Talent Management – Challenge or Opportunity
The term ‘Talent management’ has become sacrosanct in today’s organizational context. With existing people management practices resembling ‘fire fighting’, the need for a comprehensive talent management programme to attract, maintain and develop talent has become critical for business success.
What is Talent Management?
American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) defines talent management as “A holistic approach to optimizing human capital, which enables an organization to drive short- and long-term results by building culture, engagement, capability, and capacity through integrated talent acquisition, development, and deployment processes that are aligned to business goals.”
HR folks world over look at talent management differently. For some it is a way of countering attrition levels for others a process of developing future talent and for some a strategy to equip current employees with new skills for better performance. In all talent management represents the length and breadth of managing workforce performance……..from aspirations to delivery.
Key components of Talent Management in the current scenario
The key pillars of a good talent management program are as follows:
• Employer branding and visibility– The job seeker of today is spoilt for choice. It is therefore important that employers work on becoming the preferred choice of employment for the prospective workforce. In today’s socially networked scenario, continually evolving employee friendly initiatives form the core of a good talent management strategy.
• Organizational Climate & Culture– The culture represents the ‘way things are done’ in an organisation and. It is evident that a progressive culture appeals to the existing and future workforce.
• Career management– The most important question in every new-joinee’s mind today is ‘where am I going to be five years from now in this organisation’? Successful organisations have a clear, well laid out career progression plan for their employees at various levels.
• Rewards & Recognition programmes that satisfy a diverse workforce – Today’s workforce is one of the most unique as it has people from at least three generations and representing various cultures, religions and traditions. This necessitates creation of unique R&R programmes which should be flexibility to satisfy needs of a diverse workforce.
• Managing workforce aspirations – The speed at which technologies and companies have evolved in the last two decades has increased workforce aspirations manifold. Findings from AssessPeople’s Future Workforce Survey 2011 indicate a strong desire among the future workforce to work abroad. Another important take away from the study was that employees give premium to ‘job-related’ aspects and are very particular about the job content.
Good talent management today is a key component of an organisation’s overall people strategy and is to be managed by all the stakeholders with equal importance. It is important for companies to keep monitoring employee perspectives and trends to make sure that the talent is ‘engaged’. The following are a few indicators, which if spotted, need to be addressed immediately.
• Infant mortality– Infant mortality in today’s organizational context refers to employees who attrite before completing a year at work. A high infant mortality is an indication that the expectations of employees are not being fulfilled
• Bad name or reputation on the Internet – Social Media has given a new definition to freedom of speech and is a vast source of information to people. A few dissatisfied employees venting their anger and frustration is bad publicity for the organisation.
• Low ratings on engagement surveys – Low scores on engagement surveys reflect the current state of mind of the workforce and indicate that all is not well with the talent management practices in the organisation.
It is therefore safe to say that ‘good Talent Management practices today lead to a building strong organizational capability for tomorrow’.
AssessPeople’s range of workforce assessments help companies screen, select and develop potential at different stages in the employee life cycle and help in putting in place robust talent management practices. For more information, log on to: www.assesspeople.com
Stella Jones is a HR and helps companies in hiring right candidate for the right position.Her vast experienced in Human Resource helps to develop robust Talent Management practices and enhances Workforce Performance.
Processing your request, Please wait....
