Additionally, knowledge workers who remain in the workforce are undergoing drastic changes in their attitudes, motivations and values. According to the Emerging Workforce^® Survey, a joint initiative conducted by Spherion Corporation and Harris Interactive, the workforce has emerged with new priorities and motivations. More than 50 percent of workers report growing confidence in their ability to earn a stable income as a “free agent.” Work/life balance registered as the top career priority (86%) and 96% of workers agree that an employer is more attractive when it offers flex options such as telecommuting, on-site day care and job sharing.

Most startling, the study found that nearly 40 percent of employees would like to make a job change in the next year. With an average turnover cost of $55,997, U.S. business leaders are looking at more than $600 billion in turnover costs over the next two years.

With the workforce growing older and less skilled but far more diverse, confident, demanding and change ready then ever before, business leaders are facing an entirely new dynamic in the battle for high-quality talent.

Despite all of the compelling information supporting the importance of sourcing and retaining talent, most organizations fall short in this regard. According to the Saratoga Institute, 57% of companies do not have a retention strategy in place and only 35% have specific retention or turnover goals. According to the Spherion^® Emerging Workforce Survey, over 81% of companies have no formal work/life balance programs in place. Many experts believe that fewer still have any defined talent acquisition strategy.

In addition, while most organizations have successfully re-engineered operations and overhead to reduce costs and improve profitability within key functions, workforce management has been overlooked and remains a largely uncontrolled function.

Most organizations today operate, and in turn, source talent, in a largely decentralized manner—recruiting from a multitude of sources and throughout a number of business lines, functions, and locations. When talent sourcing is decentralized and unmanaged, it leads to

• Inability to identify best sourcing channels,
• Risk of unfavorable employer branding,
• Lack of standardization,
• Loss of talented candidates, and
• Critical jobs left vacant.

All resulting in:

• Wide fluctuations in quality,
• Potential for legal liability,
• Lost productivity,
• Lack of consolidated metrics & reporting, and
• Uncontrolled costs.

These issues fuel many of the top concerns business leaders struggle to address—lack of available talent, cost control and flexibility.

< Page 1     Last Page >

Discover the power of Total Workforce Acquisition for yourself,  contact us today.