Changing Work-Force Demographics has Impacted Recruitment and Selection
Introduction
The twenty first century world has found itself having to deal with the consequences of changing dynamics work force dynamics allover the world. In recent years, the world has generally experienced a transformation in the nature, age, diversity and sufficiency of work force. This has inadvertently resulted in a multiplicity of challenges as ell as opportunities for human resource departments, with respect to recruitment practices and strategies. Recruitment and selection strategies as referred to in this paper refer to the broad sense of the word which includes opening up positions for application, screening processes, selection, interviewing and final selection and appointment. The Age of work force populations, their ages, their skill , their educational and academic competencies as well as their cultural and ethnic diversities has slowly over the years increasingly changed so that in he 21st century employers are faced with a new set of challenges in respect to recruitment processes. These changes in demographics have had ripple effects in terms of changing legislation in various countries so as to protect civil liberties and human rights’ .this has present a situation in which employers are having to re-asses previous recruitment processes and come up with new ones that are better adjusted to the situation at hand, meeting employer needs and in keeping with current legislation. The situation is however not only presents employers with challenges but also offers new opportunities for employers in diversity of workforce. This paper explores some of the challenges that are faced by recruitment professionals in the face of the changing work force demographics.
Understanding Changing work force Demographics
An in depth understanding of the changes in the work force demographics at play requires an understanding of the general change of populations which has come about as a result of factors like migration, especially from one country to another , a heightened intensity in the level of education of populations around the world , and of course those factors that come about as a result of the cycle of life such as aging populations especially in places like Europe where the birth rates are very low (Catano, 2009).
One of the most notable challenges facing employers or recruitment executives today in a general in sufficiency of property skilled workers ( Dychtwald et al, 2006). Such a statement is easy to dismiss in the face of the unemployment crises that have arisen in different places in recent years. However, the insufficiency referred to here is that of specifically skilled workers. As older workers who have perfected specific job-related skills and competencies retire due to age, companies are finding themselves having recruit new employees. Although educated, a lot of employers complain that these young graduates are not necessarily equipped with the know-how to function in actual job positions in the market. They has been in deed large scale complaints from many recruiters that many graduates seem to posses only academic and theoretical knowledge of how things work but seem unable to translate the same into observable results in an actual job situations.
Insufficiency has also resulted from brain drain processes occurring world wide as workers choose to work in other countries which afford them better financial remuneration and benefits( Dychtwald et al, 2006). In trying to mitigate against this deficiency in skill , many companies have found themselves in situations where they have to invest in the establishments of training departments where recruitees are trained a fresh for the job the y have been hired for. This undoubtedly cost the companies more. Dahl (2012) of The New York Times says that employers all over the United Sates are constantly finding themselves unable to fill positions even in the face of large unemployment numbers. He states that applicant simply lack the required skills. He notes I.T., manufacturing, Accounting as some of the positions experiencing the highest number of insufficiency in terms of workers. Growing economies around the world are constantly having to face the challenge of insufficiency of worker in the market. In an attempt to mitigate against the same, recruitment executives have found themselves having to consider recruiting from un traditional groups in the population ( Myerson et al, 2010).such non –tradition groups include early baby boomer, which consist of individual who are in to their sixties. Companies some times have had to delay their retirement or even persuade them to re-enter the work force so that they can benefit from their sills (Myerson et al, 2010).Companies are therefore having to deal with the implications that this has on the development of recruitment strategies that appeal to this demographic for instance in the kind of advertising for jobs employed, the amount of remuneration packages e.t.c..Because of the changing nature of work to more information technology-oriented task, and the insufficiency experienced in the market, employers have found themselves having to settle for temporary arrangements with the few skilled employees who are having to provide their services to more than on e employer. Contractual employment has therefore increased in many firms (Myerson et al, 2010).
Another major change that has been experienced in the work force demographics in the in international job market is the increased national, cultural, racial and ethnic diversity. Increased immigration and emigration in and out of different countries has resulted in the cosmopolitization of many different countries and major cities around the world. Naturally this has resulted in a change in the nature of the labor force available for recruitment.
In the same breath, international and national legislation in many countries has been changed or amended in favor of more integrated approach when it comes to who to recruit. In many places it had become illegal to discriminate in the recruitment process, based on ethnicity, nationality, culture and a host of other characteristics, especially where it can be argued that such factors do not interfere with the delivery of the job hired for (Catano, 2009).Moreover, the numbers of ethnic minorities have significantly in creased in major cities, and especially so in the United States. This means that in a typical application process will be significantly higher numbers of minority groups represented than before (Myerson et al, 2010).
For many employers this has been a positive aspect in that the have ended up having a diverse pool of applicants to choose from, some of whose individual diversity has been a positive addition to the particular jobs applied for. On the flip side however, the limitation either by legislation or other factors to discriminate against certain cultures may become a hindrance in selecting perfect candidates for certain appositions. A managerial position in a firm with predominantly ‘white’ employees for in stance may encounter challenges if they hire a black or a Hispanic manager to oversee all the employees. They may encounter resistance of the same. All in all the world is moving towards a more integrated culture with post-modernity as the major emergent culture requiring encouraging the acceptance of all cultures and peoples and that judging be done on merit (Catano,2009).recruitment executives in human resources deportments are finding themselves with the task of developing recruitment strategies that strike a balance between recruiting individuals who perfectly suit the vacant positions and reaming both politically correct in terms of the equal chances they give to everyone despite culture or ethnity and being careful not to break integration laws.
Another transformation in the work force that recruitment executives are finding themselves having to deal with is the challenge of an ageing work force (Wilkins, 2007). In many developed countries there is a major challenge in the ageing of the population. As a result of low birth rates, there are very few young workers that are coming up to take over from older workers who largely being to the baby boomers demographic. In those cases, the baby boomers are finding themselves having to work for longer. The challenge to employers however is the significant education of energy that comes with age. These workers are simply not able to achieve the levels of productivity they previously achieved. However not many skilled younger employees can be found. The challenge of an ageing population also brings with it the lack of up- to-date technical skills, especially in I.T, which were introduced as part of curriculums in school sand colleges long after baby boomer were employed. They therefore present employers with the challenge of provide constant training for them. Other challenges that come with dealing with an ageing work force population include: resistance to change, being risk adverse, inability to cope with certain new technologies, increased incidences of health problems as compared to younger groups and lack of a willingness to be trained. (Smentek, 2006 p. 17)
A mitigation effort against the burden of ageing populations in companies has been the early training of young graduates so as to directly absorb them in to the companies. Many companies are trying to reach younger potential workers, who are mostly student sin universities and colleges. Along side the regular university curricula, these companies offer to do specific job /profession-related training so that the companies will have a ready work force upon graduation of these youth. Like all other mitigation efforts in this transformation this sends up being a budgetary item in company accounts. (Catano,2009)
Impact on IBM recruiting strategies
In the examination of recruitment challenges brought about by changing work force demographics, on of the most impacted industries has been the manufacturing industry. IBM has been and remains of the leading manufacturing corporation in the United States and the entire world. The company has been in existence for almost nine decades and has experienced the impact of the change in work force demographics especially in the United States. They also have quite a large number of employees having been ranked second in the United States in terms of employee numbers (IBM, 2008).
IBM has through the years grown a reputation of inclusivity and non –discrimination in the industry. IBM was among the first companies in the United States manufacturing industry to accommodate and accord equal women, minority groups, immigrants, same-sex couples and physically challenged individuals. However as in many manufacturing g industries and indeed in many other industries in the United sates, IBM has found itself on the disadvantaged side of a continuum in which a few decades ago, they were on the controlling side. In the past IBM had the luxury to select from a large pool of relatively skilled applicants for their positions. The present work force transformation has left the country having to market itself to potential skilled employees. The company especially has to deal with the issue of it ageing population, most of who were recruited in the early nineties. These people have aged over the last two decades and are anticipating retirement soon. Even legislation to extend the age of retirement cannot be a solution for ever. The company is faced with the impending retirement of a large group of employees and is having to balance that reality with the insufficiency of skilled labor in the market. According to Wilkins (2007), by the yea 2030, the number of retirements by individuals aged 65 and above –baby boomer- will have reached around 70 million. He notes that in the United States as manufacturing companies, employees aged 50 years and over make up for about fifty percent of the work force.uch are the statistics that IBM is grappling with.
The challenge of globalization has seen an increased demand for manufacturing professionals all over the world and has led to increased brain drain and the loss of workers to other nations. In the same breath, the increased competition due to new market entrants sober the years have destroyed the monopoly that the company had over all the prospective employees in the market.
The company is also facing the challenge of recruiting from a diminishing resource pool, since younger workers are either not skilled enough, or simply not interested in a manufacturing and engineering job, preferring instead to work with computer and specifically internet-oriented careers (Wilkins, 2007).In addition to this challenge IBM is also dealing with the lack of loyalty in younger employees who seek to gain much needed experience and leave the company in 5 years or less.
As a response to these challenges IBM has in instituted in house training policies and departments which ensure that insufficiently skilled new employees
Are trained and internally appraised. They also make sure that they seek necessary certification from professional bodies which are better able to train in terms of specific job skills as compared to universities and colleges (IBM, 2008).
IBM has also embarked on a strategy to work closely with leading educational establishments so as to make sure that curricula developed and taught include essential training for the production of a competent graduate who can comfortably assimilate in to the working world and become productive (IBM, 2008).
TO deal with the problem of a diminishing skilled work force IBM is also investing in automation, which includes the manufacture or purchase of robots to do some of the work. While this may be initially expensive it will eventually lead to lower costs in terms of avoided remuneration and generally avoids giving manual work to human beings, freeing them up for operation al tasks instead ( IBM ,2008 ).
Among the key company’s responses to the recruitment challenges presented is the commitment to the development of an adaptable and flexible work force which can adapt to different work situations and tasks and are easily trainable. The company is therefore working to develop all round employees. This will tackle the recruitment issue by largely reducing the number of professionals that have to be recruited.
IBM is also focused on training leaders to bridge the impending leadership gap that will be created by the retiring baby boomers, as most key leadership positions are held by this demographic having worked their way up over the years. This is being achieved through formulation of strategic plans which include mentorship among other ways to nurture leadership.
In order to arrest the problem of lack of loyalty among younger employees the company has invested n the development of clear career path which in their structure support the advancement of individuals’ careers. These ideals are expressed right from their recruitment processes. They hope to then be able to attract the right kind of employee who they hope to retain for many years.
Although many the changes in work force demographics represents implied costs for IBM and many other companies there is a silver lining in that the situation presents an opportunity for the companies to design new and better lasting strategies for recruitment of employees and a significant improvement on earlier redundant ones ( IBM,2008)..
Conclusion
Increased diversity in the workforce also presents a wide range of opportunities for companies, n their ability to tap into the large creative pool of people and benefit from the same.
Although there is a large population of unskilled labor force, especially the youth, there lies an opportunity for companies to harness the vast ,amounts of youthful energy in the job market, by recruiting them, training the and investing in their ability to maximize productivity , problem –solving skills, and adaptability. In this way companies can eventually end up saving money.
References
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Dahl, D. (2012). A sea of Job seekers but some Companies aren’t getting any Bites. The New
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IBM (2008). The Global Human Capital Study. ‘Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable
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