Are skilled people the new Legion of the Lost?
One of the greatest challenges facing organisations is how best to harness the great wealth of under-utilised knowledge and experience that is progressively walking out the door.
Every time someone leaves an organisation there is the potential for a loss of know-how.
Sometimes, in the cases where the long serving are departing, the culture of the organisation also dies a little.
People change jobs, the average length of employment in one organisation in Australia is around three years and seems to be reducing: they retire, often earlier than has been the case; or resign for a variety of reasons. Some are retrenched or sacked.
There is an increasing pool of people with a range of competencies in the community that provide an opportunity to reduce the much touted skills gap. The trick is to match the demand and the supply, but nobody knows what the true supply situation really is.
Personnel records in many organisations do not provide information about the skills available in the exiting workforce let alone what expertise has been acquired over the years by people during their working careers.
There are mums who have chosen to stay at home with their kids, sometimes taking routine jobs to earn some additional income. Many of these people have considerable capabilities but our current employment practices mean that this valuable source of experience, knowledge and skills remains virtually untapped.
Same goes for retirees. There are many bored people who are quite fit, mentally capable and active who would love to have an opportunity to use their skills. There are also many people on the aged pension really struggling to make ends meet who have skills in demand.
Creativity and common sense could lead to a productive outcome for all parties. Simply put; we need greater flexibility in working arrangements, short skills update and upgrade training programmes and a system that helps match enterprise needs and the currently unidentified skills resources that are spread around Australia.
Here is a challenge for governments, employers and unions…work together to find and use the national resource of unused skills. Perhaps this is our new legion of the lost?
Les Pickett is Partner for Australasia and South East Asia for international human capital management organisation McBassi & Company and Chief Executive of Pacific Rim Consulting Group. His professional career has taken him to over twenty countries. Former roles include General Manager Management Services with Coles Myer and Deputy Director United Nations System Staff College. He is an Ambassador to Tomorrow's Global Company, a UK based business led think tank and a past international president of the Institute of Business Administration.
Les Pickett is an adjunct of Victoria University, member of the Australian Government Consultative Committee on Knowledge Capital, member of the International Board of Advisors International Public Management Association for Human Resources, former Deputy Director United Nations System Staff College, Past National President Australian Institute of Training and Development, Past Chairman Executive Board International Federation of Training and Development Organisations and International President Institute of Business Administration.
foggy
December 29, 2009 at 6:25 pm
they take their skills with them
personal records in many organisations do not provide information about the skills available in the exitting workforce…..this whole para of yours had me thinking for hours on end.there would be something to treasure such info surely.just do not feel like letting it go like a draft of air or something out the door!i know of several people who left their department and were sorely missed for long not just for themselves but for their skills so peculiar so unusual they should be on guinness rcords, and even the olympics do not know what they are missing!! for only these people had their own certain brand of skills.sob.sigh.