Transform from within

Create a workforce fit to build the government of the future

There’s increasing pressure on government and public sector entities to evaluate and address significant cost challenges. While this is especially prevalent federally, all levels of government are recalibrating their budgets due to economic pressures and the continued post-pandemic economic recovery in Canada’s downtown cores.

Traditional approaches to dealing with these pressures, such as making across-the-board headcount cuts, will only compound the existing resource deficit. In our recent Hopes and Fears 2023 workforce survey, 52% of Canadian government/public service respondents noted lack of resources has created unmanageable workloads for them in the past year.

Many leaders are now taking a different, proactive approach to workforce planning. In addition to understanding which capabilities to keep, they need to assess current capability gaps, as well as the cost of and most effective way to address those gaps. Adopting cloud solutions and leveraging generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will enable governments and public sector entities to work smarter and leaner. But GenAI can also help them plan for and manage their capability gaps more effectively by using the power of data to make more informed decisions about where and which capabilities are most needed.

There are four critical steps leaders must take to transform and create a workforce fit to build the government of the future.

1. Define your transformational ambition

The first step is to clearly define your organization’s transformational ambition. What kinds of opportunities exist to redefine how your organization supports your clients, whether internal or external? How will market pressures, trends and external forces impact your ability to meet your organization’s goals?

Technological evolution will always affect how we work. Developments in GenAI will introduce exponential change and must be factored into your vision for your organization’s future. At the same time, many employees are still coming to terms with the extent to which AI will impact their jobs. In fact, only 22% of Canadian government/public service respondents to our Hopes and Fears survey said AI will increase their productivity or efficiency at work.

2. Build organizational capability to transform

You won’t be able to make sweeping changes without thinking about how you’re going to do this differently. It’s crucial to introduce capabilities that can drive transformation. These capabilities include skills, but they also include any processes, technology and behaviours that can differentiate your organization and your ability to deliver value to citizens.

Organizations need to continue to hone their transformation capabilities and mindset—both to overcome inertia and to adapt quickly. You’ll also need to get your leaders on board: they’ll need more support to inspire and build trust with staff as organizations transform.

3. Understand your workforce and build a future-fit people strategy

The next step is to use data and workforce assessments to understand whether you have the capabilities and skills needed to achieve your transformational ambition. With technology evolving so quickly, the challenge will be to shift the emphasis in recruiting and learning and development towards skills rather than experience. As our Hopes and Fears survey noted, 42% of Canadian respondents believe their employer focuses too much on their job history and not enough on their skills.

Ask yourself: Where are the skills gaps in your organization, and what will it cost to fill these gaps? Which skills will your organization need to buy, build or borrow? Not everybody in your organization will need to be or can be reskilled. Consider it another way: What would be the cost to your organization of not achieving your transformational ambition?

4. Ensure you have the right data to support your decisions

Tech-enabled solutions can help provide you with the data you need to support important decisions and uncover additional efficiencies quickly and with surgical accuracy. AI can help you understand the demand for current skills and needed future skills, as well as determine how to build on current skills to meet future demands. Accelerated solutions use AI to access real-time labour market intelligence and drive evidence-based decisions by getting a deeper understanding of supply and demand and identifying emerging and declining skills.

As you go through this process, it’s critical to bring your people along with you. Empower them to control their own development by helping them profile their skill sets with data. That way, they can see clearly where they are and where they need to grow, as well as their different options moving forward.

Start transforming your workforce for the future today

We know we’re in a period of immense upheaval. Accordingly, workforce transformation can—and should—be flexible and iterative. More than four in ten (43%) of Canadian government/public service respondents to our Hopes and Fears survey agreed the skills their job will need will change significantly in the next five years. However, we saw incredible resilience in how we all managed through the pandemic.

With the right approach to workforce planning and strategy, people and organizations will be able to transform and effectively deal with ongoing cost and resource pressures. The goal is to emerge stronger and more innovative in the face of continuous disruption.