The Employment Life Cycle

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The Employment Life Cycle
A Framework For HR Action and Strategic Choice
Implications for Public Sector Workforce
Management
IPMA-HR, Budapest, May 2005
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Managing the Employment Life Cycle

• All Employment has a life cycle varying in
  duration, important watersheds and chapters
• Actions/Decisions at each point or phase can have
  important downstream consequences yet
  conventional HR practice tends to treat each in
  isolation
• Most HR problems and dilemmas at both (i) the
  individual staff member level and (ii) the
  workforce level are traceable to events earlier
  in the life cycle
• And active management of the cycle allows for a
  more informed and strategic approach to work
  force planning and management

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• Management of the Cycle Impacted by many
  variables
• Workforce Composition
• The Employment Legislative Framework
• Power Scope of Trade Unions
• National Culture Societal Mores
• Stage of Economic Development/Strength of the
  Economy
• National Demographics
• The Public Sector Labor Market
• Competition for Scarce Skills
• Encroachment of Politics on Employment Practices

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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Passing on Wisdom
Committing
Separating
Joining
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Joining
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• Who joins in the future? Employment for whom?
• What Skills are Mission-critical? Which are less
  so but still necessary?
• What alternative ways of acquiring skills and
  support exist? Are they more cost effective
  guaranteed politically acceptable? Legally
  possible?
• Is hiring ad hoc, periodic or prompted by
  specific workforce plans
• What employment expectations are being raised?

Joining
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• Are we an employer of choice or merely
  convenience?
• What commitments are being made at the outset?...
  And by whom?
• Hiring for flexibility or quality
• Locally or centrally
• How competitive is the market for particular
  talent?
• To what extent are market premia paid to acquire
  scarce skills? What is the impact on internal
  equity?
• How do rejected candidates feel? Was the process
  fair in their eyes?

Joining
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Committing
Joining
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• The point at which longer-term employment
  contracts are entered into
• Term to Regular Probation Confirmation
• Typically, risk exposure of loss of probation
  protections not treated sufficiently seriously
• The power of incumbency hiring errors tend not
  to be undone at the point of no return (Joining
  trumps Committing in the life cycle)
• Important too that ending of term employment is
  not labeled as failure work program needs may
  legitimately be time bound staff may have
  competing choices- they may return at some later
  point in time

Committing
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• Some other Pitfalls to Guard Against
• Opening up career paths for staff initially hired
  for task-specific or time-bound needs (the inside
  track, once established, has the advantage over
  the external market). Consider impact on talent
  quality.
• Giving tenure to technical staff in a fast
  changing area runs the risk of locking in old
  expertise
• And lays the basis for turning specialists into
  generalists, depending on available career paths.

Committing
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Contributing Growing
Committing
Joining
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• The Focus of Much of the Symposium Performance
  Management, but some additional issues and
  corporate choices
• Performance v Potential Management
• Professional Development limited to unit work
  needs or extended to maintaining marketability
• Work-life-Balance the more mission critical
  staff are less able to avail of opportunities

Contributing Growing
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Contributing Growing
Committing
Joining
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• When staff meet a career fork in the road and
  are compelled to make choices
• Between staying specialized or becoming a
  generalist
• Entering the Management stream
• Relocating for career advancement
• Do Clear Career Road maps exist?
• Are there acceptable parallel tracks?
• How rigorous is management selection?
• Is there a graceful parachute to escape from
  management?

Choosing
Internal career choice and opportunity greatly
Impacts the latter stages Of the Employment Life
Cycle
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Committing
Joining
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Everyone plateaus eventually?
Plateauing

• Three plateau categories
• The Peter Principle
• The Career Underachiever
• Peaking too Soon The Kasparov Syndrome

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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Passing on Wisdom
Committing
Joining
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• Lack of attention squanders human capital built
  up over long periods of time and makes the
  passage towards exit a demoralizing even
  humiliating one. Plenty of options available
• Phased Retirement
• Job Sharing
• Knowledge Capture
• Mentoring/Understudy Roles
• Shedding Line Management responsibilities to
  serve as internal consultant (from power to
  influence)
• Taking pride in ones career is the compound of
  job commitment

Passing on Wisdom
The Notion of Human Capital is a Myth if it
is Fully written off on the HC Balance Sheet
as Separation nears
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Passing on Wisdom
Committing
Separating
Joining
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• Frequently the stage in the employment life cycle
  managed least well (or least under control)
• Externally imposed Budget Cuts play havoc with
  workforce and talent mix
• Early Retirement Schemes can gratuitously place
  talent pool at risk
• And separation is greatly affected by upstream
  life cycle events

Separating
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• Good Analysis is Critical but frequently absent
• Turnover Patterns
• Mandatory Retirements
• Voluntary (Impact on quality of talent pool)
• End of Contract
• Risk Exposure
• Percentage of staff able to retire Now Within
  x time frame
• Likelihood
• Predicted access to expertise, post-retirement

Separating
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Stages in the Employment Life Cycle
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Passing on Wisdom
Committing
Separating
Joining
Continuing the Relationship from Employee to
Service Provider
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Some Summary Observations

• Increasingly, the workforce choice is between
  employment and alternative means of sourcing
  skills and expertise
• Workforce analysis key to effective management of
  employment life cycles
• The life cycle has to dovetail with the broader
  employment/demographic competitive realities
• It must be consistent with the desired Employer
  Image
• And its important to periodically revisit the
  employment value proposition in use What is the
  package of professional challenge, remuneration,
  job security, career prospects being offered?

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Examples of using the Employment Life Cycle in
the World Bank
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World Bank Archetypes The High End International
Expert
Contributing
Challenge lies in persuading top talent to come
on board and enticing them to stay for the right
amount of time frequently a short interval.
Separating
Joining
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World Bank Archetypes The Junior Professional
Associate
Contributing Growing
Managing Expectations. Preparation for post-Bank
Building an alumni pipeline. Growth is
externally focused
Joining
Staying engaged Alumni
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World Bank Archetypes The Mid-Career Professional
Choosing
Plateauing
Contributing Growing
Passing on Wisdom
Committing
Separating
Managing the full employment cycle over a 15-20
year Bank career
Joining
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World Bank Archetypes The Off-shored Back Office
Support Staff Chennai, India
Contributing
Necessary but readily available skills in locally
competitive market. Job specific role. Turnover
desirable skills are replaceable career
prospects are negligible
Separating
Committing
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Thank You
IPMA-HR, Budapest, May 2005