Priorities for talent management over the past year included:
- Align with the business
- Engage employees
- And remain flexible enough to tackle the unexpected
Today’s HR leader is uniquely positioned to transform isolated HR processes into an integrated, dynamic, enterprise-wide initiative. This transformation has the potential not only to align talent objectives with overall business objectives, but to increase engagement and overall company performance. Leading organizations have been focusing on integrating processes, and how providing a better employee experience can improve recruitment, development, and retention of talent.
In this blog, we will take a brief look back at Talent Management priorities in 2014, highlight Brandon Hall Group research from this year, and offer some thoughts about what should be – and we hope will be – top of mind in 2015.
Looking Back at 2014:
- Integrated talent management is becoming more widespread yet not every company is ready for an integrated strategy
- Several areas of talent management are gaining momentum, including career development, leadership development, and recognition
- Organizations looking to implement talent management strategies across several regions of the world must think carefully about the talent risks and priorities
Pertinent Brandon Hall Group research studies:
Performance Management and Retention
In this KnowledgeBlast, a quick-read, single-topic research paper based on the latest Brandon Hall Group research, we examine the role of performance and retention of employees, based on responses to BHG’s 2014 Talent Management benchmarking study.
Talent Management 2014: Sharp Contrast between Urgency and Readiness
This industry perspective report, based on Brandon Hall Group’s 2014 Talent Management Benchmarking Study, identifies a sharp contrast between the ultra-urgency of today’s human capital issues and organizations’ capability and readiness to answer. The report identifies the six most pressing talent concerns, along with advice and guidance on how organizations can make substantive progress in addressing each concern. The report also summarizes 10 major findings of the research.
Differences in Talent Strategies between Developed and High-Potential Markets
This KnowledgeBlast, a short report highlighting pertinent research, focuses on the differences in talent strategies between developed nations such as the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Western Europe, Japan, and Australia, and high-potential markets such as Brazil, India, Africa, and the Middle East.
Recommendations/Predictions for 2015:
- Engagement: Employee engagement is not simply a tagline used to improve the business. It is a powerful tool intended to empower the individual to improve the business. Employee engagement is at the heart of any integrated talent management strategy yet few companies have a strategy in place to engage employees. Over the past decade, organizations have been embracing integrated talent management as a way to share data, consolidate systems and motivate employees. Recruitment, development, and retention become simpler when employees are consistently engaged through every stage of the employee lifecycle. We predict that organizations will find new ways to improve engagement and view it not as an outcome but rather as a critical strategy.
- Contingent Workforce: The rise of the contingent workforce is inevitable. Organizations recognize the benefits of a flexible workforce and its impact on cost savings, productivity and skill gaps. In the past, contingent labor has been managed by procurement departments while HR managed full-time employees. As companies increase their use of contingent labor, the lines are becoming blurred and recruiting functions need to consider a strategy and technology solutions to support the entire workforce. We predict that organizations will include not only full-time employees but also a contingent workforce in strategic talent management strategies and invest in tools that can support a blended workforce.
- Talent Analytics: Analytics is one of the most misunderstood areas of HCM. With conflicting definitions around “what” it is and “how” it should be leveraged, the majority of companies are immature in their approach to data. As the demands of the business escalate, HR professionals must be prepared to provide insight, decisions and predictions about the talent in place today and the talent needed for the future. HR professionals today must have the ability to understand, interpret, and embrace data. While some companies are making changes to their HR team to build, buy, or borrow analytical skills, other companies are turning to technology providers that offer simple and intuitive solutions for talent analytics. True innovation in HCM analytics solutions empower employees and companies to use data to drive decision making. Providers in talent management, learning management, and workforce management are all investing in analytics and helping customers improve their processes through the use of data.
–Laci Loew, VP and Principal Analyst,
Talent Management, Brandon Hall Group
