La SWP, for Predictive Management of Jobs and Skills, is an HR approach aimed at anticipating changes in jobs and skills in order to adapt human resources to the future needs of the company.
What is SWP?
Predictive Job and Skills Management (SWP) consists of analyzing the jobs, skills and workforce of an organization in order toanticipate their changes in the short and medium term.
It aims to align business needs with available and future skills, taking into account economic, technological, organizational and social transformations. The GPEC thus makes it possible tosupport the evolution of professions, to secure professional careers and support performance overall organization.
What are the goals of SWP?
The GPEC is suing several complementary objectives aimed at anticipating changes in jobs and skills, while supporting the transformation of organizations. It is a reference framework for aligning the strategic needs of the company with the career paths of employees.
The main objectives of the SWP
- Anticipate changes in jobs and skills
Identify the impacts of economic, technological and organizational transformations on jobs. - Aligning human resources with business strategy
Adapt the skills available and to be developed to strategic directions. - Securing career paths
Promote the employability of employees and support internal mobility. - Structuring social dialogue around employment
Sharing a common vision of future developments and support levers.
Illustration of a SWP approach in business
The implementation of a SWP makes it possible to better align the skills available with the internal needs of the company. The following example illustrates the concrete effects of a structured approach to the predictive management of jobs and skills.
Illustration — SWP project at Natixis
- Issue
Improve the match between employee skills and internal opportunities for 2,500 employees in France. - Observed results
- Identification of non-formalized skills thanks to the involvement of employees: 50,000 skills detected.
- Creation of a common language between skills and internal offers: 85% membership in 2 weeks.
- Acceleration of internal mobility and career paths: 50% progress in 6 months.
“Neobrain allowed us to project our employees into their career path.”
Cristel Guillain, Head of Transformation & Talent — Natixis
Neobrain allowed us to project our employees into their career path.” Cristel Guilain - Head of HR & Transformation - Natixis
What are the steps in a SWP approach?
The implementation of a SWP approach is based on a structured approach, making it possible to anticipate changes in the jobs and skills of progressive and concerted manner. These steps constitute a common frame of reference, adaptable according to the context, size and HR maturity of the organization.
The main steps of a SWP approach
- Analysis of the existing situation
Identify the jobs, skills and workforce in place, as well as internal and external dynamics that may impact the organization. - Projection of future developments
Anticipate the transformations of jobs, skills and human resources needs in the short and medium term. - Identifying discrepancies
Compare the current situation with future needs in order to highlight skills and workforce gaps. - Definition of support actions
Structuring adapted actions (training, internal mobility, career support) to respond to identified differences. - Monitoring and adjustment of the process
Regularly assess the actions implemented and adjust the approach according to the changes observed.
What tools are needed to manage a SWP?
The management of a SWP approach is based on the company's ability to have a reliable and shared vision of jobs, skills and future developments. The tools used are primarily used to structure the analysis, to objectify exchanges and to support HR decisions in the long term.
The main levers for managing the SWP
- Mapping jobs and skills
It makes it possible to identify existing jobs, associated skills and their potential evolutions. - Job and skills standards
They constitute a common basis for analysing differences, structuring paths and facilitating dialogue between HR actors. - Evaluation and monitoring systems
Interviews, diagnoses and indicators make it possible to monitor the evolution of skills and to adjust the actions taken. - Prospective data
Coming from professional branches, business observatories or internal analyses, they shed light on medium-term transformations.
What are the differences between SWP and GEPP?
The SWP and the GEPP pursue a common objective of anticipating changes in employment and skills. However, these two approaches do not cover exactly the same logics or the same perimeter. The GEPP is part of an evolution of the regulatory framework and HR practices, by broadening the scope of thinking to professional careers.
Key differences between SWP and GEPP
- Perimeter of reflection
The SWP has historically focused on jobs and skills, while the GEPP more broadly integrates the notion of career paths and individual trajectories. - Mobility approach
GEPP places greater emphasis on professional transitions, bridges between professions and support for career development. - Regulatory framework
Since 2017, GEPP has replaced SWP in legislative texts, while maintaining many principles from SWP approaches. - Business use
In practice, the term SWP remains widely used, even when the approaches implemented are based on a GEPP logic.
What is the SWP regulatory framework?
The SWP is part of a regulatory framework aimed at supporting companies in anticipating changes in employment and skills. This framework is based on several successive legislative texts, which have progressively structured negotiation and social dialogue obligations around these issues.
The main regulatory guidelines
- The Social Cohesion Act (2005)
It introduces the obligation, for companies with more than 300 employees, to negotiate on the provisional management of jobs and skills. - The Social Dialogue Act (2015)
It simplifies the procedures for consulting staff representative bodies and reinforces the coherence of social negotiations. - The 2017 ordinances
They change the framework by introducing the concept of managing jobs and career paths (GEPP), without calling into question the fundamental principles of GPEC approaches.
Is SWP still relevant in the face of the rapid evolution of skills?
In a context marked by the acceleration of the transformations of jobs and skills, the relevance of The SWP is regularly the subject of questions. Businesses must in fact deal with increasingly rapid technological, organizational and economic developments.
While the SWP offers a structuring framework to anticipate these evolutions, its limits appear when transformations require a more dynamic and continuous approach to career paths. These challenges led to the emergence of expanded frameworks, such as GEPP, and then to more comprehensive planning approaches such as Strategic Workforce Planning.
From SWP to Strategic Workforce Planning: a broad approach.
The SWP constitutes a structural framework for anticipating changes in jobs and skills in the medium term. However, faced with increasingly rapid transformations and complex business challenges, some organizations are looking to go beyond this approach.
The GEPP marked a first evolution by broadening the scope of thinking to include professional careers. Continuing, Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) offers an even more comprehensive approach, aimed at linking human resources planning with the strategic and financial directions of the company.
What does a SWP approach allow
- Anticipate resource needs and skills over a multi-year horizon
- Cross-referencing HR data with business challenges for model different scenarios
- Reducing uncertainty linked to changes in jobs, workforce and skills
