Addressing the talent and skills gaps – what HR leaders need to know

By Anthony Ariganello, C.M.

The competition for talent has existed for as long as organized work has been in place. However, the situation was exacerbated during the pandemic and has remained an issue since.

As COVID-19 gripped the world, the scales appeared to tip in favour of employees who were forced to revisit the world of work. This started as a potentially temporary solution, but then became more permanent as the virus continued to spread.

This brings us to where we are today. While the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, workplaces have been redefined – for better or worse. The clear takeaway is that talented and skilled employees have more options in front of them. They can more easily jump ship to greener pastures – financially, emotionally and otherwise.

To add to this is the fact that today’s world of work has new positions and titles that did not exist even as recently as three years ago. This means that today’s HR professionals are being buffeted on many fronts, and they have had to adapt accordingly.

So, how should HR leaders respond? Well, we won’t attempt to boil the ocean on this big topic in this article. Rather, in keeping with a crawl, walk, run approach, here are some things to think about and act upon.

First, there is a need for introspection. How easy is it in your organization to grow, develop and enhance one’s career? How open is the organization to creating new opportunities for talented and skilled employees?

If the answers to both of these questions are negative, then you know you have an internal cultural block that needs to be addressed by the C-suite, as well as the HR leadership. While changing an organization’s internal culture is difficult at the best of times, demonstrable action is required.

For example, showing a willingness to think outside the box will encourage and motivate others to find ways to stay and pivot at the organization. This can be accomplished by creating opportunities for employees to be recruited or promoted into positions that align with the future direction of the organization. In other words, reverse engineer the process of creating opportunities by leveraging the skills and talents of employees and aligning them with growth opportunities needed to move the organization forward.

This is all backed up by research and facts and is particularly applicable to younger generations in the workplace. In a thought-provoking and insightful Workday White Paper, the authors cite Jaime Fall, Director of The Aspen Institute’s UpSkill America, confirming that “lots of surveys show that if millennials and Gen Z workers don’t feel their employers are investing in their education, training, or development, they’re not going to stay.”

Another area that HR and C-Suite leadership need to address and tackle, is the burgeoning impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Earlier this summer, CPHR BC & Yukon partnered with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT) and PwC, around a survey entitled Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 Is your workforce reinvention ready?, ?in which the PwC team found that employees with specialized training are more likely to see AI impacting their career—in both positive and negative ways.

However, those without specialized training are less likely to anticipate an impact from the technology and are more likely to be among the 22% of global respondents who say that they don’t think AI will impact their jobs at all.

This represents an opportunity for HR professionals to work with leadership in demonstrating how the organization is embracing AI and creating an environment for learning-- albeit with some guardrails around data access, privacy, copyright protection and other sensitive areas.

Being transparent and purpose-driven regarding plans and decisions can also help employees who are wary of AI—and what it may mean for their jobs—feel more comfortable experimenting with it and even adopting it into their work, where appropriate. Chances are that your employees are already experimenting with AI outside of work, so channel that energy by bringing them into brainstorming sessions to see how AI could improve things for their roles or departments.

Externally, HR leaders should work with their communications and PR teams to build, foster, and solidify a differentiated value proposition to attract the kind of skills and talent the organization needs rather than wants. HR should participate in targeted events for recruitment, as well as reputation building and enhancement efforts. Secure media attention and coverage on your organization as a great place to work, apply for a select number of high profile and coveted employer of choice applications, and if you win and get into the top 10, publicize and amplify those results among employees, as well as to prospective recruits.

John Maxwell, the number one New York Times bestselling author, coach and speaker, puts it aptly, “I believe that everyone chooses how to approach life. If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.”

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