What is Global Workforce Intelligence?

What is Global Workforce Intelligence?

Workforce intelligence is a discipline on the rise. Not only has it become more accessible thanks to new user-friendly products, it’s become more essential too. Against a backdrop of rapid inflation, social justice movements, global conflict, and the need to adapt to post-pandemic working practices, the talent supply chain is now the the number one issue on the minds of CEOs.

Decisions about talent are being made in every company, every day, but most of them are not being made in a very strategic nor very intelligent way. Enter workforce intelligence. The key to making better strategic talent decisions.

By joining the dots between workforce and workplace, workforce intelligence data enables leadership teams to see around corners which is why it was exciting to see industry thought leader, Josh Bersin, talking about global workforce intelligence recently.

Bersin’s interest in the topic reflects its growing importance and the role of data in making future-focused decisions. We’re thrilled that Josh will be one of our Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast's guests this summer and we’re looking forward to talking to him about how to take the conversation about workforce intelligence to a strategic level.

How to use workforce intelligence to its full potential

Having read Bersin's Global Workforce Intelligence Project report, here is my perspective on how businesses can tap into the true value of workforce intelligence data.

The concept of ‘skills profiles’ needs to be expanded to be viewed as a skills landscape. Skills are constantly in flux. As demand shrinks for some skills, and new skills emerge, talent intelligence should be a live indicator of where in-demand skills are, the diversity of the talent pool with these skills, and the industries and companies that these skills tend to be in - as a bare minimum. The wider your lens, the more you can learn about the talent your business will need in the future.

Career pathways are part of the standard HR remit but the edge that workforce intelligence has over traditional career pathways is that is analyses talent flows. From where do people with in-demand skills enter an industry? Where to they move from and to? and where to people leave it to go to? This analysis enables companies to look at the whole career lifecycle from education onwards, allowing HR to target talent acquisition and longer-term development accordingly.

As the Global Workforce Intelligence Project report states, “In most companies, job titles and job descriptions are artifacts of days gone by” and that’s a statement with which we at Stratigens concur. But future-focused job descriptions do not hold the answer to skills supply issues. Using workforce intelligence, companies should be able to break jobs down into the work that needs to be done and then work out how best to tap into the relevant skills. In today’s world of work, the skills you need might not be wrapped up in one person as in days gone by, and therefore a job description becomes of minimal value.

Understanding your competitors’ organisational structures provides important indicators about their talent model. Workforce intelligence should go beyond – enabling you to monitor your competitors for talent – not just competitors for market share. Many of the projects we deliver for clients include a real-time picture of hiring patterns in competitor companies, flagging new trends such as hiring in new markets or pivoting to recruit for different skills. This valuable intelligence informs strategic decisions at the top of the organisation.

As a basic standard, workforce intelligence should provide data on metrics such as talent supply, pay and HR practices. Strategic workforce intelligence, or as we call it - decision intelligence, combines this data with other factors that influence talent supply, talent demand and acquisition. For example, Stratigens includes robust data on working environments, connectivity, digital and transport infrastructure, commute times and many other influences that shape the talent landscape.

Take a fresh look at global workforce intelligence

If you’re already using workforce intelligence to inform decision-making, can you see opportunities to move it up a level? To inform strategic decisions early on by joining the dots between workforce and workplace?

The insights from doing so are invaluable. By using a product that is not restricted by ATS data or job vacancies, workforce intelligence goes way beyond talent acquisition. Book a demo of Stratigens to see how we achieve this.