Talent Shortage: Dealing With Crisis With Technology

No-one likes being reduced to statistics. But the truth is, we aremade up of numbers and we generate data far faster than we do new cells. It’s impossible for humanity to avoid being mathematically modelled; instead of worrying about our own numbers, we need to distinguish between good and bad uses of our intimate information: the doctor using genetic testing to identify breast cancer risk on the one hand; on the other, the shadowy firm harvesting our social media data so they can serve us political ads.

Employee analysis falls firmly into the first category. More information is on the workers of businesses - their skills, experience, productivity, areas of development, happiness - better employers can help them advance their careers while adding more value to the organization. But the overwhelming majority of businesses are failing to tap this fantastic resource, with only a third of companies using people's data to inform people's decisions.

At best, this would represent a major missed opportunity. But as UK businesses are making their way through the fog of Brexit uncertainty, it risks catastrophic consequences.

Britain's unique talent crisis

While almost every developed economy is facing a skills shortage, UK businesses are particularly vulnerable. In the two years following the Leave vote, the UK workforce among EU citizens fell by 95%. What's more, in 2018 almost half of employers experienced more difficulty recruiting during 2018, while a third found it difficult to retain employees.

Organizations harass current employees to invest in innovation, but this can be a very harmful decision. If you do not have the expertise to implement this technology, then what is the point of investing millions in new software? A solid understanding of how technology talent can be broadened, especially to highlight existing talent, as opposed to hiring new employees for every role.

With potentially new technical regulations on the cards, and still in the UK, millions of skilled EU workers should focus their efforts on building a talented workforce to prepare for the unrest. And this is where new technology and employee data play a key role in hiring and retaining top talent, while also developing the skills of existing workers.

Employee insights

One of the most exciting applications is predictive analytics, which enables HR teams to reduce their workload and increase the accuracy of their candidate profiling processes. Today's software can scan the application, find the right candidates, then know the characteristics of the most successful candidates.

Capturing and understanding data can also help HR teams retain their employees better. By increasing staff retention rates, HR departments can contribute to better professional performance by reducing spending on training and recruiting new employees.

Upskilling with AI

Employees and HR both need to see AI as a tool to assist career development rather than a technology that will replace human workers. For example, AI helps HR professionals move from administrative tasks to focusing on the human and building the best teams possible. The more and richer the detail that HR can feed into AI applications, the better they will be able to develop tailored training programmes which will help to develop the skills that the organization most desperately needs.

Better experience

Upskilling is important, but any HR professional knows that effective training is possible only with proper employee engagement. One of the best ways to differentiate employees is random performance management, and very often reviews are conducted sporadically and frustratingly, with little meaningful analysis or goals.

This AI can make such a significant difference. By continuously collecting and analyzing employee data, HR teams can use technology to measure a vast range of employee performance KPIs, including their progress with training and skills programs. This enables businesses to provide a Bespoke learning plan that gives employees a sense of continuous growth, while ensuring that they are acquiring the skills that are most needed by the business.

This can create opportunities for HR departments to assess where upskilling is necessary and who can be a good fit to be trained in new roles, enabling them to react directly to issues due to talent shortages Can go.

The ongoing skills challenge, complicated by Brexit uncertainty, makes it imperative for businesses to be smart about managing talent. Far from dehumanizing employees, observing human data carefully will help HR people develop their full potential.