Labor Advantage

Among the most important questions leaders ask today are: How do we mobilize and aggregate human contribution more powerfully to achieve growth and advantage? How do we multiply the impact of human
accomplishment?

Asking is important because that’s where the leverage is today. Organizational impact and business profits are tied to service or product differentiation, and how carefully and systematically human potential is managed. The options for gaining advantage through human labor are neither simple nor easy.

Labor cost advantage removes human potential from the organization by identifying, separating and releasing workers to reduce headcount, then restructuring the remaining workforce. An alternative is to reduce the cost of
doing business by shifting the location where work is performed from inside to outside the organization (outsourcing). This takes work from one labor force and gives it to another.

Labor skill advantage leverages and builds existing skills and applies them to enhance capability across the entire labor force without taking work away from anyone. Companies seeking to build labor skill advantage reinforce the
cost advantage of operating globally and improve the effectiveness of their services and operations by developing their human talent. Leading global companies focus on labor skill advantage: