Workforce Crisis - How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent
A book for organizations and leaders
“It is essential reading for every manager.”
Warren Bennis, Professor, University of Southern California and co-author of Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values and Defining Moments Shape Leaders
Is your organization prepared to attract and retain the talent you’ll need? Do you understand the implications of demographic trends for the global workforce?
Unprecedented shifts in age distribution are underway. Decades of slowing birth rates mean that the future rate of workforce growth will decline precipitously, for example, from over 10% per decade in the United States in the past to just 2% or so going forward. Younger workers, particularly those with college degrees, will be in increasingly short supply, and the fastest growing source of additional labor will be older people, including those already retired. The reality: organizations in the industrialized world are going to experience profound changes in the available workforce.
Successful talent management will depend on redefining retirement and transforming management and human resource practices to attract, accommodate, and retain workers of all ages and backgrounds. Based on decades of groundbreaking research, Workforce Crisis presents innovative and actionable management techniques for leveraging the knowledge of mature workers, reengaging disillusioned midcareer workers, and attracting and retaining talented younger workers.
Workforce Crisis is a guide for organizations and leaders. In it, my co-authors and I paint a compelling picture of the changing workforce and outline a host of pragmatic steps that you should begin now to insure you have the talent you need for the future.
1. You should prepare your firm for talent shortages by putting in place a series of work arrangements that will allow you to tap into every available labor pool – to “turn every stone” as you look for the best employees over the years ahead. The book includes many practical examples of how leading companies are beginning to take these steps and what you should do now.
2. You need to understand what the future workforce values and develop programs that engage employees’ hearts and minds. The book outlines fascinating variations in worker needs, preferences, and lifestyles expected going forward.
3. You need to re-think your organization’s capabilities to support this new workforce. For example, like it or not, corporations will bear an increased burden for educating the future workforce – there simply will not be enough people with the ready skills required – do you have the capacity necessary? Similarly, you’ll need different HR practices and new management practices generally, to create a successful relationship with future employees.
Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, Harvard Business School Press, 2006 (co-authored with Ken Dychtwald and Robert Morison)
For specific advice on managing the changing workforce, Ask Tammy
Endorsements for Workforce Crisis
“Every once in a great while a book comes along that is more than a book – it is a catalytic force. Workforce Crisis is just such a book. It provides a new view of world demographics and economic realities, of workforce crisies that are potentially avoidable, and even more importantly, of workable solutions.”
Ellen Galinsky, President, Families and Work Institute
“Inexorable demographic trends are taking us into workforce territory few organization understand. In unknown territory, we need good maps, and that’s just what this book provides: a penetrating map of the workforce of the future and how to navigate the difficult terrain ahead.”
Thomas W. Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professof Management, MITSloan School of Management and author, The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life
“In a provocative and marvelously researched manner, this book shows with absolute clarity the way the ‘demographic time bomb’ will develop. Yet with wisdom, insight, and practical examples, the authors demonstrate how every company can respond – and indeed gain – from the changing nature of the workforce.”
Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School
“Workforce Crisis turns impending demographic challenges into managerial opportunities. It is a must-read and -use for anyone charged with getting the most out of today’s talent.”
Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business Administration, University of Michigan, and co-author, The HR Value Proposition and Why the Bottom Line Isn’t
For more information, download the Workforce Crisis Readers Discussion Guide
