Managing Workforce Risk in an Era of Unpredictability and Disruption | Deloitte Insights

HR Effectiveness

HR leaders continue to help their organizations detect and manage workforce risks, particularly in this era of hyper-unpredictability and disruption. But as noted in this new Deloitte article, organizations can overlook many of the less obvious types of workforce risks. As these risks go unmanaged, they can pose a threat to organizations’ financial, operational, reputation, brand, and regulatory and compliance outcomes. As organizations take a more expansive view of workforce risks, Figure 2 shows various internal and external workforce risks, including:  access to talent to meet business needs, worker activism, changes to workforce disclosure and reporting requirements, and the responsible use of workforce data, emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI). The article, which includes several insights, also addresses what leading organizations—called Pioneer firms — are doing differently to help mitigate workforce risks. HR leaders and their teams can review the various workforce risks, identify those that present the greatest threat, and develop potential risk-mitigation responses. As HR leaders are increasingly called upon to present their organization’s talent narrative—which should also address workforce risks — they can draw from these responses to inform aspects of their talent story. As a bonus, I am resharing this 20-page Conference Board report that provides guidance on developing an organization’s talent narrative.