Set the Right People Priorities for Challenging Times | BCG and WFPMA

This new 28-page report marks the latest phase of an ongoing study of 32 HR and people management practices grouped into nine clusters. Conducting surveys among 6,893 leaders across 102 markets (93.5% in HR roles), the study gauged their perceptions regarding the future importance of each practice for their organization and their company’s current capability in these areas. Exhibit 5 on page 7 (image shown below) categorizes these 32 practices into high, medium, and low urgency based on their combined future importance and current capability scores. A few of the urgent priorities (high importance, lower capability) include 1) Leadership behaviors and development (e.g., developing individuals into leaders who can influence, motivate, and enable their staff to reach organizational, team, and individual goals), 2) Strategic workforce planning (e.g., systematic forecast of workforce supply and demand scenarios, including job architecture and skills taxonomy). The report also explores differences in results across geographic regions and offers five key recommendations for closing gaps in urgent priority areas. The framework of 32 practices and nine clusters serves as an effective tool for planning, measuring, and communicating diverse aspects of people practices within organizations. Definitions of all 32 practices are available in the appendix.