Question

Many firms complain that they cannot find qualified workers, according to a study of more than 6,000 executives. New research shows that more than 65 per cent of companies do not have programs designed to build skills for future needs. Only 16 per cent said they support employees who want to seek the training themselves.

At the other end of the career path, only about half of executives surveyed said their firms help older workers transition to new roles. Sixteen per cent see older workers as a barrier to innovation, saying they are blocking the rise of new talent. Hiroshi Nakanishi, one of the authors of the report, said many companies are "deer in the headlights, wondering what to do next. People do not know what the skills of the future are at the moment. They're way behind."

With JAPAN jobless claims at a 39-year low and the global economy heating up, companies that cut training budgets during the last recession are now scrambling to attract new talent and retain workers. "The learning and development marketplace always drop during recessions," Nakanishi said. "Then when everything gets good again, they scratch their heads and say, 'Hey, how come we're not doing any training around here and nobody knows what to do?'" Training can be more cost-effective than many companies realize, Nakanishi said. It costs about six times more to hire a new worker than it does to retrain and retain an existing employee, and new hires are also more likely to leave.

1. Based on the case above, explain FIVE (5) reasons why organisations fail to attract and retain talents.

1. Discuss FIVE (5) methods for managers can do in assisting older workers transition to new roles.

Answer 1

                                    The above case represents the situation where most of the organizations fails to either attract qualified workers or make innovative steps to retain the working force available who are not fully industrially efficient. The following are the major reasons why the organizations wither fails to attract or retain the talented and quality workforce.

· Failure of Human Resource identification: Most often the HR managers and staff who undertakes the recruitment fails to define the standards that are required for the specific job and opens the recruitment drive to most of the people who are not suited for the particular job. This results in the board being deceived at the time of interview mechanisms and recruiting of individuals who are not the required ones suitable for the job.

· Variations in the wage structure for similar jobs: Most often, many organizations fail to promote the right talent or recruit them as they fail to meet the needs of the employee to get the right wages. Although similar jobs are performed, most fresher recruits fails to get these and thus results in their resignations.

· Improper recruitment pattern: Most of the recruitment patterns follows a general trend and focus less on the reason why they are being recruited which forces the non-industrious labourers to drop out

· Lack of proper identified training patterns: Most of the training patterns involves imparting training as a group and does not consider whether it has succeeded in imparting the knowledge to all those who have undergone the training.

· Difference in age patterns and lack of communication: Due to difference in age patterns of the employees, unless proper groupings are done, many miscommunications may occur

The following are the major steps that the managers can do to assist the older workers and make them industrially efficient to play the new roles

· Technology transfer by proper training modules: The organizational management could make steps to impart technological training modules so as to retain the older working force.

· Maintaining a proper mix of older and new employees

· Making suitable variations in the working environment and working time so as to gain the maximum efficiency out of the older working force

· Promoting incentives and emoluments so as to retain their confidence in the organization.

· Providing benefits like improved pension structure etc so as to retain the workforce till they are industrially efficient.