Promote inclusivity
Potential sources of talent can also be acquired by encouraging an inclusive workforce. Women, older individuals, people with disabilities and minorities are all under-represented in many workforces but a potential source of talent that should not be overlooked.

Employers need to work to set expectations and change the culture to one of inclusivity, helping to integrate such groups into the workforce. For example, firms in Mexico prefer to hire younger workers believing
they are more productive. This is despite the fact that older workers are often better qualified, motivated and dependable. To help change this attitude and create additional opportunities for older workers, Manpower Mexico recently partnered with Mexico City¡¦s Rapid Transit System. The transit system was about to unveil a new ticketing system and required additional staff to explain the new ticketing process to the system¡¦s patrons. Within days Manpower recruited approximately 700 older workers for posts, trained them and placed
them in assignments ranging from ticket sellers to customer service personnel.

Manpower Sweden and the Swedish Electricians Union also recently established a cooperative agreement to address the country¡¦s critical shortage of trained electricians. The initiative was designed to provide a sustainable opportunity for underutilized portions of the Swedish
population ¡V including the long-term unemployed such as women, youth and Sweden¡¦s growing immigrant population. In the program¡¦s first year, 900 long-term unemployed joined the six-month training program.

And in an effort to help those people with disabilities who have expressed a desire to return to the workplace, Manpower UK worked with BT to identify talent needs within the telecom giant and provide
qualified candidates with the required training. For example, a number of visually impaired candidates have achieved tremendous success after being trained and assigned to BT¡¦s call centers. The candidates receive the rewards associated with employment and independence, while BT benefits from a newfound source of dedicated and highly motivated employees.

Employers can further extend their talent net by investing in ¡§enabling¡¨ technology for individuals with disabilities, such as computer readers that vocalize on-screen text and make Web sites accessible for partially-sighted people, and adapted PC controls for
those with physical disabilities.

" The ratio of older inactive persons per worker is expected to almost double from around 38% in the OECD area in 2000 to just over 70% in 2050. "

OECD, ¡§Designing Local Skills Strategies,¡¨ 15 January 2008

Tap into underemployed sources
Many economies have a wealth of unemployed or underemployed individuals who could be brought into the workforce to fill the skills gaps: the disaffected jobless young; single mothers; disabled people; part-timers who would prefer full-time employment; and older workers needing to work longer to subsidize their shrinking pensions. The talent shortage may make groups like these potentially valuable resources that companies can turn to satisfy some of their immediate talent needs.

Employers will need to create the right employment conditions to attract each of these categories of individuals into the labor market; governments, too, can play their part by creating the right legislative and regulatory climate for the employers to make these individuals fully active in the workforce.

"Statistics show that in the United States, for example, only one-third of disabled people are employed, although most of them would prefer to be working, and for severely disabled adults, the underemployment rate exceeds 70%."

Journal of Economic Issues, ¡§The Impact of Workers' Compensation Experience-Rating on Discriminatory Hiring Practices,¡¨ 1 September 2007