According to the recent Accenture High Performance Workforce Study, corporate executives surveyed say there is a problem with skills in the workforce. Critical functions are reported as not performing as strongly as they should:

• Only 14% of respondents described the overall skill level of their organizations’ entire workforce as industry leading.


• Just 20% of respondents said the majority of their employees understand their companies’ strategy and what’s needed to be successful in their industry.


• Among those who rated these functions among the top three, just one-quarter (25%) assigned the highest rating to the performance of their sales function, and under a third provided the same rating to their customer service, finance and strategic planning functions (25%, 19% and 33%, respectively).


• Only 11% were very satisfied with the performance of human resources (HR) functions. Only 10% very very satisfied with the performance of training functions. Only 36% of respondents said their companies tailor their HR and training support to each function’s needs and contributions to the organization. More than 40% percent do not even evaluate the impact of their HR and training efforts against profitability. About 50% do not evaluate those efforts against revenues and sales.


• 42% of respondents described capturing and sharing knowledge as a challenge or a severe challenge for their companies. 38% report a lack of a common business culture across different locations. 37% report no knowledge support infrastructure with dedicated people. 32% report that knowledge sharing is typically not rewarded in the organization.


• 60% expect to begin feeling the impact of the aging workforce and the impending retirement of baby boomers within the next 5 years. Of those, 28% said they are feeling the impact now.


• 43% described talent sourcing as a challenge or a severe challenge, primarily because of a smaller or shrinking talent pool from which to choose.


• Only a small percentage of respondents said the heads of customer service (29%), finance (31%), sales (34%) and strategic planning (37%) at their companies are highly involved in human capital management initiatives.

“The lack of essential skills is a vital issue for senior managers,” said Peter Cheese, global managing partner in Accenture’s Human Performance practice. “As the competitive environment grows more demanding and as markets become increasingly commoditized, the need to cultivate these skills – particularly in the critical functions – should be at the top of every corporate to-do list. Those companies that fail to develop their workforces risk losing their competitive edge.”

One the other hand, this research did identify “human performance leaders” among the companies, who are more likely to be successful in addressing the organizational issues that contribute to strong financial performance. Characteristics among these companies include:

• Acquiring new customers and increasing market share (reported by 43% of “human performance leaders” vs. 14% of “laggards”)


• Encouraging strong customer loyalty and retention (52% vs. 17%)


• Responding to changing market conditions (52% vs. 14%)


• Finding and developing talented leaders (39% vs. 7%)


• Attracting and retaining skilled staff (30% vs. 12%)


• Generating superior business value from technology investments (35% vs. 15%)

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