Accenture Trends Reshaping HR Workforce One
Accenture Trends Reshaping HR Workforce One
Accenture Trends Reshaping HR Workforce One
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Impact on the
Business
Increase revenues
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Figure 2: What our survey respondents said about one-size-fits-all people practices
Aspect of work
One-size-fits-all examples
Generic cubicles
Our new more sophisticated system slots people into predetermined roles based on experience and skills. But we either
promote people to their level of incompetence, or mistakenly
assume that the job a person is most qualified for is the most
satisfying. So now many people leave the firmand we lose
that potential talent.
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Impact on HR
Customization of HR practices can greatly
benefit employees and their organizations.
Its also good for the HR function itself.
Why? It positions HR to become the
strategic powerhouse it was meant to
be. Just as customization transformed the
marketing function, it can revolutionize
HR tooby elevating HR to the top of the
CEOs strategic agenda and making HR
integral to how the company competes.
We believe managing a workforce using
a workforce-of-one approach represents
the next major phase of HRs journey as a
profession. This approach moves HR past
the standardization of people practices
that has characterized the past decade.
Organizations have achieved efficiencies
and reduced costs through standardizing.
Now they can use that standardized
framework to tailor HR practices to
employees (see Figure 3). In this way,
companies can continue to reap the
benefits of standardization (efficiency and
control) while also gaining the strategic
advantages offered by customization.
One key is to customize within a
structured, rules-based framework that
allows for flexibility. The following
strategies can help:
Segment the workforce. Straight from
the handbook of marketing, companies
can group employees based on specific
criteria, such as value to the company,
role or generation. They can then tailor
people practices for each segment. And
with advances in business intelligence and
analytics, organizations can now create
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Tomorrow's practice
Workforce of one
Yesterday's practice
Workforce of many
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Bottom Line
An article in The Economist proclaimed
that were entering an age where
granularity will be kingwhere (for
example) quantum mechanics breaks
matter down to the subatomic level, and
each link in a companys supply chain can
be fitted with a radio frequency ID tag
and managed individually.7 Its time for
talent management practices to join this
age. To do so, HR professionals will need
to view employees as individuals with
unique needs and preferences who are
capable of making work-related decisions
for themselves and their subordinates
within a structured framework.
By applying the principles of
customization gleaned from their
marketing counterparts, HR
professionals can create an environment
where individuals can flourish even as
organizations maintain some measure
of control. Organizations that make it
possible for employees to excel through
personalized work experiences set the
stage for new heights of performance
themselvesdriven by committed,
engaged and productive talent.
Notes
Related Reading
Workforce of One: Revolutionizing Talent
Management through Customization,
by Susan M. Cantrell and David Smith
(Harvard Business Press, 2010).
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2. Ibid.
3. Lets Make an I-Deal, by Denise
Rousseau. Performance and Profits,
August 2006.
4. Fewer Hands on Deck, by George
Cahlink. Government Executive, June 1,
2004, Vol. 36, No. 9, p. 68. Reprinted with
permission. Copyright 2009 by National
Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
5. The Embedded Corporation, by Stanford
Jacoby (Princeton University Press, 2004).
6. Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development, HR Survey, 2008.
7. The Next Little Thing, by Lucy Kellaway.
The World in 2006, The Economist, 2006.
About Accenture
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consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with 257,000
people serving clients in more than
120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities
across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the worlds
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collaborates with clients to help them
become high-performance businesses and
governments. Through its Skills to Succeed
corporate citizenship focus, Accenture is
committed to equipping 250,000 people
around the world by 2015 with the skills to
get a job or build a business. The company
generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion
for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2012.
Its home page is www.accenture.com.
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