Leveraging talent through training

Leveraging talent through training

Insight paper ‘How to advance the capabilities of today’s workforce’

16 October 2012 - A research study by ManpowerGroup has found that over half of New Zealand companies don’t offer formal training or apprenticeships, prompting a call for organisations to re-visit their training strategies in order to boost productivity.

The data is included in a research report by ManpowerGroup titled ‘Leveraging Talent through Training’.

As the Christchurch city rebuild accelerates next year there will be increased pressure on demand for skilled workers in New Zealand.

Michael Sacco, Manager Australia and New Zealand, ManpowerGroup Training Solutions encourages New Zealand employers to adopt a “build-versus-buy” mentality.

“Many employers are accustomed to finding talent outside their organisation – this can be a risky approach in a talent scarce marketplace. Our advice is to expand the means of developing talent from within.”

“The rebuild is going to put a huge amount of pressure on the local labour market, with the estimated need for workers outstripping the available local talent pool.

“Engaging new talent from local and overseas sources is an important part of building a workforce, however, competition for talent in New Zealand is also a factor.

“Training is a logical way to grow a sustainable supply of talent and allows organisations to focus on developing candidates’ relevant “hard skills” and fields of specialisation,” he said.

ManpowerGroup’s survey found that the major barriers for organisation’s offering internal training programs were: the belief they were too small, the belief they lacked the resources to deliver/run programs, and that training was too costly.

ManpowerGroup advises that reaching out to Government, as well as educational institutions can lead to circumventing some of these challenges. The Building Skilled and Safe Workplaces progress report that was released last week is an opportunity for partnership.

“Understanding the programmes and options available is the first step. Adopting an open and innovative mindset can lead to realising significant value, including increasing skills and productivity and reducing costs,” Mr Sacco said.

“One of the initiatives ManpowerGroup developed to support training across contingent workforces is the Training and Development Centre (TDC).

“The TDC is a blended eLearning initiative that bridges the gap between permanent and contractor workers, offering employees free access to over 4,000 reskilling, training and development assets. This includes access to sophisticated management and leadership programs, through to MS Office refresher training and technical IT courses,” he said.

The insight paper, ‘How to advance the capabilities of today’s workforce’ also released today, outlines how a range of changing workforce trends are changing the way we work. These trends include: a diverse and aging labour force; the changing nature of work/life balance; a globally mobile workforce; and rapid evolution of technologies.

“Organisations must use flexible and adaptive workforce planning in order to attract, retain and grow talent in this market. Providing innovative, practical training programs is a key part of the solution,” Mr Sacco said.

ManpowerGroup Australia & New Zealand
ManpowerGroup, the world leader in innovative workforce solutions and services, has been helping clients and candidates win in Australia and New Zealand since 1964 and 1996 respectively. With over 50 branches across both countries, ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand provides unique value to clients and candidates through its Manpower, Experis, Manpower Professional and Right Management brands, as well as delivering outcome-based solutions through our Managed Service provider, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Strategic Workforce Consulting, Talent Based Outsourcing and Borderless Talent Solutions.

This is the Human Age, where access to talent has replaced access to capital as the key competitive differentiator. ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand creates powerful connections between organisations and the talent they need to enhance their competitiveness and unleash their workforce potential. By creating these powerful connections, we help everybody achieve more than they imagined, and power the world of work.

Follow ManpowerGroup Australia on Twitter http://twitter.com/manpowergroupnzFollow ManpowerGroup New Zealand on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/manpowergroupau

ManpowerGroup is the most trusted brand in the industry, being the only company in our industry to be named to the Ethisphere Institute's 2011 World's Most Ethical Companies list for our proven commitment to ethical business practices, including an outstanding commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate social responsibility. In addition, ManpowerGroup has also been recognized as the industry leader by Fortune magazine, who named the company in first place on its 2011 list of the Most Admired Companies in the temporary help sector.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator. Learn more about this new age at www.manpowergroup.com/humanage

ENDS

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