How governments can plan for a future-fit, digital workforce

Strategic workforce planning should be conducted at a whole of government level, with a national digital strategy that highlights the workforce’s role in driving transformation, as well as the opportunities and risks of new technology. Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA), for example, set up a dedicated “futures” unit to assess the latest technology advances, anticipate emerging jobs and identify the digital skills that don’t yet exist. 

At the organization level, digital transformation requires an integrated strategy aligning the overall vision and goals with digital and workforce planning.

Designing a workforce plan

Workforce planning involves several stages:

1. Take a “future-back” approach to define the desired citizen experience and outcomes in five years’ time, the possible paths to achieve this, and the risks and opportunities of each. Then, work backward to understand the strategic and tactical implications and priorities for today.
2. Define the future digital government organizational structure and transformation strategy to achieve the vision and the roles and skills needed to deliver.
3. Review current workforce capacity and capability, mining demographic and HR data for insights into employee skills, performance and likely attrition rates. 
4. Evaluate short-, medium- and long-term workforce needs, considering new roles and capabilities.
5. Model projected gaps and create new job profiles.
6. Fill gaps by upskilling and re-skilling, bringing in new long-term and contingent talent, and deploying resources as needed across different departments and agencies.
7. Continue to assess the multiyear impact of emerging technologies, plot “technology disruption curves,” and continually recast existing roles and create new ones.

Responding to a dynamic environment

Along with having a long-term workforce strategy, governments need to adapt to fast-changing circumstances, such as pandemics. Adaptive workforce planning uses advanced data analytics, augmented by automation, to forecast future needs and allocate resources effectively. Cloud-based workforce analytics tools — such as the EY Organization Talent Hub (OTH) — allow governments to integrate data from multiple internal and external sources to build a clearer picture. The Republic of Korea, for instance, has transformed the way it manages its 300,000 employees through better access to data. Its e-Saram system (pdf) enables each government agency to digitally handle a variety of HR tasks, as well as carrying out internal talent searches.

In future, governments will deploy resources for different departments on demand — not just to provide additional capacity but to bring in the right skills. As Eddie Copland, Director, London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI), UK, said, "Everyone needs to be fluid, everyone needs to be adaptable, and everyone needs to be able to work in different combinations of multidisciplinary teams." This agility will also help to build organizational networks and improve interdepartmental collaboration. A central pool of workers could be made available for different projects and tasks across agencies. Other internal mobility programs include employee “leasing,” rotations, secondments and talent “trading” from other public sector organizations. The US digital services agency, 18F, fosters innovation across government by mobilizing diverse and agile teams to solve urgent problems, with project-based recruitment strategies and flexible job descriptions. 

Another route is to forge external partnerships with organizations that can help supply skilled staff. This route was adopted by 30% of government leaders in the EY 2022 Tech Horizon Survey.

As the use of gig workers increases, some governments are employing freelancers, contractors and secondees from other sectors for shorter-term, project-based roles, using hiring platforms that swiftly connect them with the right talent. This approach also reduces fixed employee costs — offering important flexibility in uncertain times.

In a fluid environment, governments need mechanisms for sourcing, vetting, onboarding and managing a nonpermanent workforce. This means hiring for capabilities rather than roles and building speedier recruitment processes. The Canadian government, for example, has developed a digital platform, GC Talent Cloud, that vets potential public sector employees and facilitates searchability based on public agencies’ project needs.

Key questions to consider:

• How could we combine humans and technology to work in smarter ways?
• What new skills and roles will be needed to maximize the potential of new technology in our organization?
• How can we become more flexible and responsive to fluctuating needs?
• How can we balance mobility with the need for institutional and domain expertise?

In the EY 2022 Tech Horizon Survey, having the right digital and technology-related skills is a top-three factor in a successful digital transformation, with respondents citing an urgent need for skills in data and analytics, cloud, and cybersecurity and privacy.

The majority (84%) are increasing spend to source technology skills from outside, although more than three-quarters (77%) acknowledge that competition for workers with in-demand technology skills has become even more intense since the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this talent scarcity, it’s little surprise that two-thirds prioritize re-skilling of existing staff over hiring externally. 

Further barriers to building digital capability include inadequate compensation, ineffective training programs, difficulty retaining existing talent, and a general lack of experience in sourcing talent from the digital jobs market.

Plugging the skills gap: the two main strategies

1.  Upskill or re-skill employees at scale

Public sector organizations’ past attempts at digital learning have often fallen short, with training programs that are outdated, inaccessible or costly. Building a more effective program, tailored to the distinct needs of different employee groups — organizational and functional leaders, civil servants and frontline workers, and digital specialists — is vital. Governments can consider a range of different options:

• Digital academies
  These provide formal training and development programs in areas such as user-centered design and AI. The UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) Academy, for example, provides both online and in-person courses at permanent and mobile training centers around the country. Canada, Lithuania and Argentina have followed a similar path.
  
  
• Self-directed digital learning
  Research shows that 84% of learners now prefer self-directed learning, which widens access to education, enabling people to learn at a time, place and speed that suits them. The EY organization launched the EY Badges program in 2018 to help our employees earn digital credentials by studying for free to develop future-focused skills. It has since joined with Hult International Business School to launch the Tech MBA, a virtual learning model that allows staff to build their own personal curriculum from a range of subject areas, from AI, blockchain and RPA to purpose, personal wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability.

• Informal and on-the-job learning
  Initiatives such as job shadowing, fellowships and coaching enable employees to simultaneously learn and work on real-world projects. The civil service in Chile launched its Líderes Digitales (Digital Leaders) program in 2019 to train civil employees aged under 30 as mentors for the over 50s. And in Argentina, the State Property Management Agency enlisted young civil servants to support their older peers in adopting a new electronic records system.

• Drawing on external expertise
  Governments are also seeking to harness the expertise of outside partners, including big tech businesses, tech startups and academia. Since 2018, the Indonesian government has partnered with more than 90 universities and polytechnics, local startups and big tech companies to offer its Digital Talent Scholarship to address the skills shortfall.

2. Source new talent

Civil service pay structures rarely keep pace with the private sector, which makes it especially hard to recruit in-demand technical talent. However, there are alternative ways to increase the allure of working in government and gain access to people who might otherwise not have considered such a career:

• Rebrand the public sector
  To counter the perception of government jobs as bureaucratic and limited in scope, public sector organizations can promote a brand that not only does good but also uses innovative technology to solve complex societal challenges. As Eddie Copeland, Director, London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI), UK, says, "We've got to dispel some of the myths ... and emphasize that by working in local governments, you may earn less, but you can have a real positive social impact."

• Reimagine hiring
  Governments can become more flexible and proactive in their resourcing strategies. Some are forming specialist teams to proactively hire digital talent, while technology is making recruitment more efficient as AI is automating administrative tasks related to hiring. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is setting up a dedicated cybersecurity career track, with special opportunities, benefits and salaries, in a bid to attract top-flight candidates. There is also a shift toward more flexible assessment criteria based upon capabilities rather than just qualifications.
  
  
• Target new talent pools
  Governments are casting the net wider in search of skills not typically associated with the public sector, from sources such as innovation and tech centers. They can attract younger candidates, or those with specific skill sets, through fast-track development programs, including internships, fellowships, apprenticeships and IT leadership development. Charities are also teaching tech skills to people who otherwise might not have access to such a career: good examples include CodeYourFuture, which trains refugees and other disadvantaged people to become web developers, and Code4000, which teaches software development and digital skills to prisoners.

• Improve diversity and inclusion
  Diversity can bring fresh perspectives, boosting creativity and organizational performance. While most organizations have diversity targets as part of their transformation initiatives, only 7% say meeting those targets is a quantified measure of success. Diversity must be incorporated into role design, opening recruitment to people with different backgrounds, life experiences, capabilities and problem-solving styles, with quotas for digital hiring. Governments should make selection panels diverse, offer flexible working and eliminate gender pay gaps.

Key questions to consider:

• How do we bridge the gap between more digitally adept workers and those who lack skills or confidence?
• How can we create the right mix of training options to meet the needs and preferences of our workforce?
• Can we draw on external expertise to help build workforce skills?
• How can we use purpose to attract the best digital talent?
• What could we do to improve diversity and inclusion?