HRM textbook

144 PART 2 RECRUITMENT, PLACEMENT, AND TALENT MANAGEMENT
FIGURE 5-5 Keeping
Data Safe
Source: HR Magazine by
Caternicchia. Copyright 2005 by
Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM). Reproduced
with permission of Society for
Human Resource Management
(SHRM) in the format Textbook via
Copyright Clearance Center.
Since intruders can strike from outside an organization or from within, HR departments
can help screen out potential identity thieves by following four basic rules:
Perform background checks on anyone who is going to have access to personal
information.
If someone with access to personal information is out sick or on leave, don t hire a
temporary employee to replace him or her. Instead, bring in a trusted worker from
another department.
Perform random background checks such as random drug tests. Just because someone
passed 5 years ago doesn t mean their current situation is the same.
Limit access to information such as SSNs, health information, and other sensitive data
to HR managers who require it to do their jobs.
as read only or write only ) to each database element. (So, those in accounting
might read only information such as an employee s address.) Figure 5-5 summarizes
some guidelines for keeping employee data safe. A growing problem is that peerto-peer
file-sharing applications jump firewalls and give outsiders quick access. Pfizer
Inc. lost personal data on about 17,000 current and former employees this way. 15
Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates
If there won t be enough inside candidates to fill the anticipated openings (or you want
to go outside for another reason), you will turn to outside candidates.
Forecasting labor supply depends first on the manager s own sense of what s
happening in his or her industry and locale. He or she will then supplement these
observations with more formal labor market analyses, for instance, from the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics and from O*Net. For example, unemployment rates
around 9% in the United States in 2011 signaled to HR managers that finding good
candidates would be easier. 16
Information like this is easy to find, both online and in print format. For example,
look for economic projections online, for instance, from the U.S. Congressional
Budget Office (www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=1824&sequence=0) and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.toc.htm). For hard-copy
formats, Bloomberg BusinessWeek presents a weekly snapshot of the economy on its
Outlook page, as well as a yearly forecast in December.
Your planning may also require forecasting specific occupations such as nurse,
computer programmer, or teacher. Recently, for instance, there has been an undersupply
of nurses. O*NET (discussed in Chapter 4) includes projections for most
occupations. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes annual occupational
projections both online and in the Monthly Labor Review and in Occupational
Outlook Quarterly. Beyond specific occupations, the emphasis on technologically
advanced jobs means many will lack basic skills such as communication, creativity,
and teamwork. 17
Talent Management and Predictive Workforce Monitoring
Traditionally, employers engage in formal workforce planning perhaps every year or so.
However, this may not always provide enough time. For instance, having failed to do
much such planning for years, Valero almost didn t have sufficient time to gear up its
new employee development plan.
Applying a talent management philosophy to workforce planning requires being
more proactive. Specifically, it requires paying continuous attention to workforce
planning issues. Managers call this newer, continuous workforce planning approach
predictive workforce monitoring. Some examples follow.
Intel Corporation example. Intel conducts semiannual Organization Capability
Assessments. The staffing department works with the firms business heads twice a
year to assess workforce needs both immediate and up to 2 years in the future. 18