How can we better align our workforce with business strategy? Our working group on workforce architecture/segmentation will report on their findings and conclusions (Southern Company, Deloitte, Lincoln National, World Bank, Pitney Bowes, and Lord Corporation). A large portion of the day was focused on the implications of the study, available below as a word document. We explored how we can focus on specific workforce segments to tailor rewards, talent management, and brand to the demands/opportunities presented by business strategy and (internal and external) workforce changes.

How can we more actively drive business growth? We'll share experiences and insights among members regarding ways we are influencing business strategic thinking about growth and aligning HR priorities, processes, and initiatives with business priorities. We'll explore ways that our HR functions are becoming more closely aligned with growth strategies and initiatives.

Specific Issues -- Peer Assist. Members discussed their HR issues affecting business performance - and solicited peer inputs on solutions. Among the topics discussed were performance management, use of employee surveys and employee engagement, tools/emphasis on new hire screening and selection, and leadership development. From this discussion emerged the topics for the fall meeting.

Our fall meeting was held at Southern Company, hosted by Howard Winkler, at the downtown headquarters.

HR Strategy -- Southern Company and Member Companies

Ellen Lindemann, SVP Human Resources, and Howard Winkler (Director of HR Strategy) discussed the alignment of HR and business strategy at Southern Company, and how the HR function is evolving; Howard Winkler followed up with information on workforce planning and metrics. Using Southern Company as a point of reference, we discussed our company HR strategies - looking for common themes, progress, and concerns.

Talent Segmentation and Workforce Planning

Our major topic was trends, practices, and HR implications of company efforts to reshape the workforce in support of business strategies (cost reduction, globalization, agility).

Talent Segmentation. We explored new concepts and initiatives in redefining workforce requirements, sourcing alternatives, employee value propositions, and cost/benefit structures using a supply-chain analogy. The idea is to make strategic sense out of the many "small" changes in

Outsourcing and Offshoring. We extended our La Jolla discussion on business trends. practices, and HR implications - so as to develop an informed point of view to guide our company's decisions. Background research will provide a context for our discussion; "benchmark" companies will be invited to join us as our guests

Aging Workforce. We reviewed leading practices in addressing HR implications of an increasingly older workforce - in terms of work environment, work flexibility, gradual retirement, succession/ bench strength, etc. Specifically, we'll assess what issues need to be addressed to prepare for both talent outflow and continuity.

Notes from the meeting discussion are available as a Word document below (click):

Atlanta notes.doc

25 of us met at the Colonial Grande and discussed how to build high performance organizations. Our first day's discussion was guided by Jim Benton, who presented the Accenture model and research, and then by Ed Lawler, Director of the Center for Effective Organizations at USC's Marshall School of Business. We discussed his new book, Treat People Right, which was distributed to Council members.

Notes from our discussion are available as a Word document below (click):

La Jolla Notes.doc

Our meeting addressed these topics:

HR transformation and strategic alignment (facilitated by Dick Rison, of Hewitt Associates). Copies of the new Hewitt book by Marc Effron and Bob Gandossy (HR in the 21st Century) and Jim Walker's collection of papers, Building a Strategic HR Function, were distributed to participants.

Managing total labor costs (facilitated by Howard Winkler, Southern Company)

Employee engagement and the employment deal (facilitated by David Hom, Pitney Bowes)

Knowledge and learning - strategic capabilities expected of the HR function (Hubert St. Onge, consultant, educator, and former HR executive.

Notes from our discussion are available as a Word document below (click):

American Management Systems - Fairfax, Virginia

February 24-25, 2003

Ever since the legislated end of mandatory retirement, companies have expressed concern that older workers will either retire too early or stay on too long. For decades they continued to leave early. Now we hear a cry that the impending retirement of the baby boomers will leave companies short staffed and under skilled. History suggests that boomers will make their own rules, as they have in each decade of their demographic presence. And demography suggests the economy has an abundant overall workforce. Labor shortages are typically cyclical and self correcting. So why worry?

What are the future workforce issues that our companies should address through human resource management initiatives? As a Council, we discussed key questions and practices. Relevant articles and research summaries are posted below.

Group discussion reflected different participant viewpoints and business contexts: continuing difficulty recruiting and retaining critical skills (e.g., nursing talent), next-level initiatives to build commitment and retention, increasing reliance on complementary workforce (contractors, part-time, shared talent), emphasis on employment branding, improved data analysis and forecasting, and projecting retirement patterns and providing retraining for older workers who stay.

Peter Cappelli presented the findings of his research on the changing workforce. The major question of the meeting was whether there are workforce shortages anticipated that we should worry about � and if so, what we can do about them. Peter Cappelli presented his research findings and interpretation � which are detailed in his working paper (posted below). He concludes that concerns about overall workforce availability are exaggerated, although companies will need to cope with temporary supply-demand imbalances. Peter will welcome any inputs or questions you have relating to his research (cappelli@wharton.upenn.edu).

Dr. Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management and Director of Wharton�s Center for Human Resources. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge and. He is an active researcher on workforce, labor market, occupational structure, and educational system topics. He is the author of many research papers, articles and books. His most recent book is the highly-regarded The New Deal at work: Managing the Market-driven Workforce (Harvard Business School Press, 1999). He was named in 2002 as one of the 25 most influential people in the field of human capital.

We also discussed the human resource implications of the concern for effective corporate governance and the role of a more independent board of directors. Most of the attention has been on executive compensation, but other topics include ethics, evaluation of CEO performance, and the selection/development of directors themselves.

Succession management is also adapting to meet new board expectations. Boards (and their compensation or succession committees) are becoming more actively involved in leadership assessment and development issues below the CEO position. Jim Walker and Jim LaRocco have authored an article addressing this concern (see Current Research).

See Peter Capelli's presentation and other articles below:

Fall Meeting, 2002, TIAA-CREF, New York City

HR Strategy and Measures: A Reality Check

First, we considered whether our human resource strategies are realistic � do they stretch business thinking? Are they actionable? We will discuss our respective companies� human resource strategies with regard to:

• What new issues and priorities we are addressing? What are our challenges?
• How are we aligning/integrating HR and business priorities?
• How are we formulating human resource (human capital?) strategies differently?
• How are we engaging line management to build the business case and accountability?

Then Stan Smith shared with us how Deloitte & Touche has taken its �employer of choice� strategy to a the next generation (see powerpoint presentation)

Jim Walker reported on the results of a HRSIC research study on HR measures and how they relate to business measures � an examination of recent research studies, company best practices, and Council survey findings:

• How can we measure the impact of initiatives/investments on business performance/organizational effectiveness � our progress in implementing strategies?
• What has been the experience of companies adopting the Balanced Scorecard approach to strategy and measures?
• How are measures of HR process results being linked to business performance (e.g., retention, performance, learning and development)?

See his presentation, which guided our discussion (HR Measures).

In this discussion, our guest resource was Mark Huselid, Professor at Rutgers University and co-author of The HR Scorecard and a book soon to be published on HR Metrics.

Increasingly, the human resource function is expected to provide meaningful human resource measures. We conducted a reality check on:

• What measures make the most sense?
• How are how companies developing data-based reporting systems to help managers make better workforce-related decisions?
• How are these measures used � what impact to they have?

Our guest resources were Mark Little, Practice Manager of the HR Measurement Laboratory, Corporate Leadership Council, and Peter Howes (HRM Consulting, Brisbane, Australia). Peter shared findings from his work with measurement systems and benchmarking in Australasia, Europe, and North America. He and Mark reported on the progress of the HR Measurement Laboratory, a consortium of more than 50 companies working to define a common set of useful measures and supporting data gathering and analysis systems

See their four presentations. Two are Powerpoint files, one is in DOC format, the fourth a PDF file.