Successful organizations are recognizing the importance of a holistic talent management approach. In this, the entire talent management lifecycle is viewed as interconnected processes and pieces that work together effectively and efficiently to attract, assess, hire and also develop and retain top talent for the organization. An integrated holistic approach to talent management can definitely help organizations improve productivity and improve the overall employee experience.
Such an integrated and holistic approach to talent management is imperative for most organizations today as they prepare themselves for the war for talent. In the era of social media, artificial intelligence and robotics, the human talent in organizations are becoming increasingly more important and precious to attract, find and then keep. In this scenario designing an integrated talent management process which keeps the overall employee experience at its centre is the key. Progressive organizations are also ensuring that they keep technology central to this integrated approach and ensure consistent employee experience is delivered by optimal use of technology solutions.
As per FICCI, Nasscom and EY report titled Future of jobs in India- A 2022 perspective, the combined forces of “reverse globalization”, disruptions caused by exponential technologies and opportunities thrown by large demographic dividend, are 3 major factors that are forcing sectors to adopt to new business models. These new business models are creating jobs that do not exist today and the report predicts that 9% of the workforce in 2022 will be in jobs that do not exist today while 37% of the workforce would be in jobs with radically different skill sets. These forces have a direct impact on the talent management practices of the organization and companies need to start broadening their definition of talent and practices aligned to attract, hire and retain them.
The above-mentioned report clearly identifies the use of online workers or gig workers as an opportunity while also talking about the importance of skilling and re-skilling programs for the existing workforce. Thus further emphasizing the business need for an integrated approach to talent management which considers the external business factors and then creates a holistic approach including various people processes to enable employees to deliver value to the business.
A typical integrated talent management approach would focus on manpower planning, building relationship with identified talent pools, recruitment and selection, performance management, learning and development, leadership development, succession planning and compensation management. Traditionally these have been addressed in silos with their own set of tools and solutions to drive and measure change. While HR and business looked at these as independent activities, employees are increasingly demanding a holistic and consistent user experience. With nearly 80 percent of the organization in Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital Trends report rating employee experience very important, this has become a key component of designing and implementing a holistic talent management approach.
Organizations are also moving to a more networked, team based working environments with a lot of collaborative tools and in this changing nature of workplaces and work experiences, designing and sustaining a consistent employee experience across multiple HR processes is extremely critical. To be able to deliver such consistent employee experience across multiple HR processes technology tools play an important role and hence while designing the integrated approach one needs to look at available technology tools and decide on the use of integrated tools vs best of breed solutions.
Designing and delivering an integrated approach is thus not an easy task, HR and Business leaders need to rethink roles, structures, tools and strategies to be used to deliver on this promise. In our opinion and experience, it’s a journey and you need to continue to evolve your talent management approaches to changing needs of employees and business.
HR and Business leaders can look at their experience in designing and delivering an integrated customer experience while designing this integrated employee experience. By learning from marketing, product development and sales business and HR leaders can incorporate those ideas and elements in their employee experience design. Organizations have to also remember designing the experience is one thing but being able to deliver the same experience in a consistent manner will eventually matter the most. Employees today demand a very different delivery of HR services and processes with the advent of smartphones. Employees may demand every aspect of the employee experience from work to development to rewards, be accessible and easy to use on their mobile devices.
The above clearly highlights that building and sustaining a holistic approach is determined by continuous employee feedback. Organization’s ability to capture, analyze and respond to such feedback would be an integral part of such integrated employee experience. By carefully studying the employee feedback over a period of time companies can make changes and adjustments to their talent management processes and even delivery methods thus impacting the overall experience positively. The continuous feedback process thus encourages companies to measure employee experience on a regular basis and take steps to improve the same.
In order to deliver integrated talent management coupled with great employee experience, you have to leverage multiple drivers, some key elements being: keep employee experience and delivery as central to your design, engage in continuous feedback and learn from your customer experience journey. An integrated talent management process would also have to be supported by necessary technology tools and engaging with your technology partner in this journey early on would definitely bring its own benefits for your return on technology investments.
