Most organizations are feeling the frenzy to lock candidates in, but poor hiring decisions are happening and carry dramatic consequences. (Image: Shutterstock)
Recent research conducted with more than 500 C-Suite and senior business leaders found that transformation in talent, not technology, is now the number one priority for business transformation. With this in mind, it's no surprise that for many years HR has been moving closer to the heart of business. But despite this, today's turnover tsunami has inflicted a major, global, talent crisis. Our Talent Index data shows an astonishing 53% of workers in the U.S. and UK are planning to quit their jobs over the next 12 months and 23% are actively looking.
As the Great Resignation rages on, let's consider the famous words of Albert Einstein who said, "In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity." This has never been as relevant as right now as it relates to talent. While mostly portrayed as a negative event, the mass movement of the workforce is also a positive catalyst in changing the relationship between businesses and talent for the better. In the spirit of putting people first in the workplace and winning a talent war of intense magnitude, let's look at the following four challenges that businesses must overcome in order to realize their full potential to drive transformative change with talent:
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1. Skill requirements are changing—which may be holding companies back
There has been a transformation in how companies hire based on specific skills, rather than just a resume or experience. But as skills requirements change, it may be impeding company growth. According to our latest Talent Trap report, a third of business leaders believe employees are holding the business back because they no longer have the right skills to enable the business to evolve and adapt. Despite this issue, there remains a significant focus on recruitment versus retention and development according to 81% of respondents. In order to meet changing skill needs, organizations should prioritize training within an organization rather than just seeking external hires.
2. Organizations are compromising on new hire choices
Most organizations are feeling the frenzy to lock candidates in, but poor hiring decisions are happening and carry dramatic consequences. In fact, 89% of U.S. business leaders report that the battle for talent is forcing them to compromise—and they are feeling the burden. The logical starting point for businesses is therefore to demonstrate commitment and clarity around the role of talent in future growth, so that every decision and investment made going forward is guided by it.
3. Once talent is in the door, it gets lost in the org chart
The challenge isn't simply to master the recruitment process. Once hired, people want to see progression and development plans, feel like their company is investing in them, and know how they can advance. Yet we're experiencing a "lost talent" epidemic where workers are hired and then, for a variety of reasons, lose sight of the path to progression, which makes them more likely to leave. Two-thirds of Gen Z employees, for example, recently reported that the switch to remote work has hindered their development.
If we can understand where talent is both working and failing, appreciate why and how people become disengaged, and learn where the business is outperforming the sum of its parts—and most critically use those insights to benchmark for success within the business—the Great Resignation has the potential to instead become the Great Retention.
4. Organizations think about talent in silos
Business leaders today worry about talent attraction, development, and management of time and resources to drive change, but each of these challenges is often analyzed in a siloed way. The organizations of the future have now realized that they need to reset and reorder existing policies, accelerate change, and ultimately develop new talent strategies.
The key to success is to start treating talent as you would the customer lifecycle, and no longer think about each stage of the candidate's journey in isolation. When organizations look at everything from the first interaction through induction, performance reviews, promotions, exits, and alumni as one fluid lifecycle, they have a clearer, transparent process—with feedback—showing what people need to do to progress in their careers. With more touchpoints throughout the talent lifecycle, leaders can gain critical feedback on what it is that talent wants, and needs, in order to succeed.
Becoming a talent-first organization is the great opportunity of our age. The winning companies will be those that keep talent as an integral part of their strategic decisions. They will be the companies that recruit and promote people not on gut instincts or because they are similar to them, but because they use data to understand the knowledge, skills, attributes and experiences of these individuals that will drive future success. This means searching from the widest range of backgrounds and moving on from past ideas. This isn't about lofty ideals. It's about hard economic evidence. It's not just about gender, race and culture, it's about creating equal access to work for all.
Abakar Saidov is co-founder and CEO of Beamery.
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