Most companies don't have the skills they need on staff to win in the
latest "war for talent," according to an Accenture study of 244 senior
executives in the United States, Europe and Australia.
Only 17 percent of respondents, for example, said that they would describe
the skill level of their workforce as "industry-leading."
Among the other survey findings: the three most important human resources
initiatives identified were improving worker productivity, improving the
adaptability of the business to new opportunities, and facilitating
organizational change. But, Accenture reports, "no more than 12 percent said
they were very satisfied with their progress on any of these initiatives, and
just 18 percent said they were very satisfied with the overall performance of
their human resources function."
Peter Cheese is managing partner of Accenture's Human Performance service
line. "The recent focus on cost-cutting," Cheese says, "has led many companies
to lose marketplace momentum. Now, as they ramp up investment in growth-oriented
activities to achieve higher levels of performance, they need to regain their
competitive edge in terms of recruiting, retaining and developing high-caliber
employees."
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