Achmea’s big challenge is to have mature data-driven strategic workforce management in place before the end of the decade. This involves more than just reporting on numbers and that they need to know the skills and experience of their workforce. They want to identify and utilize the untapped skills of employees. Another challenge is not being able to find the right skills and qualifications for certain tasks, and therefore need to change tactics by looking within their current workforce to retain and develop skilled employees. To do this they need to open people up and find these hidden talents.
Achmea does not have a fixed budget per head for training, but there is a budget within the company. Employees can pursue any training relevant to their ambitions within a budget of up to EUR 3,000, subject to approval from their managers. If the cost is above EUR 3,000, there may be more scrutiny. Training courses required by law are exempted. Also, they do not undertake performance management and do not use balanced scorecards. They do not measure performance in the traditional way at all.
The current workforce is considered the supply side, and it is essential to collect data on who these people are, what skills they possess, how long they have been working, and their current rewards and contracts. This data is required for both the internal and external labour markets, as the organization is looking to fit employees to specific roles. The digital platform envisioned needs to facilitate this process, and it is crucial to standardize the data collected in the six different categories to compare supply and demand effectively. The standardization process involves using the same language, metrics, and measurements, and databases to collect the data. The organization aims to achieve this goal by the end of the decade. Standardisation is necessary for comparing the supply and demand sides and identifying employees with specific skills.
The main challenge is to standardize data and variables, and this is not limited to just the employer and its employees but can also be demanded by external organizations. An employee seeking a job outside the current company needs to describe their skill set in a way that can be understood by companies outside the organization. There are different systems such as skills taxonomies or ontologies to capture skills in different languages or regions. The metric used to capture learning ability is learning agility, which is measured through online assessment tools, and IQ is measured through intelligence tests. Personality and intrinsic motivation questionnaires are also used for this purpose.
Measuring skills is a big challenge, with subjective validation through self-assessment being a common approach. Objective skills validation, particularly for soft skills like learning ability, is easier through psychometrics. However, validating hard skills, such as education and experience, can be more challenging and requires the help of supervisors or external providers. Achmea uses a HR dashboard on the supply side of things, which provides quantitative data on where people are working, their experience, and income within the organization. While this provides valuable insight, there is currently no qualitative data available in the dashboard. The focus is on finding providers who can help validate hard skills and source qualitative data to improve the overall understanding of skills within the organization.
Achmea has agreed on a common language for soft skills and are creating a proof of concept for a personal professional e-portfolio (PPEP) that showcases an individual’s hard and soft skills. The PPEP will be used to help people move forward within the organisation and fulfil their ambitions.
This presentation was delivered during the monthly ICMIF Member-to-Member Discussions for HR Directors. Please contact Mike Ashurst, Vice-President of Reinsurance and Professional Development, to find out more about the HR discussions.
