A great image found at New Old Stock, that (perhaps inadvertently) is an interesting take on team dynamics. Which one of these people are you?
Image Source: http://nos.twnsnd.co/image/85029502569
I'm proud to announce that I will be presenting at the ATC Events' 3rd Annual Contingent Workforce Conference in Melbourne on the 2nd and 3rd of September. I'll be running an unconference session on Evolving Towards Contingent Workforce Planning, and discussing ways that you can configure your workforce for leverage and agility.
Often when people embark upon workforce planning, they consider only their employees - of course, in many organisations, the workforce is more than the employees alone. With the contingent workforce expected to make up 50% of Fortune 100 companies' workforces by 2020*, and the rise of crowdsourcing blurring the lines between the workforce and the consumer, it's more critical than ever that organisations take a holistic approach to workforce strategy. After all, you need to attract, motivate, and retain contingent workers as well as employees.
Whether employees, contractors, or a combination, getting the right people on the bus requires a holistic approach image: http://publicdomainarchive.com
Flexibility is one of the lynchpins of workforce planning. How you leverage your workforce and configure it can dramatically impact business performance, and this session will explore some of the the metrics and approaches that are key in enabling you to create both leverage and agility.
I hope to see you in Melbourne in September, along with speakers from GE, Santos, Morgan Stanley, and Freelancer.com - if you'd like more information about the conference, you can find it at the official ATC Events site here.
* 2020 sounds futuristic, doesn't it? But it's within most organisations' strategic planning timeframe!
Recently an Oxford University study entitled "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?" ranked 702 occupations by their likelihood to be automated in the next 10-20 years. Automation is coming, and visions of the future of work ranging from utopia to disaster have been forecast.
Chris Zaharia, Alex Hagan, and Oculus Rift
Last week at the Australasian Talent Conference, we got to play around with Oculus Rift, the Virtual Reality headset that has been bought by Facebook for more than $2 billion.
Oculus Rift may mark the point where Virtual Reality moves from novelty to real-world practical application. To not only be playing Mario Brothers, but to BE Mario, is a surreal immersive experience.
In the near-term, you can expect to see VR training simulations - but combined with robotics in the medium-term, the potential of this technology for the workplace (particularly for remote and dangerous work) is enormous. We've already seeing instances of robotics and remote control for unmanned bombing missions in Afghanistan, in bomb diffusing robots, and even in Disney Theme Parks - combining this type of remote controlled robotics with the immersive experience of Virtual Reality may be a logical next step. For now, we're adding Oculus to the list of technologies to watch for Environment Scanning, and eager to see what Facebook will do with the technology.
A recent profile on NPR talks about the myriad ways in which UPS drivers are monitored in a way reminiscent of Frederick Winslow Taylor's Time and Motion Studies, and the benefits that this has for the organisation. Is this Workforce Analytics as Neo-Taylorism? What are the implications, and does the future of work look like a UPS truck?
The Elephant in the Room is that a lot of HR practices in organisations today don't support innovation, creativity, or engagement. As told by a story about an actual elephant in an actual room at the Smithsonian.
Thanks to all who made #MasterPlan2014 great. Here's a short summary video:
It has been a phenomenally engaging and enjoyable couple of weeks as ATC Events and Kienco ran the #Masterplan2014 Strategic Workforce Planning conference in Melbourne (26/27 March) and then Wellington (1/2 April). Some photos and videos are coming, but for now I'll just reiterate my heartfelt thanks to the following people:
