With skills shortages, a General Election, and planned employment legislation challenges on the cards for 2024, a team of HR, Talent Acquisition, and procurement leaders have called for changes in the hiring landscape, with collaboration the key to success.

The APSCo OutSource Client Community – a group of HR, TA, and procurement professionals who represent leading organizations – has pinpointed the need for every element of the workforce supply chain to work together, rather than against each other, to tackle the challenges of the coming months.

The experts have highlighted an eight-point plan for talent success, which includes, Creating a single point of skills and workforce measurement for the entire talent ecosystem, Developing a better understanding of existing skills through greater visibility and transparency, ‘Deskilling’ jobs to allow people to be hired for potential, Challenging traditional practices and driving out ‘normalised’ inefficiencies, Utilising AI without dehumanising workforce management, Driving greater compliance across the supply chain, Balancing governance with flexibility to meet growing needs, as well as Aiming for true Total Talent Management in 2024.

“How every business views skills has changed drastically, but we are all now looking to define what best practice talent attraction and retention looks like. There’s a need for change which must happen with some speed this year. Worker shortages aren’t going to go away overnight and collaboration is required by us all. It is incredibly difficult to plan too far in advance given the volatile nature of the economic climate. However, while there may be challenges ahead, each of these can be turned into an opportunity for positive change. HR, TA, procurement, staffing firms, and outsourcing providers have an opportunity to collaborate and create new approaches to address skills shortages,” comments Melanie Forbes, Managing Director at APSCo OutSource.