.

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Reviewing your recruitment process and who is involved is important for ensuring that you have the capability and skills in order to be successful for the future.

Research your organisation’s approach to workforce planning, and if you have been involved in recruitment, reflect on your own experience. Reflecting on the video and your research consider what you might do different in the future.