You won't believe how hard it is for bosses to look for new employees

Yet they spend little time on workforce planning.

According to Randstad's World of Work Report, business leaders in Singapore need to prioritise workforce planning in order to meet future human capital challenges.

Here's more from Randstad:

This year’s report gathered the feedback and opinions of 1315 people (including 625 business leaders) in Singapore. The research is part of Randstad’s annual Asia Pacific study of more than 9800 people to understand the human capital challenges shaping workplaces today – and into the future.

The research found the top human capital challenges for business leaders in Singapore are attracting new talent (24%), retaining top performers (17%) and increasing workforce performance and productivity (14%).

Despite this, around half (46%) of all business leaders in Singapore admit they spend 10% or less of their total strategic planning time on future workforce planning.

Asia Pacific Regional Director of Randstad Sourceright, Doug Edmonds, says a lack of planning can impact an organisation’s ability to innovate, lead and succeed in the future.

“A more robust, inclusive and long-term approach to workforce planning can ensure organisations have the right skills in the pipeline. For example, with 60% of employers looking to boost middle management capabilities to improve productivity over the next five years, now is the time to start thinking about the pipeline for executive recruitment, training and development.

“It’s also important to think about the work options, systems, processes and performance measures that will support these managers, to ensure their success – and their loyalty – well into the future.”

The report also found the workforce planning horizon is alarmingly short. Over a third of employers don’t plan their workforce a year in advance, just over half plan 12 months ahead and only 10% plan for a two-year period.

Mr Edmonds continues, “Half of employers intend to align their workforce plan with business strategy over the next five years, but our findings indicate more can be done to foster best practice and employee engagement.

“HR and recruitment professionals can offer valuable advice on effective workforce planning, but only 56% of employers we surveyed currently engage their internal HR function in the process, and just 4% engage external partners. This raises some concern that employers are failing to tap into a rich source of knowledge and expertise.”

The report also found that less than 10% of organisations currently engage employees at all levels in workforce planning.

Mr Edmonds adds, “With the nature of work changing so dramatically on the frontline, failing to include a wide range of employees in the process means missing out on genuine insights in to how work is done, how efficiency gains can be made, and how it might change in the future.

“Strengthening employee engagement and collaboration is the number one strategy organisations will undertake to improve productivity over the next five years. Engaging employees on the future of their own jobs – how they will work, how they can contribute to achieving organisational goals, and how their performance will be measured and rewarded – is a good place to start.

“It is interesting that 59% of business leaders in Singapore believe talent scarcity will increase the need to fully outsource talent attraction in the next 10 years, through programs like recruitment process outsourcing. The outsourcing of such functions allows HR and talent acquisition leaders to spend more time on the strategic elements of their role, freeing them up to focus on workforce planning directly connected to the achievement of core company objectives. This provides strong signals for the growing role of HR in the region.”