Re-evaluating current workforce planning methods in Singapore

With Singapore seen as one of the most advanced and forward-looking cities in Asia, we would expect Singaporeans to be taking the lead when it comes to workforce planning… but the Workforce Planning Trends and Practices survey report 2015 reveals a surprisingly primitive side to the highly developed first-world nation.

According to the report, only 7% have some form of workforce analytics and planning software in place, whereas in other countries like Japan and China, 19% are using dedicated workforce planning software.

Workforce planning in Singapore seems to be a process stuck in meeting rooms and excel hell – most common workforce planning methods include working with data in spreadsheets (64%), relying on meetings (42%), and emails (31%).

The invention of spreadsheets revolutionised the way we work but here is the caveat: Spreadsheets are notorious for errors. In 2013, due to a seemingly innocent copying and pasting of (incorrect) data, JPMorgan Chase lost more than $6 billion in its ‘London Whale’ incident.

Apart from typos and oversights, spreadsheets are also synonymous with time-consuming and labour-intensive tasks. This is exacerbated by the fact that 75% use more than 3 different sources of data to inform workforce planning decisions. Just think about the time your team has to spend finding, filing, and trying to correlate all that information.

Even though it’s not justifiable to eradicate the use of spreadsheets in organisations today, business leaders should at least re-evaluate their current workforce planning methods so that decisions made are based on real, accurate, and timely information.

Singapore businesses striving to become strategic

These are the top reasons for workforce planning cited by business leaders: support better strategic business decision making (78%), improve talent management (72%), and cost savings via workforce optimisation (64%).

Singapore businesses want to be tactical, to make faster and more accurate workforce decisions but we will first have to recognise that pulling data off spreadsheets for workforce analysis are perhaps no longer reliable for decision-making in the 21st century.

Bersin & Associates’ Talent Analytics maturity model has been widely cited in HR & Business literature – an illustration of how organisations evolve with regards to workforce reporting and management processes. As the results of the survey demonstrate, 85% of organisations are only at level 1 & 2 of the workforce planning game.

Talent gaps and skill shortages are not problems that can be fixed immediately as recruitment and training takes time. If it’s true that 98% believe that workforce planning is crucial to organisational success as revealed in the survey, shouldn’t organisations in Singapore take workforce planning a little more seriously?

This means knowing exactly where talent gaps are, what skills and experience are required, and finally hiring right to meet business needs.

Given the accessibility and capabilities of technology available on the market today -- Workforce Analytics, Cloud BI, Business Reporting and Visualization tools, just to name a few -- one would expect organisations in Singapore a little more advanced but until organisations are willing to break free from excel hell, the future of workforce planning in Singapore still remains to be seen.