Profiles Asia Pacific, Inc.

A “perfect storm” is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically.^[1] The term is also used to describe a hypothetical hurricane that happens to hit at a region’s most vulnerable area, resulting in the worst possible damage by a hurricane of its magnitude.(source: Wikipedia.org)

The Workforce Crisis A common myth about the impending workforce crisis is that the issue is about an anticipated talent shortage. The issue is much larger than one could imagine. The United States has never had such a large proportion of older workers in the workforce, or a generation as large as the baby boomers preparing to retire. The growth rate of the labor force has never dropped and stayed so low in our history. We never before relied so heavily on intellectual rather than physical labor. Business owners cannot anticipate the compounding effects that will take place when these trends collide. There is a concept known as the “Perfect Storm” in which critical weather fronts come together to create a storm of catastrophic proportion. The collision of these three factors will in fact create a “Perfect Storm” that can create waves so large the challenges of the millennium bug and the impact 9/11 had on business could look like only a squall on an otherwise gentle sea.

The demographic composition of the workforce has become more diverse than ever before, not just in age but in gender, ethnicity, country of origin, level of education, family status, personal ambition, wealth needed for retirement, and corporate loyalty. Put these forces together, and tomorrow’s labor market will be characterized by more than slow growth and shortages. Will you be prepared when your employees think and act quite differently than their parents, grandparents and previous generations?

So what does this impending workforce crisis mean to you and your business? If we break the crisis down to its simplest elements, you have a supply and demand problem. As a leader, you must have a ready supply of skills and talent to implement and sustain the execution of your business strategy and achieve your performance goals. The issue won’t just be about achieving business goals; it is much broader with even greater implications to your business. Do you have aggressive plans for growth? You may have the people and leaders you need to achieve today’s goal but will you have the people and leaders to take advantage of the economic boom that is before us?

For years you could contract or expand your workforce based on business conditions because you knew there would always be a labor pool in your marketplace. The combination of the baby-boomers’ rush to retirement, coupled with the dearth of new births, has led to fewer and fewer people entering the labor force.The result is a labor pool that is shrinking rapidly.

There is serious doubt whether ready-made, already qualified, locally available candidates will form a large enough labor pool to meet a company’s needs. So, you will have to change your thinking about how you manage your workforce. You are going to have to anticipate your labor and skills needs in the context of the longer term trends. Some of the first tactics you need to take are the retention of key employees, increasing the level of engagement of existing employees, changing how you select new employees, changing your approach for developing new hires, and tapping new sources of labor and skills.

You may be thinking, “I read enough, this is one more problem on my desk I have to solve.” The reason that Age Wave, The Concours Group, and Harris Interactive united with Profiles International to conduct the study about the workforce of the 21st century was not just to cry out, “danger ahead, crisis on the horizon.” Because of the breadth of the study, practices and actions of progressive companies were identified, tools have been created and processes pioneered that can help you survive and thrive during these periods of turmoil and lack of people resources.

(Read more)

http://www.workforce-analysis.com/Reports/Workforce_Crisis_Whitepaper_PS.pdf)