Shrinking workforce

By ADAM GIFFORD

More jobs. Fewer people to do them. If you think things are bad now, try looking 10 years out.

Peter George, Morgan and Banks Technology's director of human resource consulting for Australia and New Zealand, says because of the ageing population more are leaving the workforce than entering.

The Baby Boomers now dominating senior and middle management positions have different employment needs, drivers and desired work-life balance than younger staff.

Generation X members, he says, are looking for autonomy, flexibility and development opportunities in their jobs.

"There were fewer people born after the Baby Boomers so there's a smaller wave of population coming through over the next 10 years."

Mr George says the McKinsey research firm has estimated that a 2 per cent annual increase in GDP over the next 15 years will lead to a 30 per cent increase in demand for new executives - mainly people between 30 and 45.

That is the group that will be in short supply. "Women are no longer surging into the workforce.

"White-collar productivity improvements have flattened. Executives no longer prolong their career," Mr George says.

"The demand is for more sophisticated talent with global acumen, technical literacy, entrepreneurial skills and the ability to manage increasingly diverse organisations."

He says new-economy companies are providing alternative career paths and there are dramatic increases in job mobility.

"It's harder to find the right people.

"There's a war for talent out there and the companies winning the war are the ones providing good career management and coaching for employees."

Mr George says many companies aren't managing their workforces well. Many have gone for short-term responses, with downsizing and outsourcing seen as necessary for economic survival.

Change programmes have shifted loyalty from the organisation to the individual, and career management has also shifted from the company to the individual.

Morgan and Banks has developed www.careermanagement.co.nz, a set of web-based programmes to help companies with some of these processes.

They include career coaching, which helps staff review their career to date and identify immediate and long-term development needs; mentoring, to help key staff develop external professional partnerships; Career Move, for people wanting to search for alternative employment or careers; and Career Transition Management, a company supported-programme for staff being made redundant.

This last function, euphemistically called "outplacement," has long been part of the service.

The site offers lessons in interview techniques, networking, resumaacé writing, and how to use the internet to find new jobs.

"The online programmes are heavily supported with phone contact and one-on-one meetings.

"People are learning a tremendous amount from the website and requiring less input from career counsellors.

"Well over 65 per cent of jobs are now advertised on the web, so if you are looking for a job you need to be on."