The Virtual, Global Workforce

Anyone who has sat in enough teleconferences has experienced a special kind of meeting hell. The discussion drifts and sags until, to try to get things back on track, the facilitator says, "John, what do you think about the proposed initiative?" Then, after an awkwardly long pause, John responds with: "Oh, sorry, what was the question again?"

It’s fitting that 2012 is a leap year, since a number of converging market trends are driving HR organizations to make significant leaps in capabilities and performance. HR faces a critical, dual imperative in 2012 — a focus on enabling both their organization’s overall growth agenda and on driving efficiency in the business of HR. This dual focus demands decisive action as the stakes are greater than ever.
The top eight human capital trends outlined in the report include:

• In 2012 growth is job #1
• Operation globalization
• Fast-track to the top
• People risk is risky business
• Seeing around corners
• #social #mobile @work
• Clouds in the forecast
• Stay in front with an effective sales force

Businesses are calling on HR to leap ahead and help manage change in the face of complex challenges that touch so many parts of the enterprise. Understanding the 2012 Human Capital Trends — what they mean for both leading HR and for leading the business — is a great place to start.

When I visit companies, it's one of the most frequent complaints I hear: "I'm working on a project with people I've never met." Or: "This virtual team I'm on is a disaster — nobody really knows what the other is doing." Many of us have found ourselves thrown onto project teams in which we must work with others across several time zones and even different countries. It's common to assume that such dispersion will necessarily lead to big inefficiencies and degraded performance. Not so fast!
 

Women make up just over 50% of Africa's growing population and their under-representation in social, political and economic spheres must be addressed if Africa is to leverage fully its promise and potential.

As retention of factory workers becomes a problem for companies in China, wages and benefits are increasing. But employers still face a labor shortage -- and their potential responses to it may have big implications for China and the rest of the world. 

PARIS—Alcatel-Lucent SA plans to reorganize its European work force in a move that union officials said eventually could mean the loss of 1,800 positions.  Striving to return to consistent profit in a weak European economy, the company said Thursday that it will take some outsourced jobs back in house and relocate some workers.

Brazil is on track for yet another year of above-average GDP performance. This boom, however, poses challenges for the country. Chief among them is a shortage of qualified labor.

The dismal worldwide economy is affecting compensation decisions, although there are some "hot spots," such as Brazil, Singapore, China and South Africa. Employers continue to focus on pay-for-performance and workforce segmentation in their rewards strategies.
 
photo courtesy of toasty ken

Wang Fuchuan lies in bed wearing a quilted black jacket, with two comforters pulled up to his chin to keep out the chilly November air. The heating at the Beijing Songtang Caring Hospice is broken, and the 90-year-old’s nostrils are stuffed with toilet paper to stop perpetual dripping. Cockroaches scurry across the floor of his room, which has no toilet or running water. His possessions, a few articles of clothing, are in a plastic bag under his bed next to a pink plastic wash bowl with a sliver of soap. His only entertainment is a transistor radio.

The year 2020 is only a decade away, yet the way our global workforce is sourced, organised, and managed will change radically by that time. An explosion of activity in emerging markets has contributed to a significant increase in the need for companies to move people and source talent from all around the world. In this next installment of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Managing tomorrow’s people series, we decided to explore the issue of future talent mobility in more detail.

In an increasingly integrated and volatile global economic landscape, companies are adjusting their global activities to the new economic realities. Core to these efforts is the recognition of the needs to address supply chain challenges, manage talent requirements and gain operational efficiencies through global footprint optimization.
These needs have significant implications for how and where companies are deciding to operate, as they seek to adapt to changing demand patterns. 2010 thus marked companies’ return to growth in foreign investment activities, with emerging countries as the main beneficiaries of this investment.

For Nigeria to be ranked among the great nations of the world, it must invest heavily on its human capital through adequate education of its youths, former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, has said.

 
How can aspiring leaders develop their skills so that they’re effective in different markets around the world? Here are some tips.

There are more than 3 million entries for “leadership” that result from a Google search; Amazon has more than 120,000 books with the word “leadership” in the title; and countless leadership gurus put forth their views on the subject. This can easily overwhelm any talent leader looking to identify and develop future leaders in the organization who can be effective in different markets around the world.