How to build an effective global knowledge workforce
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| Pages | 5-5 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390680000929 |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Author | Frederick D. Miller |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
5
Volume 6 Issue 1 November/December 2006
HOW TO…
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Practical advice for HR professionals
DEPARTMENTS AT A GLANCE
STRATEGIC COMMENTARY
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e-HR
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HOW TO…
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PRACTITIONER PROFILE
METRICS
HR AT WORK
REWARDS
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RESEARCH AND RESULTS
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Build an effective global
knowledge workforce
1
WHERE IN THE
WORLD?
5
BUILDING A HIGH-
PERFORMANCE
WORKFORCE
4
CAREER PATHS TO
DRIVE PERFORMANCE
3
TALENT RETENTION
2
Workforce management is
now a global activity.As HR
forecasts the types of skills
and number of workers a
corporation will need, it
should be monitoring
emerging markets to
determine where workers
with the necessary skills will
be available and how much
competition there will be for
those workers at each
location. The global situation
is highly fluid as different
cities and countries focus on
developing specific skills in
their populations. HR also
needs to analyze potential
locations’ attractiveness to
relocating Western workers
based on: size of expatriate
community; safety; ease of
travel; and schools.
Retention is a serious
problem in emerging markets
because changing employers
is often the fastest way for
workers to raise their
salaries.The increasing
number of companies
competing for labor is driving
this.A talent retention
strategy should include:
locating in less well-known
cities where there’s less
competition for talent;
building retention into hiring
(for example, paying
potential workers’ school
fees in exchange for a
commitment to work for a
number of years) better
defining career paths in
emerging markets to provide
a greater promise of upward
mobility; and offering
rotations in the West to
talented employees.
This issue arises in both
developed and emerging
countries. If a company shifts
most (or all) of its entry-level
knowledge work to emerging
markets,how does this affect
career paths? How high will
workers in the emerging
market be able to rise,
especially because the senior
positions in knowledge
companies often focus more
on customer relationship
skills than on technical
ability? And if entry level
work shifts overseas, where
does the next-generation of
Western leadership come
from? HR needs to think
through the implications of
allowing none, some,or all
of next generation leadership
to come from emerging
markets with a view to
motivating top talent.
C
orporations increasingly source
knowledge work (tasks usually
requiring some form of higher/
college education) in emerging markets
such as China and India, in order to take
advantage of those countries’ lower
labor costs and growing pools of talent.
This trend poses different challenges
for HR than the integration of lower-
skilled workers into a global corporation
because of the career expectations of
knowledge workers and the growing
competition for skilled workers in all
markets.
HR can play a significant role in
implementing global workforce-
strategies, but needs to craft solutions to
the novel problems of the global
workforce, both in emerging markets and
in their companies’ home countries.
The following points represent five
areas for particular focus when trying to
implement global knowledge-workforce
solutions.
Source:
Frederick D.Miller, director in the Human Capital Practice,Deloitte Consulting.
HIRING IN A NEW
LOCATION
What will be the hiring
strategy in emerging
markets? Workers can be
hired directly into the
company or hired by a local
entity that operates as a
subcontractor.Each approach
has advantages. Hiring
workers directly gives a
company more control over
its workforce and may
facilitate hiring, since
emerging market workers
often view working for a
Western company as
prestigious. However,local
companies have a better
understanding of local hiring
practices and culture and
may be better able to
manage worker expectations
regarding rewards and work
conditions, in order to be
consistent with local
practices
Knowledge work tends to be
shared between workers in
developed and emerging
markets.People around the
world who may be wary of
each other because of career
path concerns, have to
coordinate their work. When
work is done globally,
training is needed in all
locations to establish a
shared understanding of
work processes and people
interactions. If possible,
global work teams should
have opportunities for face-
to-face bonding, especially in
their early phases.Whether
teams are global or local, HR
has to monitor the
effectiveness of new patterns
of work (cost, speed and
quality) and intervene when
new organizations are not
contributing as needed.
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