What’s the Cost, Capacity, Capability, and Quality of Your Workforce?

This past spring, we conducted a survey along with Human Resource Executive to learn how organizations are doing in the quest for greater workforce visibility. Has the needle moved? We discovered that in some ways it has. But we found that in many ways, a holistic picture of the workforce is still missing, and the consequences of this blind spot have amplified. The most startling statistic of the survey: Three out of four survey respondents said their workforce is not appropriately skilled for the needs of the business.

How about you—is your organization equipped for the future? And do you, as a business leader, have a complete, 360-degree view of the workforce to make that assessment?

To ensure you’re optimizing your workforce, you need an operational and financial view of the people in your organization that will allow you to confidently answer these four questions:

1. Cost—how much does our organization’s workforce cost, based on type of worker, nature of work, and region?
2. Capacity—do we have the people we need organized according to the initiatives that matter most?
3. Capability—do we have the right skills in our workforce, or do we need to hire or develop certain skills?
4. Quality—who are the people and teams that push the company forward, and how can we multiply this success?

In addition to our survey, we took a look at some other research results that underscore what happens when organizations don’t have a clear picture of cost, capacity, capability, and quality (CCCQ). I share with you the results in an eye-opening infographic.

The impact of having the full picture of CCCQ—or not—is severe. Think about a company that plans to open a new service center and is considering a few different geographic regions. How could it make the right decision without knowing the cost of both employees and contingent workers in each region? Or, whether the capacity and capability of individuals in a region will allow the center to succeed? Or, if emerging leaders with the right qualities are available to get the new venture successfully up and running? Without these answers, the company could make an ill-informed decision about where to locate the center. And the reality is most organizations struggle with one or more of these fundamental questions. Their HR systems did not “grow up” with a complete operational view in mind, and hold them back.

Business leaders need these insights at their fingertips to make decisions that lead to business success. That’s why Workday, when it started in 2005, developed a unified Human Capital Management (HCM) application built from the ground up that took into account all operational aspects of the workforce, with both administrative and talent-management functions built in. Our flexible foundation is designed to scale to any country and any size company, to provide a complete, global view of the workforce. Workday is configurable, allowing organizations to evolve their Workday deployment as their needs evolve, including organizational growth and restructuring, changes to business processes, and new reporting needs. I think of it this way: Workday was designed and future-proofed for constant change.