Understand Key Contemporary Labour Market Trends And Their Significance For Workforce Planning

About this package

This package examines how contemporary labour market trends affect workforce planning and the decisions organisations make about attracting, retaining and developing people. It connects two areas: an organisation’s position as an employer and the external conditions that shape labour supply and demand. Learners consider how to turn market evidence into resourcing choices rather than relying on assumptions about available skills or candidate expectations.

The first part focuses on strategic positioning in competitive labour markets. It explores what makes an organisation an employer of choice, including reward, culture, ethics and reputation, and why employment promises need to match employees’ experiences. Competitor analysis looks beyond job adverts to compare the experience of working for alternative employers. Employer branding, image and reputation management are considered alongside the ethical and cultural implications of resourcing decisions, helping learners connect attraction and retention with everyday employment practices.

The second part examines changing labour market conditions. Learners distinguish between tight and loose markets and consider how each affects recruitment methods, retention strategies and development plans. The content also addresses trends in labour demand and skills, including the need to forecast requirements for particular roles, locations and working patterns. PESTLE analysis provides a framework for interpreting political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental drivers and translating them into workforce risks, opportunities and short-term actions.

The package then considers resourcing during critical incidents and crises, where protecting people and maintaining essential work may require rapid decisions. It also explores hybrid, remote and contingent working and their implications for role design, support and retention. Applied tools and case-based scenarios support the stated outcomes, which extend to developing a strategic workforce plan and evaluating employer branding and resourcing interventions. This makes the content relevant to learners who need to explain and justify workforce decisions in changing circumstances.

Who it’s for

This package suits HR and people practitioners, managers involved in resourcing, and learners studying workforce planning. It is particularly relevant to those developing analytical skills in employer positioning, labour market assessment and strategic workforce decision-making.

What’s covered

1. Strategic positioning: purpose and labour market fit

   Explains how organisations decide what kind of employer they want to be, whom they aim to attract and how their employment offer compares with alternatives. Connects positioning with recruitment messages, retention and consistent decisions about reward, culture and working practices.

2. Characteristics of an employer of choice

   Examines the characteristics that make an employer genuinely preferred by current and potential employees. Considers how management behaviour, flexibility, fair pay and keeping employment promises influence attraction, retention and workforce planning.

3. Competitor analysis of employee experience

   Introduces structured comparison of organisations competing for the same talent. Looks at employee experience, including joining an organisation, learning, reward and support, to identify what an employer should match, improve or differentiate.

4. Employer branding, image and reputation management

   Explores employer branding and how it differs from the corporate brand. Examines why credible messages about working for an organisation matter throughout the candidate and employee experience, and how misleading promises can damage retention and reputation.

5. Ethics, culture and resourcing implications

   Considers how fair, lawful and responsible employment practices affect applications, offer acceptance, retention and recommendations. Links ethical risks and cultural signals with decisions about people, skills and workforce requirements.

6. Tight and loose labour markets

   Defines tight and loose labour markets in terms of the availability of suitable people and the cost and speed of hiring. Explores how recruitment methods, retention strategies and development plans need to respond to changing conditions.

7. Trends in labour demand and skills

   Examines the relationship between organisational demand for people and the available supply of relevant skills. Focuses on forecasting needs for particular roles, locations and working patterns so that development, internal moves and recruitment are informed by evidence.

8. Applying PESTLE to labour market drivers

   Uses political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental analysis to explain changes in labour supply and demand. Shows how external signals can be interpreted for a specific job family or skill set and translated into practical resourcing actions.

9. Resourcing during critical incidents and crises

   Explores workforce decisions when sudden events disrupt operations and create risks to people, services, finances or reputation. Considers immediate safeguarding, continuity of critical work and disciplined decision-making under pressure.

10. Resourcing for changing ways of working

    Examines hybrid, remote and contingent working across locations and time zones. Considers the implications for role design, advertising, employee support, development and retention, including risks relating to inequity and performance.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Define key terms and concepts relating to employer positioning, employer branding and employee experience in competitive labour markets.
• Explain how organisations become employers of choice by classifying characteristics such as reward, culture, ethics and reputation and summarising their influence on attraction and retention.
• Analyse competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in employee experience by comparing at least three organisations and identifying implications for an organisation’s positioning strategy.
• Apply PESTLE analysis to examine the drivers of current trends in labour supply and demand and predict likely short-term impacts on workforce requirements.
• Contrast the resourcing implications of tight and loose labour markets, illustrating how recruitment methods, retention strategies and development plans should change in each.
• Assess and justify appropriate resourcing decisions, such as employer branding, recruitment channel mix, retention initiatives or reorganisation, in response to a labour market change or critical incident.
• Develop a strategic workforce plan setting out recruitment, retention and development actions that address national, international or global pressures and changing ways of working.
• Create metrics and evaluation criteria for employer branding and resourcing interventions, and use them to appraise their impact on attraction, retention and organisational reputation.

Frequently asked questions

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