Hiring and performance management strategies that maximise your talent potential

In 2023, the highest global talent shortage in 17 years was reported with 77% of employers facing significant challenges in filling roles. These challenges, on a global level, present a complex landscape for organisations seeking to attract and retain top talent. To enable organisations to navigate this complex world and remain competitive we have identified four key levers, for Talent Acquisition and performance management. These levers, that we discuss in a short series of blogs, will help organisations unlock the full potential of their current and future talent.

The following titles link to the individual blogs to allow you to dive slightly more deeply into each lever.

1. Identify and Leverage Hidden Talent: How to leverage hidden and alternative talent pools to address talent shortages. 

In light of talent shortages, employers are increasingly aware of the need to identify alternative and hidden talent pools to stay competitive. Organisations are becoming increasingly creative in how to fill the gaps and their source of talent may include internal pools of employees who possess skills that are not currently being utilised in an individual’s role. This creates an opportunity to provide colleagues with different or augmented roles to meet the needs of the organisation.

Employers are also looking beyond traditional external hiring pools and considering alternative sources of talent, for example retirees or those who have left the workforce and wish to return. To attract and retain these individuals the organisation needs to review their workforce and hiring strategies and consider shifts in internal mobility. There are three key actions that are implicit in managing the required change:

1. Behavioural and cultural changes to hiring practices

2. L&D strategies that support the promotion of internal mobility

3. A shift towards skills-based recruiting.  

2. Defining the most appropriate Future Focused Talent Acquisition (TA) Operating Model: How to operationalise efficiently.

The world of work is ever-changing, and the demands and expectations of HR are constantly shifting. HR is now at the centre of the employee experience, in driving the people and purpose agenda (having a purpose driven organisation), strategic workforce planning and the technology needed for this. This new role requires HR professionals to be a more visible and value-add service offering. As a critical function within HR, TA teams need to ensure their TA Operating Models are responding to the wider HR disruption. The competition in the battle for talent has become fiercer than ever and the skills required to even compete in this new landscape have shifted. TA functions are finding they do not have the capabilities, capacity, or efficiencies in place to provide a client ready response that reflects their organisation’s external level of service. We have identified four types of TA Operating Models that will reshape TA functions and uplift the level of service:

1. Operational efficiency

2. Product innovation

3. Business centric

4. Workforce centric

Which one will be right for your organisation?

3. DEI Centric Performance Management (PM): How to maximise your talent potential by utilising a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) centric Performance Management Framework.

Employees are more likely to feel engaged in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. Incisive work environments increase workforce productivity by up to 17% and organisational revenue up to 19%. A DEI-centric PM Framework addresses systemic biases by encouraging people to think and act inclusively during objective setting, check-ins, feedback conversations, performance assessment and performance-related reward decision making. A DEI-centric PM Framework should be:

1. Focused on everyone, not just the majority

2. Fostered to create psychological safety at every level

3. Fair in its design to prioritise facts over opinion, and apply the framework fairly to all employees

4. Transparent to all employees, and ensure clear understanding of the Framework

Moving towards a PM Framework which is guided by, and applies, DEI principles permeate a culture of equal opportunity and high-performance based on business requirements. This shift in Performance Management will position it as a game changing activity to re-energise the workforce and drive strong performance, rather than a demanding box ticking exercise. An DEI-centric PM Framework fosters DEI culture, which can be a strong competitive advantage for organisations in the flight for talent.

4.  A Focus on Skills  : Talent Acquisition and Performance Management in a Skills-Based Organisation: How to recruit, and measure performance based on skills.

Organisations that invest strongly in a skills-based approach are 107% more likely to place talent effectively and 98% more likely to retain high performers and have a reputation as a great place to grow and develop. Therefore, skills have increasingly become the “currency” of a job and many companies are beginning to place greater emphasis on skills as the basis of all people processes. This means the dominant structure for work is transforming, from focusing on traditional job roles to recognising individuals has the capacity to continually learn and grow their skills at work. By focusing on skills at the centre of Talent Acquisition and Performance Management, a skills-based model presents a number of benefits to organisations:

1. Increased flexibility

2. Improved talent utilisation and efficiency

3. Enhanced workforce resilience

4. Facilitate innovation and problem-solving

In this blog series, we will demonstrate how important it is for organisations to adapt to global market disruption by actively exploring avenues to enhance and optimise their Talent Acquisition and Performance Management strategies to maximise return on investment. The series will offer strategic and practical insights to safe-guard and strengthen your future proofing efforts –ultimately enabling you to address the global talent shortage.