Workforce Root Cause Matrix
The Workforce Root Cause Matrix links the 40 workforce groups (elements) to the 25 possible root causes limiting your success at hiring each specific type of individual.
To grow and retain your workforce, you must first address the group-specific root causes that are preventing individuals from working for you.
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Some root causes, like wages and benefits, affect many workforce elements. Improving this one root cause can help you attract many different types of individuals. Others, like English as a Second Language training, affect many fewer workforce elements but may be equally important for success if you normally recruit from groups affected by this root cause.
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The resources and time required to improve your selected root causes will depend on how well you address the items compared to your competition.
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Root causes like organization-specific internal policies can be addressed much easier than more complex root causes, like many of those associated with migration.
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The Human Resources team usually cannot resolve company-specific root causes alone. Engagement across the leadership team will likely be required.​
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The table below highlights the root causes that have surfaced in the research to date. These are listed in alphabetical order, with the exception of marketing. Marketing is listed last since it should be the last item addressed in the Workforce Vector process.
You can think of the Workforce Root Cause Matrix as 25 rows and 40 columns in an Excel spreadsheet. The cells represent the possible connectivity between a specific workforce element and a single root cause. Though there are 1,000 possible connections, in reality 60% of the matrix is empty - there are no connections. This means, on average, about 40% of the root causes could affect the hiring from one workforce element group.
For example, as you try to hire an individual that falls into a single workforce element (e.g. Females with children < 6 years old), there may be about ten different root causes reducing or preventing a successful hire and retention. Fortunately, not all of an element's root causes affect hiring to the same degree and some root causes may not apply in your community or to your organization. That is, some organizations can increase the size of their hiring pool by addressing just a few root causes.
As well, a specific individual likely would not be affected by all of the root causes associated with the workforce element they are aligned with. In the example of Females with children < 6 years old, the root cause of affordable child care may be the only constraint preventing some individuals with young children from entering the workforce.
The graphic below depicts the general form of the matrix.
Note: The Workforce Root Cause Matrix is proprietary information. It is provided to workshop attendees and to leadership team members during planning sessions. See Services.