Posted by RecruitingTrends.com on Mar 15th, 2010

By Tim Giehll

During the recession of 2008/2009, websites like Forbes’ Layoff Tracker displayed
a running list of companies that laid off hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands of workers. Certainly, if CEOs had a more fluid method to relate slowing business performance to a decreased need for human capital in real-time they would have been able to gradually ramp down their staffing levels rather than decrease them so abruptly and publicly.

As the economy rebounds, your company will be vying with competitors for the same top talent. Who will win? The company that has been most strategic during the downturn by investing in streamlined processes and best-in-class technologies will be best poised to react quickly and snap up the most qualified talent first. So now it is your chance.

It’s essential that your company calibrate and fine tune your workforce, so you can quickly respond to changing market conditions in small steps rather than in painful mass layoffs or mass rehire campaigns where workforce quality is likely to suffer.

We must all manage our human capital as efficiently and effectively as we manage all of the other parts of our business. It’s time to streamline, optimize and apply integrated technology solutions to human resources. Translating manufacturing and distribution supply chain lessons learned at Toyota, Wal-Mart and Dell to the human capital supply chain is an obvious idea. An obvious idea few are implementing.

Establishing a Human Capital Supply Chain means you link business strategy, business performance, strategic workforce planning, staffing, on-boarding and off-boarding for improved corporate financial management and greater business success.

Firms that understand their human capital needs on a real-time basis should not be taken by surprise. Rather, they’ll be in tune with market dynamics and able to quickly react with agility, ramping down their workforce less aggressively or fighting back to pick-up core talent without delay.

For companies that want to grow in a post-recession economy, it’s time to refocus and apply the lessons learned from optimizing your product lines to optimizing your workforce. Here’s how you can start:

1. Understand your company’s total spend on human capital. This is a key input to the business ROI and the first step of any Human Capital Supply Chain management program. This requires you and your CFO to get your arms around both your internal (wages, benefits and taxes) and external (accounts payable) human capital spending.

2. Break down barriers between HR, procurement and senior leadership. Establishing a Human Capital Supply Chain management program requires a major change management effort for all stakeholders. You’ll need to speak a shared language, utilize each other’s strengths and unify your human capital goals.

3. Build on existing (even somewhat disjointed) business functions. To employ an end-to-end Human Capital Supply Chain management business process, you’ll want to start by developing a Strategic Workforce Plan that engages your internal resources and your supplier partners.

4. Automate. Automate. Automate. The use of technology in automating the end-to-end business process is a common way to reduce costs and speed turnaround time. It’s also vital for real-time measurement and management of human capital.

5. Embrace the value in staffing suppliers. The bias toward permanent staff needs to change in order to be more nimble in today’s marketplace. Transform your relationships with staffing firms into strategic partnerships in order to best enable Human Capital Supply Chain goals.

The recession we’re pulling out of could be the turning point for the global industry and our HR executives. - The call to streamline. - The catalyst for innovation. – The moment that will change our industries forever.

It is vital that all of us – CEOs, HR executives, procurement and staffing industry executives – answer this call to action. It will ensure that we’re ready for the post-recession ramp-up in hiring and the skill shortages that will return as the Baby Boomer generation actually begins to retire.

There is no doubt that if you want your company to lead in the post-recession talent grab, you must start building your Human Capital Supply Chain now. It’s your decision. Are you ready to get going or are you going to wait to be overtaken by competitors that act first?

Tim Giehll is co-author of Human Capital Supply Chains: Just in Time Talent to Boost Profits. With over 30 years of technology, staffing and manufacturing expertise, Giehll serves as CEO of Bond Talent US and Bond eEmpACT. More information can be found at www.humancapitalsupplychains.com