Resourcing and Talent Planning

Question 1

1.1 Labour Market Trends in the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Structural changes that have been caused by reduced talent pool attributed to the increase in aging population, decrease in birth rates and increase in life expectancy have significantly impacted the labor market in the U.K. This is against the increased need for organizations to have highly skilled, and adaptable workforce to be able to compete in the contemporary labor market favorably. The changing trends continue to affect labor markets today and is expected to cause further changes in the labor market as it is. With increased automation, the future labor market will require new skills and talent. Some of the most common trends impacting the labor market include changes in the global demographic situations, legal restrictions, employment fluctuations, and changes in the composition of economically active populations. In the U.K., employment continues to stand at record-high levels despite the U.K. economy suffering a backdrop of economic growth due to the uncertainties attributed to Brexit. The UAE labor market, on the other hand, has undergone tremendous transformation. About two decades ago, UAE, was one of the least developed economies. Today, the country has achieved an income level comparable to that of developed countries and consequently, growth in the employment rate. The U.K. and UAE labor markets compare in diverse ways, the major one being about unemployment.

In both the U.K. and the UAE, the unemployment rate has been significantly dropping as the two countries’ economic growth continues to improve. The statistics for January 2020 shows that the U.K. unemployment rate stood at 3.5 % (Office for National Statistics), compared to 2.6% in the UAE (Trading economics). In 2008, UAE was ranked 12^th in employment rate with 75.9% compared to the U.K., which had 56.3% the same year. Statistics indicate the existence of gender biasness in employment in both countries. However, the employment rate of women was higher in the U.K. than in the UAE (38% against 49.9%). The percentage of the employment rate of the male gender in the UAE was 91.3% compared to 63.1% in the U.K. (Nation Master). Both the U.K. and the UAE have had continuous growth in the proportion of women in employment, but the U.K. surpasses the UAE.

1.2 Significance of Tight and Loose Labour Market

A tight labor market denotes a situation where unemployment is so low, making it challenging for organizations to source for workers. On the other hand, the loose labor market denotes a situation where jobs are scarce, and job seekers are many exposing employers have a large pool of available and potential employees to engage (Crowley-Henry 2). The labor markets of the U.K. and the UAE are tight since both countries have a high rate of employment. The tightness or looseness of the labor market poses a significant impact on recruitment and cost of labor. A tight labor market is significant because the market harbors a small pool of workers, creating an opportunity for higher bargaining power to the available workers. Tight labor markets, thereby raise the average wage rate.

The high unemployment rate in a loose labor market poses a significant impact on recruitment exercise, including reduction of wages, many applicants applying for various positions that they are overqualified for. As discussed by Akram and Ragnar (27), tight labor markets lead to a shortage of skills and knowledge within the labor market, while loose labor markets lead to a surplus of knowledge and skills. When organizations formulate their strategic plans regarding workforce sustainability, they should consider the state of the labor market where they operate since the looseness or tightness of the market directly influences the recruitment and retention of employees and structuring of organizations.

1.3 How Organisations Position Themselves Strategically in Competitive Labour Markets

The contemporary labor market is influenced by a wide range of factors, both internal and external, that directly or indirectly affect the development of attractiveness of employment positions, creation of job opportunities, levels of employment, fluctuation of the average wage, among others. A major external factor influencing the labor market is the competitiveness of the business environment (Kajanova 161). Following the talent squeeze trend in the contemporary labor market, organizations need to make themselves attractive to both existing and potential employees. In the U.K., for example, organizations consider employment and retention of talented employees as a strategic issue. To be successful, organizations should develop strategies that differentiate the organization from competitors and attract and retain employees with the right skills and talent. Some of the approaches implemented by organizations to position themselves strategically in the competitive labor markets include employer branding, reorganizations, long term resource planning, development initiatives and retention strategies (Taylor and Woodhams 53)

Employer branding denotes a set of activities designed to formulate a specific organizational culture. This approach is meant to make organizations more attractive to prospective employees. Upon positioning the organization as attractive, employers should initiate innovative recruitment techniques to be able to select highly qualified and talented employees. Upon recruitment of the best talent, organizations should institute appropriate strategies to retain the recruited employees. To be able to devise appropriate retention strategies, organizations should investigate the reasons why employee leave their jobs and come up with appropriate solutions. The solution may include restructuring. This involves changing the way tasks within the organization are allocated to ensure that functions are employee friendly and are assigned depending on the employee’s skills. Through restructuring, an organization can be able to make sure that technical tasks are strictly allocated to employees with the prerequisite skills and all other tasks delegated (Taylor and Woodhams 53).

Since the requirement for skills is dynamic, organizations should initiate development initiatives that may include improving the skill set of the organizational workforce. In some cases, an organization can improve its attractiveness by recruiting people without the prerequisite skills but interest in learning and developing them. The last approach involves long term investment by the organization to develop employees with the right skills. An organization can achieve this objective by collaborating with training institutions to impart learners in the institutions with relevant skills for the contemporary and future labor market (Taylor and Woodhams 53).

Question 2

1.4 The Role of Government, Employers and Trade Unions in Ensuring Future Skills Needs Are Met

The government

In the contemporary U.K. labor market, there exists a vast discrepancy between the level of skills available in the labor market and the nature of skills required by the employers. As such, the U.K. is struggling to compete globally owing to low skill levels. The government plays a significant role in ensuring that the U.K. citizens acquire improved skills necessary for the contemporary and future workforce. The primary role of the government in ensuring that the future skills are met involves funding (BIS 7). In the U.K., public universities and colleges dominate the higher education sector. The government therefore plays the primary role in determining the quality of skills offered in the education system and the accessibility of higher education.  To improve the quality of education and ensure that educational institutions equip the learners with the prerequisite skills, the government should provide adequate funding to ensure that the necessary educational facilities are available. The government should also provide funding in the form of student loans to allow as many people as possible to access higher education. Additionally, the government should enact policies aimed at improving the quality of education offered in both public and private institutions. The government should also fund the apprenticeship program to allow the skill growth of the citizens.

Employers

Employers play a fundamental role in increasing the skill level of their workforce. According to Powell, businesses in the U.K. continue to experience the challenge of skill gap, which poses an adverse impact on stifling productivity and growth and future innovation (par 1). Some of the activities that employers should implement to ensure that the future skills needs are met include; first, advancing the skill levels of the current staff by motivating them to pursue educational programs or arranging for internal training programs. Second, employers can use traineeships and apprenticeships in organizations’ recruitment strategies. The third approach is the development of partnerships with educational institutions through programs such as mentorships, student’s challenges, and career events to help influence and shape the future workforce right at the school level (Powell).

Trade Unions

Trade unions denote associations of employees in a particular company, industry, or trade created to help employees secure pay and benefits improvement, social and political status, or working conditions through collective bargaining. The unions can however play a fundamental role in promoting the quality of learning opportunities, supporting members to access learning opportunities, and promoting learning in the workplace. Through the union’s collective bargaining power, unions can reach out to people that mainstream society or individuals would not be able to reach. In the U.K., the trade union congress, which is a body for the U.K. trade unions, operates a program dabbed Unionlearn whose primary mandate is closing the skill gap among employees.

Works Cited

Akram, Qaisar Farooq, and Ragnar Nymoen. Employment behavior in slack and tight labor markets. No. 2001, 27. Memorandum, 2001.

Crowley-Henry, Marian. “Employee Resourcing: The Planning and Recruitment Phase.” Palgrave Macmillan, (2013): 19-39.

Department for Business Innovation & Skills[BIS]. “Skills for Sustainable Growth-Strategy Document.” 2010, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/140188/bis-10-1273-skills-for-sustainable-growth-strategy-summary.pdf. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.

Kajanova, Jana. “The competitive advantage in the global labor market.” Business, Management, and Education 9.2 (2011): 157-170.

Nation Master. “Employment rate statistics: compare key data on the United Arab Emirates & United Kingdom.” 2008, https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/United-Arab-Emirates/United-Kingdom/Labor/Employment-rate#2008. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.

Office for National Statistics. “Labour market overview, U.K..” March 2020, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/march2020#employment. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.

Taylor, Stephen, and Carol Woodhams, eds. Managing people and organizations. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2012.

Trading economics. “United Arab Emirates Unemployment Rate.” 2020, https://tradingeconomics.com/united-arab-emirates/unemployment-rate. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.

Powell, Adam. “Five steps to ensure your business has the skills it needs now and in the future.” 2015, https://www.businesswest.co.uk/blog/5-steps-ensure-your-business-has-skills-it-needs-now-and-future. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.

McCoshan, Andrew. “How trade Unions ensure quality in workplace Learning.” 2016, https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/how-trade-unions-ensure-quality-workplace-learning. Accessed 31 March 2020 March. 2020.