Workforce Study by Accenture

At a glance

Despite the weak economic environment and cost-cutting pressures, workforce-related issues top executives’ list of strategic priorities. Business executives are also concerned that their workforces lack critical skills, compromising their companies’ ability to achieve higher levels of operational and financial performance. The human performance leaders we studied provide useful insight into the steps companies can take to maximize their workforce’s productivity and also shed light on some of the cultural and organizational characteristics that are common to today’s high-performance business.

Study Findings

In the past five years, discussion about the importance of people to an organization’s success has reached a crescendo. Battered by the “war for talent” that raged before the technology bubble burst in 2000—and grappling with the tight budgets, slow growth and layoffs that ensued—corporations across the globe have awakened to the fact that the workforce, indeed, has become one of the biggest competitive differentiators in companies today.

In fact, leading companies know that an energized, creative and productive workforce is one of the key elements of a high-performance business—and are implementing innovative approaches to human resources and training to enhance those capabilities.

To shed light on the challenges that companies face in creating and sustaining a high-performance workforce, Accenture conducted a comprehensive research project that included a survey of 200 senior executives at companies in six countries and in-depth case studies at nearly a dozen other organizations. Six key findings emerged from our efforts:

1. In this difficult business environment, business executives around the world widely acknowledge the strategic importance of effectively managing and developing the workforce.
2. In most companies, executives believe there is a lack of critical workforce skills, workforce understanding of business or organizational strategy, and employee understanding of the connection between their jobs and overall corporate strategic priorities.
3. Recognizing these shortcomings, companies have implemented a wide range of human resource and training programs designed to improve workforce performance—and, in many cases, have increased their spending to do so.
4. Despite these efforts, executives for the most part are only moderately satisfied with the results of their HR and training initiatives—and with the overall performance of their HR and training functions.
5. A key factor suppressing satisfaction is companies’ lack of measurement—specifically, measurement of the business impact of HR and training and development initiatives—which is preventing executives from understanding where and how they should best apply their resources.
6. Some companies, however, are achieving success in this arena. These leaders in human performance are more likely to align their workforces with customers; see the HR function, as well as the HR and training activities, as valuable and strategically important; measure the impact of HR and training investments against key business results; and use technology to improve workforce performance.

These findings, as well as Accenture’s recommendations for steps companies should take to become “human performance leaders,” are explored in depth in The Accenture High-Performance Workforce Study 2002/2003.

Filled with informative statistics, insights from Accenture professionals, and dozens of real-world examples, this report can serve as a valuable guide for executives looking to understand and strengthen the crucial link between workforce performance and overall business performance. It sheds light on some of the cultural and organizational characteristics that are common to today’s high-performance business.