CIO OPINION
These are among the findings of a report by Boston Consulting Group , BCG and the World Federation of People Management Associations , WFPMA , titled Creating People Advantage 2023 : Set the Right People Priorities for Challenging Times . Based on a survey of 6,893 people leaders in 102 markets , including 45 people leaders from South Africa and 360 from the whole of Africa , the report is the latest instalment in an ongoing joint study conducted by BCG and WFPMA .
The survey asked respondents to consider 32 people management topics , grouped into nine clusters , and rank them by future importance to their organisation and by their organisation ’ s current capabilities . Strikingly , many of the topics on which companies show the greatest current strength rank only in the middle of the pack on future importance . The report also examines differences across geographic markets and company sizes .
For South Africa respondents , future importance of organisational development and design , agile principles , people analytics and reporting ranked much higher than they did for global respondents , while future importance of onboarding , health and safety and human resources staff capabilities ranked much lower .
Future importance of employee relations , organisational development and design , and human resources organisation and governance ranked significantly higher , while future importance of strategic workforce planning , employer branding , onboarding , and talent sourcing ecosystem ranked significantly lower for Africa respondents compared to their global counterparts .
By segmenting human resources topics by current capabilities and future importance we can identify people management priorities for human resources leaders in Africa . For local human resources
The respondents clearly recognise that improvement on priority topics , such as strategic workforce planning , upskilling , and AI adoption , is important to the continued success of their companies , but also that their current capabilities in those areas are very weak . Prioritising proactive investment in digital and data capabilities is key to solving many of the challenges that limit the organisational impact that people functions can deliver .
Challenges of skills gap
For South Africa , capabilities of upskilling and reskilling at scale , diversity , equity and inclusion management , employee engagement and well-being , and top talent management ranked much higher than they did for global respondents .
While 58 % of respondents from South Africa cited people challenges and talent gaps as the biggest business obstacle they currently face , strategic workforce planning ranked only 24th overall among the 32 topics in terms of current capabilities .
For South Africa respondents , current capabilities of upskilling and reskilling at scale , diversity , equity and inclusion management , employee engagement and well-being , and top talent management ranked much higher than they did for global respondents .
Over 60 % of survey respondents from South Africa say that diversity is engrained in all processes , and ways to benefit from the positive impacts are in place . Current capabilities of human resources staff capabilities and recruiting strategy and process ranked much lower for South Africa respondents compared to their global counterparts .
Current top talent management capabilities ranked significantly higher for Africa respondents , while current purpose and culture activation capabilities ranked significantly lower for Africa respondents than they did for global respondents .
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