Pat Milligan: There is a huge mismatch between the jobs that are available and the workers that are out there, and the people with the right skills are still in short supply. So one concern we always have is do you understand that the workers that you have are really a pretty critical asset, and that keeping the right people and keeping them engaged has got to be one of the single most important thing that leaders and managers focus on. Our view is look, you can’t take these people assets for granted. They have free will, they come in and out, and never before has keeping the right people and finding them been as high on the agendas of great companies as it is today.
If I look across the organizations that we respected around the world in the industries, each and every one of them will tell you right now that they cannot find the skilled and quality of the workers that they need, whether they’re in aerospace or consumer products or technology. And one of the most exciting things we’re seeing is really world-class companies actually stepping into that whole debate, working with academic institutions, looking at the curriculum. Because the reality is that the demographics, you can’t debate them, there simply will not be enough skilled workers around the world.
And if you look at the demographics, whether you look at Italy or China or India, you know, the birth rates, the replacement ratios in the workforce, it will be a skilled workers’ world and they will have the power. And maybe we don’t feel that right now because of the unemployment levels, but there’s no question that the workers with the right skills around the world are going to own their own futures, and we want to compete for those workers.
Directed / Produced by
Jonathan Fowler & Elizabeth Rodd
