Harnessing talent determines firm’s success

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New age thinker: Manpowers regional managing director for the Nordic region and SA, Lars Forseth, believes the world economy is entering an age where the war for talent will be the most important factor driving strategy.

Theo Garrun

The world economy has moved beyond the industrial, post-industrial and information ages and now finds itself in the human age.

That’s the view of Lars Forseth, the regional managing director for the Nordic region and SA of global staffing company Manpower.

He believes that the greatest issues facing corporations all over the world concern talent, and the war for talent is what will drive business strategy in future.

“We are entering what I call a ‘talentism’ system,” he says.

“Capitalism is no longer an accurate description. Organisations do not have a problem in obtaining finance and capital. Where they do have a problem is in attracting and retaining the right talent needed to ensure survival and growth in difficult times.”

Manpower is a global research organisation. According to Forseth, the company has identified a macroeconomic trend of high unemployment alongside a lack of relevant skills worldwide.

“We have found, for example, that when we go to southern Europe to look for engineers to relieve the shortage that exists in Norway, we find search companies from the US and Germany already there also looking for engineers.

“This sums up the international problem: there are areas of surplus labour, but they do not have the skills to match the shortages in areas where there are shortages.”

SA is no different, Forseth believes. “You are sitting with a big youth unemployment problem, and at the same time with a shortage of skills in technical areas, including tradesmen and artisans,” he points out.

The situation is SA has been exacerbated by the brain drain, Forseth believes, so there is the additional problem of devising strategies to bring people back.

“Manpower advises on strategy to deal with this talentism issue, both in the short and long term,” Forseth says.

“In the short term it is all about flexibility and temporary solutions, but a long-term solution has to be based on an effective education system and on successful channelling of new entrants in the appropriate areas.”

What a country such as SA should be doing, according to Forseth, is to make itself attractive to global countries to locate their companies here, taking advantage of the talent that is available, along with the other favourable factors.

“The best example of where this is happening in practice is in the call centre industry,” Forseth says.

“Organisations are locating their contact centres in countries like India where technology and well-trained people are available.

“South Africa competes in that market, but needs to ensure that a long-term strategy is in place to make it sustainable and to expand into other sectors.”

According to Forseth, there are several crucial factors that need to be in place.

“First, there needs to be an understanding of which skills are required, and an education system that is geared to produce those skills.

“Then the business environment must be attractive to foreign investments.

“This means the tax regime must be competitive and suitable locations must be available.”

The regulatory framework must be favourable as as well, Forseth says.

In the countries where this is in place, there has been a consultation process between the social partners in drawing up the legislation.

“There is nothing wrong with strict regulation,” Forseth says.

“In fact, we do not do business in regions where lack of regulation leads to exploitation of workers.

“The regulations have to favour growth and employment, however, in broad terms.

“In the most successful economies, government provides the broad framework and the details are supplied through collective agreements on a sector-to-sector basis.”

Speaking on the current debate on regulation of the temporary employment services sector in SA, Forseth says it is not unique to this country.

“Unions will always object to temporary work because it makes organisation of workers difficult, but at the same time it has become apparent worldwide that temporary employment is the way to provide an entry into the world of work for young people.

“You are never going to solve a youth employment problem, such as South Africa has, through insisting that all work must be permanent.”

The government and business have a responsibility to make entry into work possible for young people, but it should not be at the expense of older workers.

“We need training opportunities, job-shadowing and apprenticeships, all of which will be temporary positions, but which can lead to employment in the long term,” Forseth concludes.