The Workforce Vector
SM
vec·tor /ˈvek-tÉ™r/
noun
1. Mathematics.
An item that has both direction and magnitude, especially as determining the position of one state relative to another. ​​
| The automobile's velocity vector was comprised of a speed of 60 mph and a direction of northeast.
Great workforce plans include a workforce vision and innovative workforce attraction and retention strategies. The Workforce Vector is a foundational tool to help organizations develop data-driven workforce strategies to move from their current workforce state to their workforce vision.
The Workforce Vector represents the directions your organization could take to find different types of new employees, together with the specific number (magnitude) of individuals you might be able to hire of each type. If you try to employ more females with young children, how many might you be able to attract to your company? If you want to increase the number of people who migrate to your city for employment, what success might you have?
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​​The workforce directions you might take are referred to as workforce elements.
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Workforce Elements are the 40 different types of individuals
you could target to grow your organization.
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​The workforce elements are segmented into five different categories. Brief descriptions are given on the Workforce Elements page. More detailed descriptions are provided on the Workforce Element Definitions page.​​
The number of individuals in each of the 40 workforce element 'pools', locally and across the country, are used to determine the relative success at attracting individuals from each pool into the local labor force.
​The Workforce Potential is the number of individuals from each
workforce element type who might enter the local labor force.
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The workforce potential is calculated by comparing your county with over 3,000 U.S. counties so you can compare your community with your peer communities. A similar approach is used for each workforce element so you can consistently compare potential hiring outcomes. This lets you target your limited resources to those types of individuals where you will be most successful. The approach is described in more detail on the Workforce Potential page.
After an organization decides which workforce elements to pursue, the next step involves understanding and addressing what limits those individuals from entering the local workforce. A literature search of the root causes constraining the hiring of each of the 40 workforce elements uncovered 25 distinct root causes. Each root cause affects one or more of the workforce elements. A list of the root causes and a description of each is provided on the Root Cause Definitions page.​​
In mathematics, a matrix is a table of numbers or symbols arranged in rows and columns. They can be used to provide a mapping from something you know to something you want to know. A matrix is used here to link the 40 workforce elements to the 25 root causes that limit hiring success. Once you choose the types of individuals you want to hire, the root cause matrix will tell you which of the root causes you may need to improve if you want to hire and retain those types of individuals. More information is provided on the Root Cause Matrix page.
The workforce elements, potentials, and root cause matrix are key pieces of a workforce strategic plan. Other key pieces include a competitor analysis, the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization, and the funding that will be invested to improve root causes. How these work together are displayed graphically in a workforce equation. The equation's terms are described on The Workforce Equation page. For each term, an example of how a company addressed the term is highlighted.
Workforce Vector data for all 3,143 U.S. counties and the District of Columbia are available to attendees at conferences I speak at. For each of the 40 workforce elements, you can see a metric on how well the county is doing at employing those individuals, where the county ranks among all counties, the number of individuals available to work for each element, and the potential to draw more of that type of individual into the local workforce. Attendees also receive the workforce root cause matrix and a workforce strategic planning template to accelerate the development of a data-based workforce strategic plan. County data can be found at the link on the button below.
​​​​​​​​​​A short video describing the Workforce Vector can be found here.​