The northern parts of Sweden are facing substantial challenges with a diminishing population, high employment rates while at the same the skills shortage in many areas is large. There is also limited access to relevant education in the area. As a part of a EU-funded program Brights was chosen as a procured partner consulting in the project running 2025-2027 together with our partner Akademi Norr.
Akademi Norr is a foundation fully owned by 12 municipalities in northern Sweden. The goal for Akademi Norr is to increase the level of higher education in the area. The skills shortage is noticeable in all municipalities, while at the same time the operational abilities to act upon the challenges are challenging. The program is aimed at increasing the municipalities capabilities to operationally influence the skills shortage and do strategic workforce planning based on insights through data.
The focus is on developing leadership teams’ capacity to work in a coordinated and evidence-based way with workforce planning and focus on activities that actually make a difference.
Although all municipalities face similar challenges, their size and current state affects what they need to take the next steps in operational workforce planning. This consultancy project therefore aimed at both tailoring the efforts to each municipality - not creating a ”one size fits all” - while at the same time ensuring scalability and sharing of best practices where applicable. Working closely with experts in Akademi Norr we started with 3 municipalities in a proof of concept-stage, where methods for mapping out the current state were tested. After the learnings from the POCs were gathered we scaled the efforts in all municipalities following the same structure: analysis and mapping of current state, activities and efforts based on main priorities and deliveries and outcomes at the end.
”I thought this would just be another consultant telling us what to do, but this was actually really valuable”. This quote captures the essence of this project; not to produce yet another analysis and strategic plan but to focus on activities that makes a difference together with the stakeholders at the municipalities. One output was an analysis based on dialogues with employers in the local area mapping the skills shortage, another was a yearly roadmap with all activities and main milestones connected to workforce planning, together with clear deadlines for strategic decisions as well as specific activities. Another one was an introduction training on workforce planning (it is more than just recruitment!). The project is ongoing and we look forward to creating more valuable tools and best practices along the way together with Akademi Norr and all municipalities!
Martina Berg
Managing Director