The quest for exceptional, high performance workers
Nia Sarinastiti Accenture Senior Manager
In the past few years, discussions about the importance of people to an organization's success has crescendoed.
Battered by the "war for talent" that raged before the technology bubble burst in 2000 and grappling with the tight budgets, slow growth and layoffs that ensued, corporations across the globe have awakened to the fact that the workforce, indeed, has become one of the biggest competitive differentiators -- if not the biggest -- among companies today.
Accenture is a firm believer in the value of the workforce and the critical role it plays in a company's success. One demonstration of this belief is its comprehensive research projects, dedicated to gathering new insights on how companies can create and sustain a workforce that can enhance competitive advantage, such as the High Performance Workforce study.
As part of this year's study, Accenture surveyed 200 human resource and senior corporate executives at companies in six countries, conducted in-depth interviews with executives at influential organizations and combed through dozens of related articles and studies. These efforts have led to six key findings:
1. In this difficult business environment, the strategic importance of effectively managing and developing the workforce is widely acknowledged by business executives around the world.
2. At most companies, however, executives believe there is a lack of critical workforce skills, workforce understanding of business or organizational strategy, and employee understanding of the connection between their jobs and overall corporate strategic priorities.
3. In light of these shortcomings, companies have implemented a wide range of human resource (HR) and training programs designed to improve workforce performance, and in many cases, have increased their spending to do so.
4. Despite these efforts, executives for the most part are only moderately satisfied with the results of their HR and training initiatives, and with the overall performance of their HR and training functions.
5. A major shortcoming in many companies is the lack of measurement -- specifically, measurement of the business impact of HR and training and development initiatives -- which is preventing executives from understanding where and how they should best apply their resources.
6. There are some companies that are achieving success in this area. These leaders in human performance see the HR function, as well as HR and training activities, as valuable and strategically important; measure the impact of HR and training investments against key business results; use technology to improve workforce performance; and are most likely to align their workforces with customers.
The research result suggests that best practices used by human performance leaders are often key contributors to realizing market leadership, superior financial performance and robust shareholder value.
In the upcoming series of articles from Accenture, we will explore these findings in more detail, as well as reveal innovative approaches that executives can use to understand and strengthen the crucial link between workforce performance and overall business results.
These will include topics such as workforce shortcomings and improvement, satisfaction and measurement/feedback, maintaining leadership positions, human resources priorities and relevance to corporate strategy.
In short, the study hopes to demonstrate the important connection between an organization's workforce and its ability to create measurable value and achieve superior performance, while providing solid approaches that leaders can use to instill more confidence in their people as they prepare their organizations for brighter times.