Boom and Bust: Economy Proofing Your Workforce

What does the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse tell us?
‍In the wake of the SVB collapse, one thing is certain among the chaos and concern: continuous improvements of organizational efficiency and fixing broken systems are crucial to the long-term success of any business. And with a greater number of companies now being asked to do more with less, staying ahead of the curve can translate to investing in future leaders who understand their organization—aka winning the talent-optimization war. 

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Why Claira
‍Despite launching at the height of the global pandemic in 2020, Claira was successful at helping employers maximize organizational efficiency at a time when the supply of labor did not necessarily match employer demands. When unemployment rates soared to well over 14.7% in April 2020, Claira was able to move and place talent effectively across industries, such as servers in the food industry to drivers in logistics. How? Because competencies are small, precise and cross functional. Additionally, applying machine learning to create a dynamic digital twin of a company’s human capital allows employers to reduce the risk of bad hires and identify which employees have the capacity to adapt, learn, and grow with the business during times of boom and bust.

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For Boom…
In times of growth, companies need to fill roles fast, promote from within, learn and upskill precisely and take on more work. In order to maximize opportunities in good times, companies need to know what drives growth and double down on that. Who are the top performing individuals, lines, business units? And why? To produce faster, increase profit, and enter new markets, leadership needs to invest in the engines that drive the business. Competencies are the data map of that engine. 

At the same time, leaders need insight into their human capital in order to create opportunities for employee competency development, which can help better address the changing nature of work. As it stands, the more insight a firm has into its customers, the greater the ability of the firm to improve client delivery and satisfaction; similarly, the more insight a firm has into its taskforce, the greater the ability of the firm to drive growth and improve its operational efficiency. How can you hire, promote, upskill, cross train, cross utilize and retain if you don’t have a crystal clear picture of where you’re starting? 

Workforce precision also adds to the organizational value chain—according to Deloitte, leaders who implement competency science and machine learning can realize up to a 107% increase in placing talent effectively, which can translate to improvements in productivity (+49%), retention (+98%), and a positive workforce experience (+79%). Organizational visibility drives growth—companies that understand their human capital from the inside and out are able to make better decisions to increase their resilience. 

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…and Bust.
In down times, everyone has to carry more to keep a firm afloat and hopefully, thriving. Sam in accounting might have to increase his utilization from 40% to 60% or help another team. When it's tough to hire, you have to maximize your current bench. If the pandemic’s effect on the workforce was boiled down to one long-lasting impact, it most certainly revealed how ineffective our current human capital systems are.

During times of economic downturn, Claira can help organizations do more with less by identifying opportunities for employees to increase their value proposition. In 2023, the workplace will likely be driven by those who are able to foresee risks and factor them into everyday workforce decisions. However, according to the Deloitte 2023 Global Human Capital Trends survey, less than “19% [of surveyed individuals] believe that their organizations are ready to address those risks [ie. political, social, environmental] when making workforce decisions.” By leveraging insights on industry trends and people analytics to understand and predict who has these skills internally, Claira’s platform helps organizations discover valuable retention opportunities that can translate into improved innovation, profitability, and productivity. 

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Designing for the Future of Work
Regardless of the economy or trends, humans will always be the most valuable resource any organization can utilize. Designing for the future starts internally: Improving your workforce visibility to withstand both periods of both economic boom and bust will be a key determinant of success in the 21st century.