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BSBMGT520_Learning-Resource_Handout1.pdf
Handout
BSBMGT520 Plan and manage the flexible
workforce
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Disclaimer:
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CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Plan workforce requirements ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Definitions .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Workforce planning ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Documenting your workforce plan ...................................................................................................................... 13
Scope workforce requirements ................................................................................................................................ 14
Assess demand and capability requirements ........................................................................................................... 23
Key questions: Current demand .......................................................................................................................... 25
Segmenting the workforce ................................................................................................................................... 26
Strategic talent segmentation model ................................................................................................................... 29
Identify mix of labour engagement options ............................................................................................................. 30
Issues impacting on the flexible workforce .............................................................................................................. 35
Engage flexible workforce ............................................................................................................................................ 39
Implement flexible work arrangements ................................................................................................................... 39
Team structures ....................................................................................................................................................... 43
Organisational structures ..................................................................................................................................... 43
D i vi si o n a l : P r o d u ct -B a sed O r g S t r u c tu r e ...................................................................................................... 44
Types of team structures ..................................................................................................................................... 49
Facilitate the flexible team using technologies ........................................................................................................ 51
Monitor, review and adjust flexible workforce arrangements ............................................................................. 54
Support the flexible workforce ................................................................................................................................. 56
Consultative/Participative approach .................................................................................................................... 56
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Coaching support ................................................................................................................................................. 58
Integration ............................................................................................................................................................... 61
Prevent discrimination against the flexible workforce ............................................................................................. 61
Align flexible workforce arrangements to organisational requirements ...................................................................... 62
Corporate knowledge............................................................................................................................................... 62
Intellectual property ................................................................................................................................................ 65
Organisational culture .............................................................................................................................................. 66
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Introduction
A flexible workforce is one that grows in number to meet needs at any given time and falls back to a
baseline number when the increased size is no longer necessary. That capacity is enabled by keeping the
number of full-time employees to a minimum and hiring temporary, part-time, freelance and contract
workers when required to meet demands.
For the employer, the major benefit of the flexible workforce is lower payroll and other employee-
related costs. Another positive aspect is the ability to select talent from a pool of available workers
whose skill sets match those required for a given project. The hirer might also be able to afford a high-
level expert on a short contract who would be too expensive to have on staff. On the other hand, it can
be difficult to access talent with specific expertise when needed, and the business runs the risk of being
caught out in emergencies.
From the worker’s perspective, temporary or part-time employment is part and parcel of the
ongoing trend to a gig economy. Ideally, the model is powered by independent workers selecting jobs
that they're interested in, rather than one in which people are forced into a position where, unable to
attain employment, they pick up whatever temporary gigs they can land.
Source: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/flexible-workforce
In today’s workplace, many organisations are looking towards utilising a more flexible workforce to carry
them through ever increasing demands more effectively. The savings can be considerable: lower fixed
employment costs, a reduction in overtime, and less absenteeism caused by stress claims and burnout;
all important considerations when people are being called upon to achieve more with less.
A flexible workplace might involve a percentage of casual or temporary staff employed to assist with a
certain project. It might also include flexible start and end times or the option of working from home or
other remote locations. The point is that flexibility would provide options that would suit both the
worker and the workplace.
"Flexibility is about an employee and an employer making changes to when, where and how a person will
work to better meet individual and business needs. Flexibility enables both individual and business needs
to be met through making changes to the time (when), location (where) and manner (how) in which an
employee works. Flexibility should be mutually beneficial to both the employer and employee and result
in superior outcomes.”(extracted from the Sloan Center for aging and work, Boston MA USA 2014)
A flexible workforce can have both economical and social benefits. Many workers who choose to
remain casual find they have more time to balance work with family; which is important when many
couples are forced to earn two incomes. This flexibility often has a direct impact on engagement,
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turnover, and stress claims for the organisation, while providing a better fit between work and personal
life for the employees. It also better supports the differing needs of the three prominent generations
currently in the workforce.
While the benefits to a flexible workforce are undeniable, there are risks. Focus may need to shift from
procedures and policies to outcomes and achievements, and the flexible workforce needs to be self-
motivated. Those that need constant direction may not survive and organisations that are not willing to
make some adjustments to the way they do things may not cope. Performance management is crucial
and handled on an ongoing basis as required rather than an annual event.
Regardless of how we define flexibility, the importance will only increase with time. Each year more
Baby Boomers are leaving the workplace or cutting back on hours, Generation X are looking for better
ways to juggle parenthood, and millennials are shopping for the best organisational fit. Introducing a
degree of flexibility to your workplace will help attract and hold the achievers … and who can afford to
let them go elsewhere?
Source: http://www.onqhr.com.au/Employers/HRNewsletter/flexible_workforce
Plan workforce requirements The first step when planning for the flexible workforce is to establish workforce requirements.
Definitions Capability
The measure of an individual’s ability to achieve the tasks and objectives of their role through the
application of skills, knowledge and attributes.
Critical job roles
May be different for each organisation and may include a mix of senior and junior level roles. They are
roles that: are key, or may become key to the functions of the organisation have had a high number of
vacancies and/or vacancies that have been difficult to fill due to labour market tensions have an impact
on the organisation’s business outcomes if left vacant require a long lead time to develop the required
skills have the largest number of staff (that is, critical mass) have niche or specialised skills that have
little redundancy within the organisation.
Employment type
Way in which a worker is employed—for example, ongoing, non-ongoing, non-ongoing intermittent,
part time, full time, contractor, consultant.
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Job capability set
Skills, capabilities, qualifications and other attributes required for a particular job family, function or role
(depending on the level of detail of workforce segmentation).
Job family
First tier in a hierarchy of job segmentation within a workforce. The purpose is to split the workforce
into logical and practical segments to allow for deeper workforce analysis. A job family is a grouping of
similar jobs at the highest level that usually consists of several job functions. For example, a possible job
family might be ‘Administration, facilities and property’.
Job function
Second tier in a hierarchy of job segmentation within a workforce. A job function is a subgroup of jobs
within a job family that require similar skills, capabilities and knowledge. For example, one job function
within the job family of ‘Administration, facilities and property’ might be ‘Executive assistants,
secretaries and receptionists’.
Job role
Third tier in a hierarchy of job segmentation within a workforce. A job role is a subgroup of jobs within a
job function that allows for further refining and grouping of required skills, capabilities and knowledge.
For example, a job role within the job function of ‘Executive assistants, secretaries and receptionists’ (in
the ‘Administration, facilities and property’ job family) might be ‘Personal/Executive assistants’.
Organisation
Entity for which your workforce plan applies to. It may refer to a department, agency, division, branch,
section or unit.
People plan/strategy, strategic
Usually covers a three to five-year time horizon, with many organisations focusing on a four-year time
horizon aligned to an agency or department-wide strategic workforce plan. It sets the strategies that will
enable the transition of the workforce from its current state to that required to meet the challenges of
the future. For example, what the organisation needs in a recruitment or branding policy or an
occupational health, safety and wellbeing policy. Strategic people plans and strategies are ideally
informed by a strategic workforce plan.
Qualitative
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Involving or relating to distinctions based on quality or qualities. Distinguished by a description in words
rather than in numbers.
Scenario
Description of a sequence of events, or situation, based on certain assumptions and factors (variables).
Scenarios are used in estimating the probable effects of one or more variables, and are an integral part
of situation analysis and long-range planning. Definition adapted from
<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/scenario.html>.
Scenario planning
Method that helps your organisation understand the possible and plausible future business directions
and scenarios that may eventuate so as to make flexible long-term plans and identify possible
contingency plans.
Skill
An ability, acquired through deliberate, systematic and sustained effort, through training and/or
experience, to perform tasks within a role that require specific cognitive, technical and/or interpersonal
skills.
Workforce affordability
The number of people—in full-time equivalent (FTE)—an organisation can afford, who have the
requisite skills and capabilities to deliver business outcomes.
Workforce capability
What the workforce can do. It refers to the skills and knowledge of the workforce, including elements
such as its ability to be innovative. Workforce capability can be used to describe what is in existence,
including latent capability (that is, capability not currently being used), what is predicted may be
required in the future and any gap between the two.
Workforce capacity
How much the workforce can do. Refers to the ‘availability’ of the workforce to do work, for instance
the absolute numbers of staff available with the necessary skill sets (including their level of the skills)
and other elements such as levels of absenteeism (or presenteeism).When used to describe the
absolute numbers of staff, the element of employment type (for example, ongoing, non-ongoing, full
time, part time) also needs to be considered.The dimension of workforce capacity can be used to
describe what is in existence, what may be required in the future and any gap between the two.
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The other component of workforce capacity is the workforce’s ‘performance’, which includes elements
such as staff engagement, motivation and discretionary effort.
Workforce demand
The workforce an organisation needs to perform its functions and achieve its business objectives, now
and into the future. Workforce demand is defined in terms of workforce capability, workforce capacity
and the alignment of the workforce to the functional business delivery of the organisation (structure).
Workforce management plan (immediate issues)
Deals with immediate and specific workforce issues (such as restructure, conclusion of a significant
project or a recruitment campaign for specific skills) and identifies actionable strategies for managing
the workforce issues. An organisation may have a number of workforce management plans if it’s
dispersed across a number of geographic locations or business areas.
Workforce plan
Document you produce to capture the key factors you’ve considered in developing the strategies and
initiatives to mitigate your workforce risks. Throughout this guide, the term is used broadly to describe
either a single workforce plan or multiple workforce plans—strategic workforce plan(s), operational
workforce plan(s) and/or workforce management plan(s)—depending on the needs of your
organisation.
Workforce plan, operational (12 to 18 months)
Usually covers the next 12 to 18 months and identifies actionable strategies to address a specific
workforce gap in the short to medium term.
Workforce plan, strategic (three-plus years)
Usually covers a three to five-year time horizon, with many organisations focusing on a four-year time
horizon aligned to Portfolio Budget Statements. However, if the lead time to fill critical job roles is longer
than three to four years, the forecast period may need to extend beyond this. Seeks to address high-
level trends and developments that will affect the availability of the workforce required to deliver
organisational outcomes. A suite of actionable strategies will be articulated to mitigate the workforce
risks identified.
Workforce planning
A continuous business planning process of shaping and structuring the workforce to ensure there is
sufficient and sustainable capability and capacity to deliver organisational objectives, now and in the
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future. To be effective, workforce planning needs to be integrated into an agency or department’s
strategic planning framework and incorporate strong governance mechanisms so it can be used to
clearly identify the human resource (HR) strategies required to continuously deliver the right people—
that is, those with the skills and capabilities necessary for the required work—in the right numbers, in
the right place, at the right time.
Workforce profile
Summary of workforce demographics that provides a snapshot view of the workforce.
Workforce segment
A specific job family, job function or job role within your organisation.
Workforce supply, external
Anyone who does not work for your organisation but could do so, now or in the future. External
workforce supply is used to reconcile demand and supply if internal workforce supply is not sufficient
and/or cannot be developed to meet demand. Supply is defined in terms of skills, capabilities and
numbers.
Workforce supply, internal
Everyone in the current workforce. It should also consider future movements in and out of the
workforce. This includes full time, part time, casual and contracted employees who are working for or
supplying services to the agency or department. Supply is defined in terms of skills, capabilities and
numbers.
Source: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/workforce-planning-
guide/workforce-planning-explained
Workforce planning Workforce planning is a business-driven and business-owned process. It’s about knowing your
organisation’s business and using this knowledge to position your organisation’s workforce to best
deliver your business outcomes and manage workforce-related risks.
Workforce planning is a process of identifying the workforce capacity and capability your organisation
needs to meet its objectives, now and into the future. It aims to ensure that the right people—those
with the skills and capabilities necessary for the work—are available in the right numbers, in the right
employment types, in the right place and at the right time to deliver your business outcomes. Focusing
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on the number of employees alone does not tell you about your organisation’s ability to achieve its
organisational goals and outcomes.
Figure 1 is an overview of the workforce planning process.
Figure 1: overview of the workforce planning process
Workforce planning needs to be incorporated into your organisation’s business and financial planning
processes. It also needs to be informed by strategic and business plans at your agency or department
level and your organisational level.
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Human Resources (HR) strategies, in turn, should be informed by workforce planning to ensure they are
correctly prioritised and respond to current and future workforce issues. The arrows in Figure 3 depict
the flow of information between the planning activities.
Figure 2: relationship between business planning, workforce planning and HR strategies
Workforce planning is a business planning tool that improves your knowledge of your organisation’s
business and funding framework to position your workforce to best deliver your business outcomes and
manage workforce-related risks. Workforce risks may manifest in different shapes and forms within an
organisation and are highly dependent on the agency or department’s business, internal demographics
and the locations where business is being delivered. Workforce planning identifies the HR strategies
required to mitigate workforce risks and deliver optimum business outcomes within available funding.
The key questions to undertake workforce planning are presented in table 1:
Workforce
planning
terminology
Underpinning key workforce planning questions
Future workforce
demand
1. What outcomes does your organisation need to deliver now and over the next one, two,
three and four-plus years?
2. How will your funding change over the next one, two, three and four-plus years?
3. What does your organisation need from its workforce, in terms of numbers and skills and
capabilities, to deliver its outcomes now and over the next one, two, three and four-plus
years?
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Workforce
planning
terminology
Underpinning key workforce planning questions
4. Where and when does your workforce need to be located to deliver these outcomes,
now and over the next one, two, three and four-plus years?
5. At what points in time are segments of your workforce needed (for example, yearly,
seasonally, peak times) for business delivery?
6. What internal and external factors will impact on future workforce demand?
7. What are the likely business scenarios your organisation could face that could have
implications for workforce demand?
Current internal
workforce supply
8. What does your organisation currently ‘own’ in terms of employee numbers, skills and
capabilities (noting that employees may have extra skills and capabilities in addition to
those required by their current position)?
Future internal
workforce supply
9. What are the forecast workforce capacity and capability shortages based on your
organisation’s current workforce profile (age, tenure, separations, retirements), and
where are they (in which job family, job function, division, branch, business unit etc.)?
External
workforce supply
10. What is the availability of the requisite job roles, skills and capabilities in the labour
market (taking into consideration the points in time they are needed)?
Gap analysis 11. What are the gaps between what you need and what you have, now and in the future?
Workforce
planning
strategies
12. Can you close these gaps by using your employees differently (for example, job redesign,
restructure, redeployment)?
13. Can you train existing staff in line with the changed skill requirements?
14. Can you build partnerships with other agencies or departments to share resources?
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Workforce
planning
terminology
Underpinning key workforce planning questions
15. Can you close these gaps from outside the APS and how can you best do this (how do
you attract and recruit new people)?
16. What is best practice in addressing these gaps?
In general, there are three types of workforce plan:
• strategic workforce plan
• operational workforce plan
• workforce management plan
The methodology is the same regardless of the type of plan; it is the forecast period covered by the plan
and the level of detail required to adequately respond to workforce related risks that differs from plan
to plan.
The guide focuses on workforce planning methodology, rather than a type of workforce plan. Depending
on the complexity of your organisation and your chosen approach to workforce planning, you may have
one workforce plan that focuses on the strategic direction of your whole organisation, or you may have
several workforce plans covering different forecast periods for different divisions, branches or business
units.
Strategic workforce plan (three-plus year outlook)
A strategic workforce plan usually covers a three to five-year forecast period, with many organisations
focusing on a four-year period aligned to Portfolio Budget Statements. However, if the lead time to fill
critical job roles is longer than three to four years, the forecast period may need to extend beyond this.
A strategic workforce plan seeks to address high-level trends and developments that will affect the
workforce by identifying actionable strategies. It indicatively describes the future workforce capability
and capacity requirements to deliver against your organisation’s strategic plan. Employee numbers by
job role or job capability set would be aggregated to total numbers required a year, giving a high-level
overview of the workforce you require.
A strategic workforce plan would ideally inform a people plan or strategy, which articulates what your
current workforce capability is, what it needs to be and how it will be achieved.
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Operational workforce plan (12 to 18-month outlook)
An operational workforce plan usually covers the next 12 to 18 months and should align with the
timeframe of your organisation’s business planning cycle. It identifies actionable strategies to address a
specific workforce gap in the short to medium term, and describes the workforce capability and capacity
requirements to deliver against your organisation’s business plan.
An operational workforce plan is a more detailed plan and may define workforce needs by month or
quarter depending on the nature of your organisation and the level of monitoring required. Despite its
shorter-term focus, you need to look further into the future (at strategic-level horizon) to understand
where your organisation is headed.
Workforce management plan (immediate issues)
A workforce management plan deals with immediate and specific workforce issues (such as impending
restructure, the conclusion of a significant project or the addition of a new business line) and identifies
actionable strategies for managing these.
Your organisation may have a number of workforce management plans, depending on the complexity of
your business or if your workforce is dispersed across locations.
Documenting your workforce plan
Generally, your workforce plan should summarise the information you have considered, which should
include:
• the type of plan and the level of organisation it covers
• a description of the demand analysis, including the:
o future business direction of your organisation
o scenario(s) considered along with workforce affordability
o workforce capacity and capability required to deliver the business outcomes.
• a description of the internal current and future supply analysis , including:
o a workforce profile outlining noteworthy workforce trends (for example, workforce ageing,
gender imbalance, high tenure and separation rates)
o employee survey data (if available)
o skills and capabilities profiles.
• a description of the external current and future supply analysis that includes an assessment of the
availability of the skills and capabilities your organisation requires
• a gap analysis of demand and supply, that draws attention to:
o critical job role issues
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o significant skills and capabilities gaps
o forecast workforce deficits or surpluses
o high turnover and/or retirements in key roles
o key workforce risks and options to mitigate the risks.
o A clear articulation of the workforce strategies you need to implement to mitigate the risks
identified in the gap analysis
Source: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/workforce-
planning-guide/workforce-planning-explained
Scope workforce requirements
Before you start to scope your workforce requirements you should consider who to consult and what
documents to review.
Table 2 helps you with assessing your workforce planning readiness:
Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
Strategic and business planning
Do you have a
strategic/corporate
plan?
Use your strategic
plan, in conjunction
with other
documents, to
determine the future
workforce demand of
your organisation.
Without a strategic
plan, it will be more
difficult to obtain a
cohesive perspective of
future workforce
demand.
You might consider using structured
questioning (structured interview
technique) with key business managers,
to get a sense of future workforce
demand.
However, a recommendation flowing
from the development of your workforce
plan might be to develop a strategic plan
as a next step.
Do you have any
business and/or
Use your business
plan to understand
Without a business plan
(especially if no
You might again consider using
structured questioning (structured
interview technique) with key business
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
organisational
plans?
where your
organisation is
headed (particularly
in the shorter term),
to determine your
workforce needs.
strategic plan exists),
you will find it difficult
to determine future
workforce needs. This
will result in less
confidence in the
accuracy of your
workforce plan.
managers to get a sense of future
workforce demand.
However, a recommendation flowing
from the development of your workforce
plan might be to develop business plans
as a next step.
Is workforce
planning part of
your business and
financial planning
process?
Make sure you
understand the
timings and
dependencies of
workforce planning
within the business
and financial
planning processes of
your organisation.
Identify who is
responsible for the
business and financial
planning processes and
clarify how best to align
workforce planning
with the business and
financial planning cycle.
Identify time points in a financial year to
have strategic workforce conversations.
Workforce planning
Do you have a
workforce plan?
Review your plan
thoroughly,
understand how it
can be improved
(what works and
what doesn’t), and
take the opportunity
The workforce plan
you’re about to develop
will be a first iteration
and you will benefit
from keeping it
relatively simple.
You may find that your first workforce
plan is based almost entirely on
qualitative information, making the gap
analysis relative rather than exact (words
and trends rather than precise
numbers).
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
to mature your plan
further.
However, a recommendation flowing
from the development of your first
workforce plan might be to develop the
data required as a next step.
Is your workforce
plan regularly
consulted (that is,
is it being used as
a basis for your
workforce
policies)?
Talk to those who
use the plan to
obtain an
understanding of
whether it is
effective and how it
could be improved.
Find out why the
workforce plan is not
being used. Is it
unrealistic? Is it not
applicable? Is it hard to
understand? Are
managers unaware of
its existence?
Use this information to
improve the next
iteration of your
workforce plan.
Ensure that your workforce plan and
recommended HR strategies are clearly
aligned to business outcomes, to ensure
it is relevant to the Executive and line
managers.
Were key
stakeholders
consulted for your
workforce plan?
Obtain a list of the
key stakeholders
consulted in the
previous process and
revise the list as
needed.
A lack of stakeholder
consultation can result
in low buy-in and low
relevance of your
workforce plan.
Ensure that business representatives are
directly involved in the development of
your workforce plan as this helps gain
their ownership of workforce planning as
a business planning tool.
Is there executive
support to
undertake
Even if you have
executive buy-in, you
should still actively
Workforce planning will
be more difficult and
You will need to build a business case for
workforce planning.
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
workforce
planning?
engage stakeholders
down the line so they
retain the sense of
ownership of the
plan. An imperative
to comply does not
necessarily equate to
engagement.
less complete without
executive buy-in.
Do the skills and
capabilities
needed for
workforce
planning exist in
your organisation?
Make sure the
employees with
these skills and
capabilities are
available for
workforce planning.
Can the skills and
capabilities be
developed in-house?
If not, can you
collaborate with other
areas of the
organisation, to access
shared skills and
capabilities?
You will need to source employees with:
• knowledge of organisational
processes
• knowledge of organisational
business outcomes
• analytical skills
• project management skills
• relationship management skills
• knowledge of HR policy.
Workforce planning elements
Is your workforce
currently divided
into job families,
job functions, job
roles or similar?
If job families are
widely accepted,
they will provide a
good foundation for
workforce planning.
You can still undertake
workforce planning
using a qualitative
approach, by identifying
broad skills required to
deliver business
outcomes, such as:
For the first iteration of your workforce
plan, consider using a simple job family
structure. However, the less detailed the
job family structure, the less detailed
and precise the HR strategies will be in
your workforce plan.
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
If they aren’t, find
out why.
If it’s due to lack of
communication,
create a document to
communicate the
segmentation
structure within your
organisation.
If it’s due to
inappropriate
segmentation, revise
the segmentation
structure or use a
simpler one.
• project
management
• procurement
and
contracting
• supply chain
logistics
• business
analysis.
However, your ability to
identify workforce risks
and appropriate
mitigation strategies
will be difficult.
In your
organisation, do
you have the
knowledge
necessary to
attach numbers
(full-time
equivalent (FTE)
and/or headcount)
to specific job
If this holds true for
current demand and
supply as well as
future demand and
supply, you will be
able to express your
workforce gaps in
terms of numbers
(quantitatively).
You won’t be able to
produce a workforce
plan that puts reliable
numbers against
workforce gaps and
tells you exactly how
many people to recruit
and when.
You might consider:
• using numbers drawn from
qualitative questions asked of
business representatives
• evaluating your supply,
demand and gaps qualitatively,
and using comparative words
such as high, medium, low,
increase and decrease.
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
families, job
functions, job
roles or similar?
Do you
understand the
changing
environment and
how it impacts on
your workforce
(that is, changing
technology,
government
priorities,
changing
legislation)?
This information will
form the basis for
your future
workforce demand
forecasting.
You will have difficulty
forming a basis for your
future workforce
demand forecasting.
You might consider a structured
questioning (structured interview
technique) approach to consult
managers who have an understanding of
this, noting that the less certain the
information, the less accurate the
forecast.
Data collection
Is standard
workforce
demographic and
trend information
regularly collected
in your
organisation?
Make sure you know
who to obtain this
data from. It is also
important you
understand exactly
what data is available
and what isn’t.
Demographic
information will give
you an interesting
insight into your
workforce, while trend
information will help
you understand your
future workforce
supply.
There are a number of data sources that
might assist you to establish trend data,
such as:
• your HR Information System
• national workforce trend
analysis
Some data sets you need to focus on are:
• retirements
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Question Yes No Ideas if answer is No
Trend information is
considered more
important to workforce
planning.
• resignations
• recruitment
• length of service.
Is there are a
regular skills and
capabilities audit
in your
organisation?
Workforce supply
should be defined in
terms of these skills
and capabilities, and
the audit will form
the basis for
analysing your
current workforce
supply.
You will have difficulty
defining and analysing
your current workforce
supply in terms of skills
and capabilities using a
quantitative approach.
You can still develop a workforce plan
using a qualitative approach.
However, a recommendation flowing
from the development of your first
workforce plan might be to undertake a
skills and capabilities audit as a next
step.
The initial implementation of workforce planning should be planned and undertaken as a project.
Following implementation, your workforce planning should become part of the normal business and
financial planning process. However, it will require ongoing planning to support the review and
maintenance of the plan, to ensure continued alignment of the plan to the delivery of a workforce to
support business outcomes. The key to successful workforce planning is to be clear from the onset
about the following:
• objective
• resources required (people, systems, travel and budget)
• mix of labour engagement options
• scope of the workforce planning activity
• time frame it will take to implement the workforce plan
• stakeholder engagement
• risks.
Objective
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In one or two sentences, you should be able to state the objective of workforce planning in your
organisation. The objective should answer the question: ‘What do you want workforce planning to
achieve in your organisation?’
Resources (people, systems and budget)
Your resource needs will depend on the size and level of your organisation. They will also depend on
your organisation’s readiness to undertake workforce planning. For example, if your organisation is not
collecting workforce data and doesn’t have a skills and capabilities audit, extra resources may be
required. Once you’ve determined your resource needs, you will need to assess how to obtain these
resources.
Mix of labour engagement options
Your workforce options (example: casual, contract, virtual) within industry and enterprise legislation,
regulation and policy.
Scope
Workforce planning can vary in its scope so you need to understand this at the start. You need to
determine two aspects of scope:
• organisational level
This refers to the level within the organisational structure (that is, whether the workforce plan is being developed at unit, section, branch, division, group, or agency or department level). At this stage, you probably already have a level in mind, you need to ask yourself if you should consider other departments in your planning.
• workforce segments
A workforce segment can refer to a specific job family, job function or job role within your organisation. Ideally, the total workforce should be analysed, as analysing only some segments won’t paint a complete picture of your workforce. If you’re only focusing on one element of the workforce, bottlenecks may occur elsewhere in which case solving problems for one element won’t have the desired impact. Also, by not considering other complementary elements of the workforce, you may not understand the impact of your resultant workforce plan on them or how they may affect your workforce plan.
Time frame
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The forecast period covered by the workforce plan, and the level of granularity by which you will describe and segment your workforce will determine the length of time required to develop the plan and the project implementation time frame. The ideal forecast period for your workforce plan will depend on your organisation and you should specify a forecast period that is appropriate for your workforce planning purposes.
Stakeholder engagement
Effective stakeholder engagement is key to the success of workforce planning. This means involving stakeholders from the start, managing their expectations and understanding what you wish to achieve through consultations.
There are three levels of stakeholder consultation:
• awareness—for example, simply imparting information • involvement—for example, to influence the stakeholders’ thinking and actions, such as to get
buy-in to pre-empt adverse reactions • commitment—for example, targeting stakeholders to achieve their full cooperation and obtain
their input and contribution into the planning process.
Who you need to consult will depend on the size and level of your organisation. All employees should be made aware of the workforce planning process, its objective, forecast period and how it will affect their day-to-day work. Consulting employees and keeping them informed is also important because the workforce plan will affect them, and some may think that workforce planning will lead to downsizing and employees being laid off. Managers and employees who are required to provide input into the process should be engaged more so they understand the process and can provide you with honest and timely information.
Risks
You will need to identify the project risks associated with undertaking workforce planning and develop strategies to mitigate these risks. The risk assessment document should be consulted throughout the workforce planning process and changes recorded and mitigation strategies updated. You should consider social, industrial, training and performance.
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Assess demand and capability requirements
Demand analysis must consider current and future workforce requirements. Consulting managers should give you a good understanding of current demand, but a wider environmental scan combined with more consultation will be required to forecast future demand.
The key to demand analysis is adequately answering the following questions:
• What does your organisation need from its workforce—capacity and capability—to deliver its business outcomes now and into the future?
• Where does your organisation need its workforce to be located? • At what time points is the workforce is needed?
Consult:
• Documents Demand analysis must consider current and future workforce requirements. Consulting managers should give you a good understanding of current demand, but a wider environmental scan combined with more consultation will be required to forecast future demand.
• Executives, Managers
Demand analysis is about understanding the future business direction of your organisation and what its
workforce needs are so it can deliver against its goals. Your workforce needs should be defined in line
the workforce segmentation.
Researching the strategic direction of your organisation will help provide the context for workforce
planning and, in particular, demand analysis. Annual reports will provide information on your
organisation’s past activities, while budget papers, strategic plans and business plans will reveal where
you’re headed. The portfolio budget statement will provide the future funding framework for the
current year and the three out years, which will give you insight into the workforce funding constraints
and workforce affordability your organisation needs to consider in its future planning.
Understanding your organisation also involves talking to the people who set the vision for and plan for
your organisation’s future. Example strategic business questions are provided in the key questions under
‘Current demand’.
If your organisation is further progressed with workforce planning you may be able to express workforce
demand in detail, in quantitative and qualitative terms. Organisations in the initial stages of
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implementing workforce planning may only be able to express workforce demand qualitatively, in
general terms.
Current demand
Note: in this unit, we will mainly deal with current demand.
To assess current workforce demand, you must understand your organisation’s core business and what
its outcomes and outputs are. In some instances, this might be hard to clearly identify, particularly for
enabling roles, and this is acceptable. Outputs can, in turn, be linked to job functions or job roles,
providing you with the link between the business outcomes and outputs and workforce demand.
By consulting with line managers, you should obtain an understanding of your current workforce
demand, which will enable you to populate a demand analysis table. In its simplest form, current
demand is sometimes easiest to determine by adding together the employees you have and your
funded employee shortages (as justified by line managers) and commensurate skills and capabilities
required. However, this may be a lost opportunity to validate current workforce requirements against
operational objectives.
You can use Table 3 to help you define the workforce segments within your organisation and outline the
job capability requirements for each segment. Workforce segments should draw upon the job families,
job functions and job roles. This template will provide the link between your workforce demand and
workforce supply (defined in terms of skills and capabilities). You can use this template to communicate
your workforce breakdown to employees and other stakeholders. Depending on your organisation, you
may choose to add other columns to the table.
Job family Job function Job capability requirements
Outputs to be delivered Essential skills,
capabilities and
characteristics
Desirable skills,
capabilities and
characteristics
Source: APS workforce template
Figure 3 provides an example of job family model.
Figure 3
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Source: http://hrweb.mit.edu/compensation/job-evaluations/job-families
Key questions: Current demand
• What is your organisation required to deliver in terms of outcomes, outputs and services? • Are you delivering all of these outcomes, outputs and services on time and within budget? • If not, is this because you lack specific capabilities? What are these capabilities? What is
the funded full-time equivalent? Is it sufficient? Note: Additional demand should be well justified so it’s clear it’s a genuine need, not just a way of reducing workload. Below are some questions you could ask to justify additional demand:
o What are the potential budget constraints to obtaining these? o Can this additional workforce demand be reduced by changing the workplace
infrastructure (for example, business processes or Information Technology support systems)?
o Can this additional workforce demand be reduced by changing the workplace structure?
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o Are there functions you consider should be discontinued and are there new functions you should be creating?
o Are your current jobs correctly designed? What new skill sets and/or job roles are important to achieve business success? What skills deficits are evident today?
o If you had the opportunity to set up your business area from scratch, how would you structure it? How many people, in what job roles, at what levels, in which locations, and with what capabilities? (zero-based demand)
At the end of this process, you should be able to present a picture, either in words or a combination of
words and numbers that adequately describes your current workforce needs.
Source: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/workforce-planning-
guide/demand-analysis
Segmenting the workforce Workforce planning enables you to identify current and potential future gaps in the workforce and
devise strategies to address them. Workforce segmentation enables you to be more specific in
identifying workforce gaps and, as a result, better target strategies to address these gaps.
Your organisation must accept and understand the segmentation method so the workforce understands
where it sits, and so it effectively represents current and potential future gaps.
Depending on your workforce planning resources, the existing workforce segmentation system and the
size of your organisation, you may choose to use anything from a very basic to a very mature workforce
segmentation approach (Figure 4).
Figure 4
Organisational structure (basic maturity)
An organisational chart is a common way of portraying your workforce. However, segmenting your
workforce and identifying gaps by way of an organisational chart has limitations—it groups positions (or
roles) according to reporting lines and organisational functions rather than skills and capabilities.
Location (basic maturity)
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Segmenting your workforce by location allows you to understand the geographical spread of your
employees and therefore any additional workforce risks that need to be considered around the
availability of the broad skills and capabilities you require from the external labour market.
Job family model (medium maturity)
A job family model enables you to segment your workforce into similar occupational groupings based on
related skills, tasks and knowledge blocks. It provides a deeper view of your workforce, allowing
enhanced workforce analysis and planning.
Job family
A job family is a high-level grouping of jobs that carry out similar types of work and have similar skills,
capabilities and knowledge. Any one position can only fall under one job family. This system recognises
that some positions require similar skills and so it’s more useful from a workforce planning perspective.
Organisations with a more mature approach to workforce segmentation tend to allocate all of their
positions to well-defined job families, and embed this in their human resource (HR) information systems
for ease of reporting.
If your organisation doesn’t use job families, this is a good place to invest your initial workforce planning
efforts, as it also allows for useful labour market research later on.
Job function
Each job function falls under a specific job family. Like job families, job functions take into account that
there are positions that require similar types of skills, capabilities and knowledge.
Identifying your workforce gaps by job function makes them easier to address because it promotes a
shared understanding of what skills are required for that position both internally and externally.
Job role
Each job role falls under a specific job function. Job roles distinguish the finer application of skill
specialisation and where appropriate, skill level.
Systematic workforce segmentation (mature)
Although grouping your workforce into job families, job functions and job roles is useful, workforce
planning is most effective if you identify the skills and capabilities needed within these. Not only will this
validate the accuracy of mapping your workforce to the job family model, it will also help you
understand where specific skills and capabilities gaps exist, and which skills and capabilities within a job
role or job profile require lengthy lead times to develop.
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Job profiling can assist you to identify the skills and capabilities your organisation needs. This is when
you systematically collect and manage information about particular positions or types of roles. A job
profile is basically a comprehensive list of the responsibilities and tasks undertaken in a position or role
plus a list of critical skills and capabilities needed to perform those responsibilities and tasks.
Job profiling has many benefits including:
• allowing your organisation to identify and group the requisite skills and capabilities it has and
needs to deliver its business priorities
• insight into the development needs across your organisation
• visibility of the lead times involved in filling different roles
• linkages with the potential supply pools for your required skills and capabilities.
It can inform a number of HR activities, including (but not limited to):
• workforce planning
• workforce risk
• organisation and job design
• remuneration strategies through understanding labour market salary parity
• recruitment and selection, including job branding and the development of selection
documentation
• career pathways and succession planning
• talent management strategies
• targeted learning and development strategies
• performance management.
The job profiling methodology can be applied to a single position (position profile) or a discrete group of
positions doing similar work (role profile), as a way to aggregate the common information associated
with the positions.
Role profiling captures higher level information about a collective group of positions that have similar
core skills, qualification groupings and knowledge blocks.
In very small organisations, the detail provided by position profiling may be useful, but in most
organisations it may be more useful to focus at the role level given that many positions do the same kind
of work and require similar skills and capabilities.
Although profiling will look at the people who currently occupy a position or perform roles within an
organisation, it’s also important that the profiling process provides an objective assessment of the
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requirements (responsibilities and tasks) of the position or role itself and the skills and capabilities
people need to succeed in the role.
Another way to develop the profiles is to run workshops with subject matter experts.
Strategic talent segmentation model
The terms capability, competency and capacity are often used interchangeably, however:
• Competency usually refers to knowledge, skills or strength at a particular task and is another word for an individual’s expertise.
• Capability has a broader more holistic meaning that takes account of attributes, attitudes and behaviours, and the ability to achieve a certain outcome in the future. In this way organisation capability arises from the use and application of an individual’s competence.
• Capacity refers to the amount or volume of work, for example ‘how much?’ and ‘how many?’
Strategic talent segmentation helps identify the critical and core capabilities required to support the business and operational demands of the organisation.
The strategic talent segmentation model recognises that not all employees possess knowledge and skills that are of equal strategic importance, and so HR investment can rest in 1 of 4 different employment modes:
Build:
• Suggests that an organisation needs to invest heavily in its workforce and that the HR investment is focused and committed to the development from within for roles in this group.
• This is a clear focus of the Executive Leadership Development Strategy. • Examples include Head of Research and Development and other key technical or management roles
where market replacement would be difficult if not impossible.
Buy:
• Suggests that an organisation needs to invest somewhat in its workforce and that the HR investment is based on a mutually beneficial arrangement and that investments with this group only really need to match market practice.
• Although the value represented by this group is high, they can be found fairly easily in the general market.
• Examples include Head of Finance, Head of Corporate Services etc.
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Borrow or buy:
• Suggests that the organisation only needs to invest minimally with this group and that most of the concentration will be to reduce costs for this group.
• Examples include transactional roles where the transactions could be outsourced.
Borrow:
• Would consider roles, that although are difficult to recruit, the expertise is not necessarily required by the organisation in a sustained manner for any length of time.
• Examples include consultants, legal or tax professionals.
Figure 4
Source: https://www.qld.gov.au/gov/identify-capabilities-you-need
Identify mix of labour engagement options
Once you have established the workforce capability requirements and considered the strategic talent
segmentation model, you can start to consider what mix of workforce you can engage.
First, identify the FTE, Level and Location for each job role (table 4).
Table 4
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Job family Job function Job role Current
demand
F T
E
L e
v e
l
L o
c a
ti o
n
Source: APS workforce template
Note: Full-time Equivalent (FTE) definition
Full-time equivalent (FTE) allows part-time workers’ working hours to be standardised against those
working full-time. The standardised figure is 1.0, which refers to a full-time worker. 0.5 refers to an
employee that works half full-time hours.
FTE also allows companies to standardise salaries by showing what the equivalent salary would be of a
part-time employee were they working full-time. A related term is pro-rata – part time employees are
paid an annual salary pro rata, which means adjusted for their working hours
(http://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-is-full-time-equivalent-fte ).
Then identify the employment types and hiring options that would best suit your workforce needs and
requirements.
Table 5 presents some workforce metrics that you can use to assist you with the identification of hiring
options.
Table 5
Workforce availability • Workforce profile
Workforce mobility • Workforce capability
• Full-time equivalent (FTE)
• Headcount (HC)
• Employment type (ongoing, non-ongoing, contract)
• Employment status (full- time, part-time)
• Location
• Occupational grouping / Job family
• Classification level
• Age
• Gender
• Diversity
• Recruitment
• Secondments
• Transfers
• Resignations
• Retirements
• Redundancies
• Tenure
• Performance management
• Education and development
• Qualifications
• Skills and capabilities
• Learning and development
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Workforce availability • Workforce profile
Workforce mobility • Workforce capability
• Absence (planned, unplanned)
• Tenure
Some workforce metrics can be an indicator for more than one workforce theme. For example, tenure
can indicate the level of workforce mobility and can also be indicative of workforce capability in terms of
corporate knowledge and experience.
Source: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/workforce-analysis/risk
Other flexible work options are:
• Flexible work hours
This is where you may vary your start and finish times.
• Compressed working weeks
You may work the same number of weekly (or fortnightly or monthly) working hours, compressed
into a shorter period. For example, a forty-hour week may be worked at the rate of ten hours per
day for four days instead of eight hours a day for five days. Changes to salary are not required.
• Time in lieu
You may work approved overtime and be compensated by time in lieu. It can include ‘flexitime’
arrangements where an employee can work extra time over several days or weeks and then reclaim
those hours as time off.
• Telecommuting
You may work at a location other than the official place of work. A wide range of terms refer to
working at different locations, including ‘mobile working’, ‘distributed work’, ‘virtual teams’ and
‘telework’.
• Job sharing
A full-time job role is divided into multiple job roles to be undertaken by two or more employees
who are paid on a pro-rata basis for the part of the job each completes.
• Purchased leave
A period of leave without pay, usually available after annual leave allocation is finished. Employers
typically deduct the amount of unpaid leave from the worker’s salary, and this can be done as a
lump sum or averaged over the year.
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Source: https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/Building_a_flexibility_strategy.pdf
Main employment types
Each type of employee varies so it's important to think carefully about which type of worker will work
best for you. Find additional advice on identifying the skills and experience needed for a new role by
using workforce planning and HR templates.
The five main types are:
• permanent or fixed-term employees
• casual employees
• apprentices or trainees (employees)
• employment agency staff (also called labour hire)
• contractors and sub-contractors (hired staff).
Employment Options
The key options are listed below to help you decide on your employment choice.
When you hire people as employees, they:
• receive payment as wages or salary
• have their tax taken out by their employer
• are based at your business, work at your home or are mobile
• can be full-time, part-time, apprentices, trainees or casual, and can be directed when, what and
how to do a task.
A contractor or independent contractor usually:
• doesn't receive wages but invoices for their work
• runs their own businesses with an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• has their own insurance
• does a set task, such as designing a computer system and once the task is done, the engagement
ends
• can work for more than one customer
• can subcontract their work to others
• provides their own equipment or works from their own base.
Hiring staff through an agency means that:
• the employment agency employs the worker, and you pay the agency for the use of the worker
for agreed hours or a set period
• you can hire people at short notice with specific skills or for short or long-term projects
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• workers are usually short term, so they may not develop a loyalty to your business and may take
their knowledge with them
• the agency pays the worker's wages and other entitlements
• the agency will charge you a commission, agency or finder's fee, which will add extra expense.
Permanent (full-time or part-time) employees
• A full-time employee can work a standard day, for example, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
• A part-time employee works regular set hours, but less than a full-time week e.g. Wednesday to
Friday, 11am-1pm. Some awards require an employer to roster a part-time employee for a
minimum of three consecutive hours on any shift.
Casual employees
Can be used for short irregular periods of work but can also work in long-term arrangements. Some
awards also require casuals to be paid for a minimum of three or four hours work depending on the
award. Casual employees:
• can be asked to work at short notice, with no guarantee of regular hours
• are not entitled to annual or personal/carer's leave
• can be terminated without notice, unless they are covered by an agreement or contract that
specifies otherwise
• are good for irregular and short term work demands
• offer a flexible arrangement for the employer and employee.
• Casual employees are paid an extra 20-25 per cent (or more depending on the agreement or
award) above the base rate of pay to compensate them for not receiving the above
entitlements.
If you are thinking of hiring casual workers, look at how to employ casual workers.
Apprentices and trainee employees
Australian Apprenticeships (also known as traineeships) are a training contract between an employer
and an employee, in which the employer provides training and the apprentice learns the occupation or
trade. At the end of the training the apprentice gains a nationally recognised qualification.
Apprentices may be employed on a full or part-time basis, can be of any age, and may already hold a
qualification. Training can be totally on-the-job, or a combination of on and off-the-job programs.
An apprentice wage varies depending on qualification, type of training and industry and is generally
entitled to the same superannuation, workers' compensation or other requirements as that of an
employee.
Businesses that employ apprentices may be eligible for financial assistance.
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Group training
Group training organisations employ Australian apprentices and place them with employers while
they're being trained. Group training is a great option for businesses that:
• can't offer an Australian apprentice a permanent position because they're unable to guarantee
ongoing work
• might not have the range of work available to ensure an Australian apprentice gains all the
necessary job skills for that industry
• do not have the time to undertake all employment and training functions.
Source: http://www.business.vic.gov.au/hiring-and-managing-staff/employment-types
Issues impacting on the flexible workforce
You should plan to resolve issues impacting on flexible workforce covering social, industrial, training and
performance.
Today’s flexible work trends favour the clever, well-educated and self–motivated. Trends such as BYOD,
MOOC’s, results-only workplace, and Holocracies such as Valve and Spotify emphasise the importance of
creative, well executed ideas developed by self-motivated employees.
Flexible work trends have emerged because “scalability” allows organizations to realize large gains from
ideas, instead of only operational efficiencies. For example, one clever Tweet can reach millions of
people, while thousands of mediocre Tweets can fail to ever be read. Today the value is in creativity —
efficiency and even automation are just prerequisites.
Today’s flexible work trends are the opposite of the trends of the 80’s and 90’s that emphasized
efficiency and cost cutting: six-sigma, just–in–time, out–sourcing, the great moderation, and leverage
buyouts. All of these strategies were about extracting more value from what was already being
produced. While, today’s trends and technology place a premium on quality and cleverness over
efficiency: typically, by creating flexible work environments.
However, today’s work trends are not without problems. We have created a flexible work environment
at CAN and here are several of the challenges we have experienced.
Mobile Burnout
If you are able to work all the time, then that becomes the expectation. Co–workers, managers and
especially clients will expect that they can reach you, and that you will provide a timely response, i.e.
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Microsoft’s #GetItDone Campaign. This can leave little time for family, decompressing, and creative
work — especially stressful for introverts.
If you can work from anywhere any time, you need to set aside time to think, build deep relationships
and just get away. Set your voice mail, auto–responders and your calendar to let people know that you
are unavailable because you are working on a project, family time, or just getting away from it all. To be
your most creative and valuable you need to invest in decompressing. Also, organizations need to
appreciate people that are honest about how they spend their time, and defend people from work–
shaming.
Security
It is clear that the future of work is not command and control. Traditional Enterprise IT assumes that
users don’t understand technology, what tools they need, and will break the system if allowed. This
might have had a time and a place, but not today. Today’s companies are filled with engineers,
designers and programmers instead of non-technical workers. So why do we treat knowledge workers
the same way we used to treat factory workers at the turn of the 20th century?
Instead companies need to create a work environment around tasks and tools instead of command and
control — learn more about the Future of Enterprise IT. CIO’s need to focus on providing a solid base
work environment, provide training, and allow employees to work as they see fit. Employees need to
know their tasks: the what by when. They also need to understand the tools they need accomplish those
tasks.
Companies need to create an environment where users are encouraged to understand and explore
technology and how it can be used. In a flexible work environment training, instead of command and
control is the key to security and productivity. However, you have to hire employees that are motivated
to learn and continually improve. It will be hard to succeed if your employees aren’t willing to learn
about and use new technologies.
Hiring, Training and Integration
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and other popular tech trends are typically practiced by technology firms,
or at least companies that expect workers to be technologically savvy. If your typical employees need to
call customer support if they forget or need to reset their password, they probably won’t be able to
setup a VPN on their laptop. BYOD typically requires firms to hire more technical people and provide
more training and documentation.
Spouse and Family Pressures
Flexible work arrangements can create quite a bit of spouse and family stress, especially if your spouse
works at a more traditional company. Issues range from: spouses automatically assuming that their
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significant other is available for a doctor’s appointment or too watch the children, to getting upset that
their spouse is lazy because they are sleeping until 10am and in the same day mad that worked until
10pm — workaholic!
It is important to talk with your employees about how to talk with their spouse and families about what
having a flexible work schedule means.
This is not anarchy
Creating a flexible work environment is not about embracing anarchy. In fact, it creates a more
competitive environment. Trust and self–motivation become the key. Since you are judged not by who
sees you sitting at your desk when, the only measure becomes the quality of your work. This is a
terrifying environment for many people, and benefits only a few people that are self–motivated, clever
and highly productive. However, in the long-run who do you want working at your company?
(Source: http://canworksmart.com/challenges-of-flexible-work-trends/ )
Other problems that you might consider are:
Failure to Include Employees in Planning Stage
One of the most common mistakes that companies make when establishing flex plans is insufficient
communication with workers.
Solution: Seek input from employees on their interest and needs as you develop a flexible work
program. Assess whether or not the new work arrangement is appropriate for their type of work. Will
workers be able to continue to function effectively? The best arrangement is one that addresses
employees’ personal needs or wants and at the same time addresses the company’s needs to provide
high quality products and services.
Failure to Identify that Certain Positions/Individuals are not Conducive to Flexible Work Arrangements
Solution: Do your homework. Will the arrangement cause difficulties in ensuring office coverage? Will it
cause customer complaints about availability? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Is there any
employee interest in the plan? Will it cause a problem in scheduling meetings?
An individual’s work style and history should also support the demands of the arrangement; i.e.,
Employees who have shown an inability to work well independently would not be ideal candidates for
telecommuting arrangements, and employees without the needed physical and emotional stamina
would not be able to sustain the long hours needed for compressed work schedules.
Informal Policies that Lead to Inconsistencies and Inequities
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Inconsistent application of informal policies can cause resentment, poor morale, loss of employees and
even legal action.
Solution: Develop and prepare a formal written policy on company flexible work plans that is detailed,
clearly-stated and non-discriminatory.
Decrease in Communication
Work arrangements such as telecommuting can result in a lack of business and social contact with co-
workers and supervisors.
Solution: Conduct staff meetings that include flex staff so that they are not excluded from information
sharing or alienated from coworkers and managers. Telecommuters’ contact with other employees
should not be limited to email; efforts should be made to include telephone contact, especially with
supervisors.
Resistance of Management
Managers are not always eager to relinquish direct supervision of staff “on-site” where they can visually
evaluate the work process of employees.
Solution: Managers may need to be educated in order to change their mindset. They will need to learn
to manage in a system based on trust and respect, where it primarily the results, rather than the work
process, that is evaluated. Most output can be measured wherever a person may be located.
Failure to Monitor, Assess and Update Flexible Work Arrangements
Flexible work arrangements may require a continual process of improvements or developments.
Solution: After a flex program, has been initiated, take the time to assess its success in meeting goals,
and make any necessary adjustments. Keep the lines of communication open with employees in terms
of encouraging and listening to feedback. When initiating a new plan, pilot programs with a limited time
frame can be useful. At the onset, advise employees that – if the plan proves unsuccessful – a return to
prior traditional work arrangements may result.
Lawsuits have been charged against businesses in recent years with a number of flex time abuses. Most
flex time litigation has to do with the misclassification of workers as being exempt from overtime. There
is also the danger of a worker being injured at home while performing company business, which may
also result in litigation.
Solution: Employers must precisely determine which employees are exempt or non-exempt. Non-
exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in addition to 40-hours in any given
work-week. These employees must be required to document and submit hours worked.
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Employers need to communicate with home workers that they are required to work in a healthy and
safe home office environment. Advise home workers that they need to report any work-related injuries
to you within 24 hours of occurrence. If an employee reports getting injured at home, be sure to get a
detailed account of the particular work activities performed at the time of injury.
Although implementing a flexible work program may take time and planning, the benefits can be well
worth the effort for small business. Among the benefits: increased job satisfaction, lower absenteeism
and increased loyalty to the employer.
Source: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/flex-work.htm
Engage flexible workforce
Implement flexible work arrangements If you plan to offer a flexible work arrangements, you should develop a written proposal that clearly
describes rights, obligations, responsibilities of both parties to be reflected in the employment contract.
At times, it will be your employees to ask for flexible work arrangements.
Flexible employment practices are based on discussion and negotiation. When considering a request,
supervisors, managers and department heads have an obligation to:
• consider each request on its merits;
• work with the staff member to explore all possibilities to accommodate the needs of the staff member and the work unit;
• provide ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the work arrangements of the staff member who is making the request based on grounds covered by the organisation’s Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Bullying Policy and Procedures, the Equal Opportunity Act and relevant federal Acts;
• explain and justify a decision to the staff member; and
• ensure fairness to all staff, while avoiding discrimination on grounds covered by Equal Opportunity policy and legislation;
• consider a good outcome for the staff member and for the work unit.
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When implementing the flexible work arrangements:
Plan out a flex strategy: Before sending one person home to work, or allow someone a flexible schedule,
it's important to create a flexible-work strategy. Determine which departments and individuals will have
access to work flexibility, what kinds of flex they'll be offered and who has the final say on any flex-work
arrangements. Figure out the best metrics for tracking productivity in each individual case and
department-wide, and make sure the new strategy is clear to everyone involved.
Devise a trial run: Before launching a full-scale flexible work program, it could be a good idea to create a
trial program using one department or a small group of employees from different departments. Plan to
run the trial for a good length of time — one month or longer — to work out the kinks and gather real
data. At the end of the trial, assess the outcomes and make adjustments before taking the program
company-wide.
Make communication a top priority: Without a specific communication plan in place for flexible work,
the program is doomed to fail. Find ways for teams to continue communicating and collaborating with
one another, even if everyone is scattered into home offices, or working different schedules. Use online
collaboration tools like Yammer and join.me to keep employees connected and ensure continuous
communication.
Know that not everyone will be a good flexible worker: Telecommuting and working flexible schedules
require specific traits that not everyone has. But don't shut down the entire flex-work program just
because a few people aren't cut out for it. Instead, consider other perks that can be offered to
employees for whom flex work isn't a good option, while continuing to let the majority of employees
take advantage of work flexibility.
Train managers to manage flexible workers: Managing a flexible workforce isn't the same as managing a
traditional one. Yahoo learned this the hard way when it discovered that some of its telecommuting
employees hadn't even logged in for months yet were continuing to get paid. Where were their
managers? Train managers to ask questions, challenge their team and be available through a variety of
communication methods — phone, email, instant messaging, etc. Make sure they schedule regular
phone meetings, or face-to-face meetings if possible. Use different methods of communication so that
no team members are left out.
Source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5466-successful-flex-work-program.html
Understand your role
As a manager, you play a crucial role in facilitating workplace flexibility. Managers translate flexible work
policy into practice; they need to implement flexible work arrangements that work for both the worker
and the employer. Implementing flexible work practices challenges managers to:
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• think strategically about flexible work
• identify and negotiate flexible solutions
• redesign jobs, tasks and work processes to support flexible work practices
• manage complex logistics for meetings, rosters and client coverage
• monitor workloads
• supervise remote workers
• support staff and manage their performance
• communicate effectively with teams and colleagues
• manage change.
Tailor flexible work solutions to individuals
You need to consider the flexibility individuals’ need against their job requirements. Don’t assume a one
size fits all approach. Just because a particular flexible work arrangement works for one member of the
team, does not mean it is the best solution for another. Consult with the worker to determine the type
of flexible arrangement that will best meet both their needs, and those of the organisation.
Be creative
When thinking about possible flexible work options, think beyond what has been done before and try
out something new. This may require changes to the way work is currently performed and the status
quo at work may be upset. Take a long-term view of the situation and focus on communicating the
benefit to the organisation from implementing the flexible work arrangement.
Focus on work outcomes
‘Presence does not equal performance’. Make the work objectives, outputs and outcomes the focus of
supervision activities for staff who are working flexibly. This may involve setting closely defined
objectives within specific timeframes and scheduling frequent formal updates to review progress2.
Communicate and consult with the team
Managers need to talk to the whole team about any proposed flexible work arrangements and discuss
possible impacts on others, such as how work is organised and performed. Work together to find
solutions to potential problems, where possible. Manage the expectations of the team to make sure
tailored flexible work arrangements are accepted and welcomed.
Prepare for the challenges of implementing flexible work practices
Think about the specific workplace challenges and changes involved in implementing each flexible work
arrangement. This will help to identify the tasks and activities required to support its implementation.
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Understanding and proactively addressing the implications for the workplace helps managers ensure the
success of flexible work arrangements.
Source:
https://www.comcare.gov.au/promoting/Creating_mentally_healthy_workplaces/flexible_work/implem
enting_flexibility_at_work
Develop clear policies on hours of work
Flexibility can be challenging, especially in small organizations. There may be days when no one is in the
office because they all worked at the special event the evening before. A disgruntled employee who
leaves might claim hundreds of overtime hours for which you have no records. Someone may have to
take stress leave because they did not take any time off in lieu of all their overtime. These kinds of
situations underscore the importance of having clear, effective HR policies.
Keep track of hours worked
Be clear with staff about if and how they should track their hours. By keeping track of hours, you can
calculate the actual hourly rate for each employee, see if some jobs are too big and others too small.
Information about hours worked can also help to understand and reduce employee stress.
When managing flexible work location arrangements:
• Maintain a high level of contact by encouraging a two-way flow of communication between
management and the distance worker, and the distance worker and their other colleagues. This
is especially important if an off-site employee is working on their own.
• Use a combination of face-to-face communication, the telephone and e-mail. Face-to-face is
best for key management tasks focused on motivation, team building, performance
management and introducing changes in the work or the relationship with the employee.
Telephone communications can be effective for planning, reviewing, and strategizing. E-mail is
best for quick contact and confirming conversations.
• Informal processes may need to become more formal. For example, comments and ideas made
over lunch break or by the water cooler may need to be e-mailed to off-site workers.
• Be super-organized and plan well. Reliance on face-to-face meetings often results from
disorganization, with managers spending their days reacting to situations and solving problems
that would not arise as often as they do if work were well managed.
• Beware that "out of sight" can mean "out of mind". Take care that off-site workers get access to
training and promotion opportunities. Career development is important for all employees no
matter where they work.
• Ensure appropriate orientation for staff that work in the office so that they are assured that all
employees - regardless of their work location - are equally pulling their weight.
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• Promote team building between on-site and off-site employees by inviting employees who work
at home to come in for a special lunch, training or other activity.
• Ask home-based employees to provide occasional office coverage to keep them in touch with
the realities of the workplace.
Source: http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/workplaces-flexible.cfm
Team structures
When working with a flexible workforce, it is important to consider flexible organisation and team
structures.
Organisational structures
Organizational structures fall on a spectrum, with “mechanistic” at one end and “organic” at the other (Figure 5).
• Mechanistic structures are typified by narrow spans of control; high centralization, specialization, and formalization; as well as by rigid departmentalization. And the chain of command, whether long or short, is always clear.
• Organic structures (also known as “flat” structures) are typified by wide spans of control; decentralization; low specialization and formalization; and loose departmentalization. And the chain of command, whether long or short, can sometimes be difficult to decipher.
Figure 5
As you’ve probably been able to infer from their respective characteristics, the mechanistic structure
represents the traditional, top-down approach to organizational structure, whereas the organic
structure represents a more collaborative, flexible approach.
Functional Org Structure
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One of the most common types of organizational structures, the functional structure departmentalizes
an organization based on common job functions.
So an organization with a functional structure would group all of the marketers together in one
department, group all of the salespeople together in a separate department, and group all of the
customer service people together in a third department (Figure 6).
Figure 6
The functional structure allows for a high degree of specialization for employees, and is easily scalable should the organization grow.
The downsides: The structure also has the potential to create barriers between different functions -- and it can be inefficient if the organization has a variety of different products or target markets.
D iv isio nal: Pro duct -Based Org Structure
You can think of a divisional organizational structure as a structure that’s comprised of multiple, smaller functional structures (i.e. each division within a divisional structure can have its own marketing team, its own sales team, and so on). In this case -- a product-based divisional structure -- each division within the organization is dedicated to a particular product line (Figure 7).
Figure 7
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This type of structure is ideal for organizations with multiple products and can help shorten product
development cycles.
The downsides: It can be difficult to scale, and the organization may end up with duplicate resources as
different divisions strive for autonomy.
Divisional: Market-Based Org Structure
Another variety of the divisional organizational structure is the market-based structure, wherein the
divisions of an organization are based around markets, industries, or customer types (Figure 8).
Figure 8
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The market-based structure is ideal for an organization that has products or services that are unique to
specific market segments, and is particularly effective if that organization has advanced knowledge of
those segments.
The downsides: Too much autonomy can lead to divisions developing systems that are incompatible
with one another, and divisions may also end up inadvertently duplicating activities that other divisions
are already handling.
Divisional: Geographical Org Structure
The geographical organizational structure establishes its divisions based on -- you guessed it! --
geography. More specifically, the divisions of a geographical structure can include territories, regions, or
districts (Figure 9).
Figure 9
This type of structure is best-suited to organizations that need to be near sources of supply and/or
customers (e.g. for deliveries or for on-site support).
The main downside of a geographical org structure: It can be easy for decision- making to become
decentralized, as geographic divisions (which can be hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from
corporate headquarters) often have a great deal of autonomy.
Process-Based Org Structure
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Process-based organizational structures are designed around the end-to-end flow of different processes,
such as "Research & Development," "Customer Acquisition," and "Order Fulfillment." Unlike a strictly
functional structure, a process-based structure considers not only the activities employees perform, but
also how those different activities interact with one another.
In order to fully understand the diagram below, you need to look at it from left to right: The customer
acquisition process can’t start until you have a fully developed product to sell. And likewise, the order
fulfillment process can’t start until customers have been acquired and there are product orders to fill
(Figure 10).
Figure 10
This structure is ideal for improving speed and efficiency, and is best-suited to rapidly changing business
environments, as it is easily adaptable.
The main downside: Barriers between the different process groups can lead to problems communicating
and handing off work.
Matrix Org Structure
Unlike the other structures we’ve looked at so far, a matrix organizational structure doesn’t follow the
traditional, hierarchical model. Instead, all employees (represented by the green boxes) have dual
reporting relationships. Typically, there is a functional reporting line (shown in blue) as well as a
product- based reporting line (shown in yellow).
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When looking at a matrix structure org chart, solid lines represent strong, direct-reporting relationships,
whereas dotted lines indicate that the relationship is secondary, or not as strong. In our example below,
it’s clear that functional reporting takes precedence over product-based reporting (Figure 11).
Figure 11
The main appeal of the matrix structure is that it can provide both flexibility and more balanced
decision-making (as there are two chains of command instead of just one).
Its primary pitfall: complexity, which can lead to confused employees.
Circular Org Structure
While it might appear drastically different from the other organizational structures highlighted in this
section, the circular structure still relies on hierarchy, with higher-level employees occupying the inner
rings of the circle and lower-level employees occupying the outer rings.
That being said, the leaders or executives in a circular organization aren’t seen as sitting atop the
organization, sending directives down the chain of command. Instead, they’re at the center of the
organization, spreading their vision outward (Figure 12).
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Figure 12
From an ideological perspective, a circular structure is meant to promote communication and the free
flow of information between different parts of the organization. Whereas a traditional structure shows
different departments or divisions as occupying individual, semi-autonomous branches, the circular
structure depicts all divisions as being part of the same whole.
From a practical perspective, however, the circular structure can be confusing, especially for new
employees. Unlike with a more traditional, top-down structure, a circular structure can make it difficult
for employees to figure out who they report to and how they’re meant to fit into the organization.
Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/team-structure-
diagrams#sm.00012fqr4u5cycuzpvu2ose8fp2lq
Types of team structures
As against traditional organizational structures wherein they had different departments for each
business function, today the day-to-day activities of a firm revolve around teams. Whether it’s a sales
and marketing team or research and development team, teams are flexible and can build products,
negotiate prices and strike deals, coordinate projects and provide services etc. There are four important
kinds of teams that one would commonly find:
Problem-Solving Teams – This kind of team basically comprises of a few members, ideally from 5 to 12,
belonging to a particular department coming together on a weekly basis to discuss and solve problems
of their department functioning. Members give their individual suggestions for process improvement
and after enough deliberation, present their advice to the higher management for further
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implementation. For example, Merrill Lynch, in the earlier days had created a problem-solving team to
figure out a way to reduce the time taken to open a new cash management account.
Self-Managed Teams – While problem-solving teams were effective in recommending solutions, they
didn’t have the power to implement them. Self-managed teams were built to address this challenge and
apart from discussing issues, they were responsible for implementing the solutions and taking
responsibilities for their outcomes. From making operational decisions to interacting with customers,
self-managed teams are highly effective provided the members are motivated and driven to bring about
positive change.
Cross-Functional Teams – When employees from different business functions but belonging to a similar
hierarchical level come together to achieve a common task, the team is called a cross-functional team.
The members bring their individual expertise from their respective work area and exchange information
for a common cause. Whether it is finding solution to a development fault or coordinating complex
projects, cross-functional teams are very effective if managed well. For example, the Boeing Company
created a cross-functional team of employees from various departments like production, quality, and
design engineering, tooling and information systems to automate shims on the C-17 program. Since the
members belonged to diverse backgrounds, they were able to give different perspectives to arrive at the
best solution. The team’s suggestions helped reduce the cycle time and cost, as well as greatly improved
the quality of the program. While cross-functional teams are highly effective, they need good
management skills to build trust and teamwork amongst the members and manage the diverse nature
of the team.
Virtual Teams – In today’s world of internet and mobile technologies, it’s easier to manage physically
dispersed members with the concept of building virtual teams. Members collaborate online, participate
in video-conferences and discuss in real-time to realize a common objective. While virtual teams are
easily manageable, the members sometime lack the motivation to find solutions or fail to trust each
other due to absence of any direct interaction. These challenges must be addressed by monitoring the
efforts of the members and recognizing their individual contributions. Learn more about managing and
hiring virtual teams with this course.
Bureaucratic – Teams are built around highly routine tasks with formalized rules and regulations.
Decision making follows a certain chain of command and tasks are highly specialized in nature.
Matrix Structure – Most companies follow this structure to build their teams and it basically combines
the functional as well as product departmentalization. Employees in a matrix normally report to two
bosses – one who is their functional department manager and the other a product manager. This
creates a dual chain of command that is highly effective for complex and interdependent activities. For
example, a professor teaching accounting to undergraduate students, may report to the director of
undergraduate programs as well as the head of the accounting department.
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Source: https://blog.udemy.com/team-structure/
Facilitate the flexible team using technologies Technology allows managers to better facilitate communication among members of a team and reduces
the time and expense associated with group work. Conferencing technology, for example, provides real-
time interaction among co-workers, rather than back-and-forth emails which can lead to confusion and
frustration. As you progress in your career, your ability to use technology to lead groups and teams will
make you more valuable to an employer.
The main benefits of using technology with teams and groups is that it allows disparate groups of people
with different schedules and locations to more effectively work together by decreasing project
completion times and costs. Using email, instant messaging video and phone conferencing, e-calendars,
webinars and other technologies, you can eliminate travel time, many scheduling conflicts and
miscommunications.
Project Management Software
You can enhance your team’s ability to monitor and track a project as it progresses using project
management software. Depending on the program you select, the software allows you to enter
estimating, budgeting, scheduling and other aspects of the process. Different members of the team can
update their specific areas of the software, allowing everyone to see the changes the project progresses.
These programs often come with a calendar component to help keep projects on track.
Telephone
Many people today use their phones to access the Internet, allowing you to communicate with team
members quickly and efficiently. You can send an email to a team member, ask them to review an
attachment or view something online, then schedule a quick follow-up call to make sure you’re both no
the same page. This allows people to work together regardless of their locations and time zones.
Another way to use the telephone in group work is to schedule conference calls. If you work from a
home office, check with your phone service provider to see if they offer a conference call feature. At
work, you can subscribe to a conference call service that allows people to call in and attend the
conference, then provides you with data showing who was in on the call, how long they participated and
when they disconnected.
Videoconferencing
Another useful tool for group meetings is videoconferencing. Using a variety or private or public service,
such as Skype, you can allow people to see each other while on a group call. This allows one person to
make visual presentations, sharing charts, product samples and other information. Videoconferencing
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can save a company thousands of dollars in travel and accommodations costs, as well as lost
productivity when workers travel.
Cloud Computing
To allow team members to access and share files from different locations, you can set up a platform that
lets individuals log in to a central repository of data and documents. The information is hosted on a
secure area of the Web only your group can access with a password.
Webinars
Another method for holding a group meeting is the webinar, which allows participants to listen to and
follow along with a presentation using their Internet browser. You can present prepared documents that
let participants follow along and comment. Some webinars allow audio communication, while others
provide real-time text messaging.
Portable Document Format
You can conveniently share documents with people using portable document format files. These convert
different types of a document to a PDF file, which most people can easily access and open. This prevents
problems among people who are using different word processing programs, for example. If you set the
PDF file to accept comments, you can allow readers to make corrections and suggestions on individual
pages of the document and send it back to you.
Source: http://work.chron.com/can-technology-enhance-teamwork-groups-workplace-1878.html
Finding creative strategies to motivate employees isn’t easy. Sure, employers can keep their employees
engaged and motivated with benefits like free lunches, unlimited PTO and company-hosted social
events, but for employers looking for something a little less conventional, try embracing more tech in
the workplace.
Here are four ways technology can help managers boost engagement and create a motivated workforce:
Increase sharing and collaboration.
Cloud-based file sharing tools like Google Drive and Dropbox are gaining traction within businesses both
small and large. They can be helpful in motivating employees to get things done by eliminating basic
frustrations in the workplace (i.e. spending entirely too much time searching for files in a disorganized
shared drive).
In addition to making it easier to find and share documents with team members, cloud-based sharing
tools can keep track of who’s working on what and encourage collaboration among coworkers.
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Something these sharing tools have that traditional onsite file servers lack is the ability to access files
remotely on mobile devices, which makes doing business while on the go easier than ever.
Gain a better view of individual performance.
We all want 360-degree performance management, but few us have it. Talent management software is
the answer to obtaining a 360-degree view of individual performance. Its primary purpose is to help
managers gain a broader perspective on employees, since they can only see so much firsthand.
Seeing more means being able to do more for employees. Not only does it facilitate ongoing feedback
and solicit peer feedback, but it can help managers and employees identify personal strengths and
weaknesses to create a competency framework for individual development and succession planning. It
also makes the performance review process a whole lot easier for both parties.
Provide and receive real-time feedback.
The performance review tends to come around on an annual or quarterly basis, but feedback should be
ongoing. Unfortunately, according to a 2013 survey of 6,000 HR professionals by the Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM), a mere 2 percent of employers provide ongoing feedback to their
employees.
Rather than waiting for performance review season to dish out criticism and offer praise, automating
the performance review process with HR software can make giving and receiving real-time feedback a
cinch. Instant feedback mechanisms can significantly improve engagement and motivation by
consistently guiding employees in the right direction. It can also give employees the ability to offer
suggestions directly to management—and valuing employee input is yet another motivational tool.
Facilitate learning on the go.
No one really wants to bring work home with them, but sometimes it’s necessary to get ahold of certain
work-related items outside of the office. Cue the mobile app. Mobile applications give employees the
flexibility they need and want when it comes to file accessibility.
Using tech in the workplace that is mobile-optimized is important when it comes to accessing important
company information or documents when not at the office. In fact, a 2013 Mobile Helix survey of 300 IT
decision makers estimated that their organizations would see nearly a 40 percent boost in productivity if
key enterprise applications were mobilized.
There’s no denying that the mobile revolution has forever changed the way we work, learn and play.
When it comes to motivating employees, mobile apps are essential.
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Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242961
Monitor, review and adjust flexible workforce arrangements
Monitoring, evaluating, reviewing and adjusting (as necessary) apply after your workforce plan is
completed, approved and implemented. Some key elements you will need to undertake include:
Monitor your workforce:
• are the workforce drivers still the same as when you developed the plan?
• are the supply and demand forecasts tracking as expected?
• how is your workforce plan implementation progressing?
• regularly evaluate whether your workforce planning strategies and initiatives are achieving the
desired business performance outcomes.
• review and adjust your workforce plan to reflect necessary changes identified in the monitoring
and evaluation process, or in business direction.
• determine if any of the changes need to be approved by your executive or governing body.
It is important to monitor the workforce measures or business reporting activities that allow you to
evaluate whether you’re closing your workforce gaps.
Workforce planning is both a dynamic and an iterative process, influenced by the internal and external
environment your organisation operates in. These drivers change over time and your workforce plan
needs to be reviewed and adjusted to reflect them. By monitoring KPIs, you will be able to identify
changes and developments in your workforce, and this will inform your workforce plan evaluation and
review. Examples of KPIs are:
• workload increases and decreases
• unscheduled absence rates
• workforce age profile
• staff satisfaction levels
• resignations
• new policy proposals
• portfolio budget statements.
In many cases, this information is regularly collected by your HR, financial services or corporate planning
area. You need to regularly obtain reports on this information to assess whether changes that may have
implications for your workforce are taking place. In other instances, you may need to gather information
on indicators particularly relevant to your organisation. For example, there may be frequent legislation
changes that affect your area of work and must be monitored closely.
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You will also need to monitor progress of your workforce plan implementation to ensure initiatives are
delivered on time and within budget. The KPIs and milestones outlined in your action plan will assist
with this.
The output from monitoring may be a quarterly or bi-annual written report, or a monthly meeting with
management. However, you choose to report on the monitoring process, you will need to incorporate
this into your workforce planning and business planning processes, and assign responsibility for the task
to someone.
You can evaluate the effectiveness of your workforce plan based on the information you obtain from
monitoring workforce and related indicators. The purpose of the evaluation is to understand whether
your workforce plan has succeeded in addressing identified workforce gaps. Looking at specific
strategies and initiatives, and whether these have been effective, will enable you to improve the next
iteration of your workforce plan.
A good way of evaluating success is using the KPIs you identified in your action plan. However, bear in
mind that some benefits are realised with a time lag and, as such, the KPIs may not reach your desired
target until enough time has elapsed since implementation. Another way of evaluating success is
consulting managers to determine whether they feel that previously identified workforce problems have
improved.
You should capture the evaluation of your current workforce plan in a report to give future workforce
planners access to lessons learned. As your workforce plan will be updated in line with the yearly or six-
monthly (mid-year review) business planning process, you should evaluate at least once a year, before
the next iteration of your workforce plan and your organisation’s budget. As with monitoring, the
evaluation needs to be incorporated into your workforce planning process and responsibility assigned. A
further indicator could be the continued level of engagement you have received from managers during
monitoring.
Once you have evaluated your workforce plan, you will be able to review it to make adjustments and
improvements to produce a second iteration. This will usually occur one year after you developed the
first iteration, although in the case where significant new issues in your operating environment are
affecting your workforce, you may need to adjust some strategies and initiatives earlier than this. In
other words, you will not need to conduct a full-scale workforce planning process every 12 months, but
rather adjust the current plan to incorporate new data and ensure coverage for the next 12 to 18
months. Any adjustments will need to be approved by your executive or governance body.
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Key questions: Monitor, evaluate, review and adjust
• Have there been any significant changes to internal or external drivers since your workforce plan was implemented?
• Have your workforce profile or workforce trends changed since your workforce plan was implemented? Should these changes be interpreted as warning signs for the future (for example, increased sick leave can be an early warning signal that something is wrong with your workforce)?
• Who is accountable for monitoring and reporting on the progress and success of your workforce plan and its strategies and initiatives? By what means and how often will reporting occur?
• Has each strategy and initiative achieved the intended goals? If not, why not? • Was this achievement of the outcome necessarily due to your workforce planning initiatives or could
it have been due to external variables? • What was the return on investment? • Do the strategies and initiatives need to be modified? • Are the assumptions underlying your workforce plan still valid?
Source: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/workforce-planning- guide/implementation
Support the flexible workforce
Consultative/Participative approach To support the flexible workforce and address their needs, it is advisable to employ a participative
management approach.
Participative (or participatory) management, otherwise known as employee involvement or participative decision making, encourages the involvement of stakeholders at all levels of an organization in the
analysis of problems, development of strategies, and implementation of solutions. Employees are
invited to share in the decision-making process of the firm by participating in activities such as setting goals, determining work schedules, and making suggestions. Other forms of participative management include increasing the responsibility of employees (job enrichment); forming self-managed teams, quality circles, or quality-of-work-life committees; and soliciting survey feedback. Participative management, however, involves more than allowing employees to take part in making decisions. It also involves management treating the ideas and suggestions of employees with consideration and respect.
The most extensive form of participative management is direct employee ownership of a company.
Four processes influence participation. These processes create employee involvement as they are pushed down to the lowest levels in an organization. The farther down these processes move, the higher the level of involvement by employees. The four processes include:
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1. Information sharing, which is concerned with keeping employees informed about the economic status of the company.
2. Training, which involves raising the skill levels of employees and offering development opportunities that allow them to apply new skills to make effective decisions regarding the organization as a whole.
3. Employee decision making, which can take many forms, from determining work schedules to deciding on budgets or processes.
4. Rewards, which should be tied to suggestions and ideas as well as performance.
A common misconception by managers is that participative management involves simply asking
employees to participate or make suggestions. Effective programs involve more than just a suggestion
box. In order for participative management to work, several issues must be resolved and several
requirements must be met. First, managers must be willing to relinquish some control to their workers;
managers must feel secure in their position in order for participation to be successful. Often managers
do not realize that employees' respect for them will increase instead of decrease when they implement
a participative management style.
The success of participative management depends on careful planning and a slow, phased approach. In
order for participation to be effective, managers must be genuine and honest in implementing the
program. Many employees will need to consistently see proof that their ideas will be accepted or at
least seriously considered. The employees must be able to trust their managers and feel they are
respected.
Successful participation requires managers to approach employee involvement with an open mind. They
must be open to new ideas and alternatives in order for participative management to work. It is
important to remember that although the manager may not agree with every idea or suggestion an
employee makes, how those ideas are received is critical to the success of participative management.
Employees must also be willing to participate and share their ideas. Participative management does not
work with employees who are passive or simply do not care. Many times employees do not have the
skills or information necessary to make good suggestions or decisions. In this case it is important to
provide them with information or training so they can make informed choices. Encouragement should
be offered in order to accustom employees to the participative approach. One way to help employees
engage in the decision-making process is by knowing their individual strengths and capitalizing on them.
By guiding employees toward areas in which they are knowledgeable, a manager can help to ensure
their success.
Before expecting employees to make valuable contributions, managers should provide them with the
criteria that their input must meet. This will aid in discarding ideas or suggestions that cannot be
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implemented, are not feasible, or are too expensive. Managers should also give employees time to think
about ideas or alternative decisions. Employees often do not do their most creative thinking on the spot.
Another important element for implementing a successful participative management style is the visible
integration of employees' suggestions into the final decision or implementation. Employees need to
know that they have made a contribution. Offering employees a choice in the final decision is important
because it increases their commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction. Sometimes even just
presenting several alternatives and allowing employees to choose from them is as effective as if they
thought of the alternatives themselves. If the employees' first choice is not feasible, management might
ask for an alternative rather than rejecting the employee input. When an idea or decision is not
acceptable, managers should provide an explanation. If management repeatedly strikes down employee
ideas without implementing them, employees will begin to distrust management, thus halting
participation. The key is to build employee confidence so their ideas and decisions become more
creative and sound.
Participative management is not a magic cure for all that ails an organization. Managers should carefully
weigh the pros and the cons before implementing this style of management. Managers must realize that
changes will not take effect overnight and will require consistency and patience before employees will
begin to see that management is serious about employee involvement. Participative management is
probably the most difficult style of management to practice. It is challenging not only for managers but
for employees as well.
Source: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Or-Pr/Participative-Management.html
Coaching support You should also consider to provide coaching support as appropriate.
Coaching is a useful way of developing people's skills and abilities, and of boosting performance. It can
also help deal with issues and challenges before they become major problems.
A coaching session will typically take place as a conversation between the coach and the coachee
(person being coached), and it focuses on helping the coachee discover answers for themselves. After
all, people are much more likely to engage with solutions that they have come up with themselves,
rather than those that are forced upon them!
In some organisations, coaching is still seen as a corrective tool, used only when things have gone
wrong. But in many companies, coaching is considered to be a positive and proven approach for helping
others explore their goals and ambitions, and then achieve them.
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Coaches in the workplace are not counsellors, psychotherapists, gurus, teachers, trainers, or consultants
– although they may use some of the same skills and tools.
Most formal, professional coaching is carried out by qualified people who work with clients to improve
their effectiveness and performance, and help them achieve their full potential. Coaches can be hired by
coachees, or by their organizations. Coaching on this basis works best when everyone clearly
understands the reason for hiring a coach, and when they jointly set the expectations for what they
want to achieve through coaching.
However, managers and leaders in the organization can be just as effective as externally hired coaches.
Managers don't have to be trained formally as coaches. As long as they stay within the scope of their
skill set, and maintain a structured approach, they can add value, and help develop their people's skills
and abilities.
Here are a few examples of questions that you can answer with the benefit of coaching:
• How can I manage my time better to achieve all I want in life?
• What should I do next in my career within the organization?
• How can I reduce the stress in my job or my life?
• How can I achieve a better balance between work life and home life?
• What skills do I need to grow and develop further?
• How can I improve my relationship with a specific colleague?
Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_15.htm
When coaching:
Step 1: Build a Relationship of Mutual Trust
The foundation of any coaching relationship is rooted in the manager's day-to-day relationship with the
employee. Without some degree of trust, conducting an effective coaching meeting is impossible.
Step 2: Open the Meeting
In opening a coaching meeting, it's important for the manager to clarify, in a nonevaluative, non
accusatory way, the specific reason the meeting was arranged. The key to this step is to restate -- in a
friendly, nonjudgmental manner -- the meeting purpose that was first set when the appointment was
scheduled.
Step 3: Get Agreement
Probably the most critical step in the coaching meeting process is getting the employee to agree verbally
that a performance issue exists. Overlooking or avoiding the performance issue because you assume the
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employee understands its significance is a typical mistake of managers. To persuade an employee a
performance issue exists, a manager must be able to define the nature of the issue and get the
employee to recognize the consequences of not changing his or her behaviour. To do this, you must
specify the behaviour and clarify the consequences.
The skill of specifying the behaviour consists of three parts.
• Cite specific examples of the performance issue.
• Clarify your performance expectations in the situation.
• Asks the employee for agreement on the issue.
The skill of clarifying consequences consists of two parts. You should:
• Probe to get the employee to articulate his or her understanding of the consequences
associated with the performance issue.
• Ask the employee for agreement on the issue.
Step 4: Explore Alternatives
Next, explore ways the issue can be improved or corrected by encouraging the employee to identify
alternative solutions. Avoid jumping in with your own alternatives, unless the employee is unable to
think of any. Push for specific alternatives and not generalizations. Your goal in this step is not to choose
an alternative, which is the next step, but to maximize the number of choices for the employee to
consider and to discuss their advantages and disadvantages.
This requires the skill of reacting and expanding. You should acknowledge the employee's suggestion,
discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the suggestion, ask for and offer additional suggestions, and ask
the employee to explain how to resolve the issue under discussion.
Step 5: Get a Commitment to Act
The next step is to help the employee choose an alternative. Don't make the choice for the employee.
To accomplish this step, the manager must be sure to get a verbal commitment from the employee
regarding what action will be taken and when it will be taken. Be sure to support the employee's choice
and offer praise.
Step 6: Handle Excuses
Employee excuses may occur at any point during the coaching meeting. To handle excuses, rephrase the
point by taking a comment or statement that was perceived by the employee to be blaming or
accusatory and recast it as an encouragement for the employee to examine his or her behavior.
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Respond empathically to show support for the employee's situation and communicate an understanding
of both the content and feeling of the employee's comment.
Step 7: Provide Feedback
Effective coaches understand the value and importance of giving continual performance feedback to
their people, both positive and corrective.
There are a few critical things to remember when giving feedback to others. Feedback should:
• Be timely. It should occur as soon as practical after the interaction, completion of the
deliverable, or observation is made.
• Be specific. Statements like "You did a great job" or "You didn't take care of the clients' concerns
very well" are too vague and don't give enough insight into the behaviour you would like to see
repeated or changed.
• Focus on the "what," not the "why." Avoid making the feedback seem as if it is a judgment.
Begin with "I have observed..." or "I have seen..." and then refer to the behavior. Focus on
behavior and not the person. Describe what you heard and saw and how those behaviors impact
the team, client, etc.
• Use a sincere tone of voice. Avoid a tone that exhibits anger, frustration, disappointment or
sarcasm.
Positive feedback strengthens performance. People will naturally go the extra mile when they feel
recognized and appreciated. When corrective feedback is handled poorly, it will be a significant source
of friction and conflict. When it is handled well, people will experience the positive effects and
performance is strengthened.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220133
Integration One of the challenges of the flexible workforce is the challenge to feel part of the organisation.
You can help by creating opportunities for them to be integrated: engage them in the vision and mission
of the company, invite them to celebrations, staff meetings, training opportunities and keep the
communication open.
Prevent discrimination against the flexible workforce
Under the Equal Opportunity Act, employees may request flexible working arrangements to
accommodate their responsibilities as a parent or carer. An employer must also make reasonable
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adjustments for a person offered employment or an employee with a disability which can include for
example, flexible working hours.
Some examples of discrimination:
• a change in roster has been implemented that requires all employees to work on a rotating shift.
This may indirectly discriminate against those employees who cannot work afternoon or evening
shifts as they are the sole carer of young children.
• an employee has suffered a back injury outside of the workplace and whilst they have a medical
clearance to return to work for reduced hours, the employer is insisting a return to work can
only occur when the employee is able to resume full time hours.
• an employee has taken 12 months maternity leave and is seeking a return to work on a part-
time basis. The employer insists that the complainant return full-time or resign from their
employment.
Source: http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/about-us/item/547-the-law-explained-flexible-
working-arrangements
To avoid discrimination, you should use risk management methods to assess the likelihood and
consequences of risks and then find the best strategy to manage them.
Align flexible workforce arrangements to organisational requirements
The flexible workforce should be part of the organisation’s effort to enhance productivity and
innovation. Hence, you should embed the innovation and productivity practices and systems into the
flexible workforce arrangements.
The concept of the innovation system stresses that the flow of technology and information among
people, enterprises and institutions is key to an innovative process. It contains the interaction between
the actors who are needed in order to turn an idea into a process, product or service on the market.
Productivity systems and practices can involve continuous improvement processes, technological
advancements and training.
Corporate knowledge It is important to retain corporate knowledge.
There are three types of knowledge: Tacit, Tribal and Corporate Knowledge.
Tacit knowledge is the knowledge that someone has learned about something but isn’t shared or
documented. It is often the knowledge they have about a business process that isn’t identified within an
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operators or process manual that makes that business process run more efficiently. If the individual
having that tacit knowledge, leaves or is transferred, it will negatively affect that business process, as
those who step in to replace that individual simply won’t have that knowledge or experience to use. We
saw an example of this when a woman with over 20 years’ experience of running a production line at
Texas Instruments retired. It cost Texas Instruments over $200,000 and months of lost productivity to
recover from the loss of the tacit knowledge she had. This can affect any position and department
within an organization.
Tribal knowledge is undocumented knowledge that someone has learned and has shared that
knowledge with a small group of individuals within their tribe, their social, business, or work group, but
isn’t widely known, or available throughout the whole organization. Again, like the tacit knowledge
mentioned above, if that knowledge is lost it will have the same effect.
Corporate knowledge is the combined tacit, tribal, documented and undocumented knowledge that has
been gained within a corporation. This knowledge goes to provide the information and knowledge by
which an organization runs.
According to Professor Baruch Lev, of New York University in a paper he released in 2000, it suggests
that in the U.S., “knowledge assets account for 6 out of every 7 dollars of corporate market value”! Your
corporate knowledge is a precious commodity and should be treated as such. Its supply is abundant, but
the ability to capture and use it is scarce. How will you replace the tacit or tribal knowledge of those key,
job-critical employees when you have employee turnover? It’s not even when you have employee
turnover that makes this problem critical. The inability to proactively capture, retain and make
actionable the constantly evolving knowledge within an organization creates a critical problem with
enormous negative consequences, which result in lower productivity, corporate security, efficiency,
revenue and market value.
When are corporations going to wake up and realize that every day they are losing enormous amounts
of time, money, experience and knowledge, simply because they haven’t recognized both the value and
impact of this very important asset? Those organizations that continue to turn a blind eye to the impact
this loss of knowledge has on their organizations will wake up one day to find that they are losing
revenue and market share to their competitors.
Source: http://www.compendian.com/2015/01/corporate-knowledge-is-a-corporate-asset
Company knowledge base can function like a repository, containing critical information for the daily
functioning of your business, as well as its long-term success. It provides an effective way to store
important information regarding your customers, employees, products, and services. It helps employees
access important information to address customer service issues, resolve problems, and gain insight for
workforce collaboration.
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You can increase efficiency and productivity through your online company knowledge base because
employees can pull information from one location. When you use social intranet software as a
knowledge management solution, you can capture information, utilize data and insight, and enhance
the support you offer customers. This leads to greater customer satisfaction and retention, improved
profits, and better employee and customer morale. You will also see benefits across your organization
from increased efficiency, smoother communication, and enhanced information flow.
Here are 7 essential tips for creating the best online knowledge base for your company.
1. Capturing and Reusing Knowledge
When using a knowledge base, you'll take a knowledge-centred approach to customer support,
employee training, and employee on-boarding. You'll also simplify many other processes that require
information sharing and collaboration.
Your company knowledge base is only as relevant as the information contained in it. To create a relevant
online knowledge base, you'll need to add important information to it ... like frequently asked questions,
important issues and topics, and all major guidelines and frameworks within your company.
This knowledge-centred approach is designed to improve the efficiency of your support website ... and
the methodologies and practices you use to capture, structure, use, and reuse knowledge will
streamline your knowledge management capabilities.
2. Address Relevant Issues for your Team
Do your employees face similar issues and concerns with customers? If so, provide that insight and
experience on your online knowledge base. Building a knowledge base works best when you create and
document the solutions to any issues that arise.
3. Frequent Updates
Your company knowledge base must also be regularly updated or your employees will not get sufficient
value from it. It needs to have new insight and data when there is new information available. As
employees interact with the knowledge base, they can continuously review information and add
feedback. If there are mistakes or inaccuracies, they can update the content or bring it to the attention
of someone who can address the concern. This approach ensures that knowledge is updated and
maintained well, offering consistent value and insight.
4. Content Creation and Collaboration
Your online knowledge base enables your company to reach new audiences ... based on the content you
create and share. You can create blogs and articles for marketing purposes. They can include video,
images, multimedia, search engine optimization strategies, and other special features.
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5. Social Insight and Sharing
Knowledge management software lets your employees add their insight within your private system.
They can also share relevant information to customers externally using social share technologies. This
enables you to continuously improve your customer service and employee knowledge.
6. Continuous Improvement
Knowledge management requires continuous improvement and processes to support improvement.
Using social intranet software for your knowledge base makes it simple ... because employees no longer
waste time looking for files or use various versions of documents.
They are able to access all relevant information on any topic in one location. This reduces time spent
responding to customer inquiries. When you grow, and manage your company knowledge base, you can
search for answers in a targeted and efficient manner. The effectiveness of your knowledge base is
dependent on your company's ability to create, edit, and review content on a regular basis.
7. Creating a Simplified, Streamlined Taxonomy
Your online knowledge base has to be easy to search and understand. It is important to have a
streamlined navigation that enables you to collaborate easily so you can capture, share, and update
information easily. This way, your entire team can review, access, and use this information at any time.
In Conclusion
When you build a knowledge base, it's important to keep these things in mind to ensure consistent
responses to customer inquiries, consistent employee training, and consistent collaboration among your
employees. It is also very important that you stay organized and empower your staff to add information,
review content regularly, and update information so it is easy to navigate and understand.
Source: https://axerosolutions.com/blogs/timeisenhauer/pulse/279/7-essential-tips-for-the-best-
company-knowledge-base
Intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is the property of your mind or proprietary knowledge. Basically, the
productive new ideas you create. It can be an invention, trade mark, design, brand, or the application of
your idea. (https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/understanding-ip )
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The IP policies and procedures of the company should be made clear to the employee and reflected in
the employment agreement to set clear lines of rights and responsibilities.
Organisational culture
The flexible workforce should become part of the organisational culture. As such the flexible workforce
is a key factor in creating the flexible organisation.
Today’s global operating environment is too unpredictable to rely on organizational structures devised
over a century ago. As the drumbeat of business disruption grows, organizations can become more
adaptable by unlocking the power of networked teams.
In order to compete in this environment, organizational structure must evolve to unlock the potential
within enterprises and unleash the latent power. Under this new model, predictable efficiency gives way
to rapid adaptability.
There are four main elements for building a flexible, team-based, and networked organization that is
capable of competing effectively in a complex environment and adapting quickly to an uncertain future.
Protect the core and disrupt at the edge
The scale of transformation required to create what we call the “flexible organization” should not be
underestimated. Research shows that only one-third of large companies that embark on a major change
effort accomplish their original goals. One of the main reasons is that any transformation effort must
overcome fierce potential resistance. To avoid this trap, a phased approach is recommended that
incubates the new flexible design on the “edges” of the organization most threatened by disruption,
while protecting the successful “core.”
Incubation is a proven method for fostering change, especially for large organizations that want to
hedge risk and use a skunkworks approach to build momentum for transformation before incorporating
it into the broader business. The key issue is to determine which “edge” to incubate. Organizational
units facing the following challenges are potential candidates:
• Pronounced technology/market disruption
• Intense competition from both large players and new entrants aggressively trying to grab
market share
• Discrete work that is sufficiently separate from broader business processes where incubation
can actually work
Unleash the flexible teams
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Traditional functional organizational structures consolidate scarce talent in siloed teams and then sell
access to that scarcity to the rest of the enterprise. Companies that make the decisions to disrupt at the
edge should borrow a page from successful start-ups by adopting a new design—one that creates cross-
functional, autonomous teams organized by specific outcomes.
These new networks of teams cannot be led by traditional managers. To be successful, team members
must be inspired by confident, knowledgeable leaders who can provide cross-functional coaching and
development with a focus on team dynamics to drive the desired outcomes. Instead of becoming
another version of a tangled matrix organization, this new model of teams must be transparent, digitally
aligned, scalable, and adaptable.
Adopt a collaborative systems mindset
One of the most promising ways of unlocking the latent power of existing social dynamics is by shifting
organization design towards multidisciplinary teams that are empowered with the right skills, decision-
making authority, and freedom to adapt to market developments without being forced to go up multiple
“food chains” to obtain sign-off.
In some respects, the era of the visionary leader, the heroic manager, and the perfect structure needs to
give way to the well-oiled system that harnesses the power of many managers at once. This is the
essence of utilizing a systems mindset in organizational design. Transformation efforts need to address
the “whole” organization, rather than a myopic emphasis on adopting the latest design thinking within
an individual function.
Create the conditions for a flexible organization
A new organization design alone is not enough to achieve the flexibility today’s global companies need
to compete. The network of teams must be empowered and supported through purpose, leadership,
talent, technology, and processes:
• Purpose creates a common vision and shared culture
• New leadership mindset makes the model work
• The new workforce provides the right talent that scales
• Collaboration and technology platforms bring the new design to life
• Processes should allow for the opportunity to fail
Next Steps
• Understand the formal and informal networks in your business.
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• Make organization design decisions based on systems thinking and avoid seeing your company
as an organization chart.
• Look for initiatives that would benefit from incubating at the edge.
• Identify opportunities to break functional silos while organizing around outcomes and flattening
your structure as much as possible.
• Have a clear vision and vocal executive commitment to making the new model work, driving
culture change.
• Enhance transparency and empower employees to be autonomous to improve decision making.
• Use data and tools to increase visibility to the networks of complex organization interactions.
The components of a flexible organization exist in nearly every business. It takes a strong leader with a
clear vision and an unwavering commitment to unlock the power of flexible teams and create a platform
that allows the organization to adapt in a complex, uncertain world.
Sourced and adapted from : https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/human-capital/articles/gx-
unlocking-the-flexible-organization.html
