With the skills gap widening and competition for talent intensifying, businesses are now aware of the importance of successful talent acquisition and retention strategies in today’s market.
Over a third of Fortune 500 executives now cite finding talent as their most significant managerial challenge, but 82% of these do not believe that they are currently able to recruit the right people.
With only 23% of executives believing that their current acquisition and retention strategies are working, it’s time to reconsider the ways in which leading organizations can attract the top one percent of talent, and better access the skills and expertise needed to enhance business value.
BE FLEXIBLE
There’s no point in focussing on the needle-in-the-haystack, full-time employee. Competition is so fierce that this becomes a costly and unfulfilling endeavour for businesses to become embroiled in a cherry-picking contest. Millennials are also unequivocally less loyal to their employers than their predecessors; on average, workers now only stay at their job for up to 4.4 years.
The future workforce will not simply consist of full-time employees; it will be blended, and composed of full-time workers, and consultants, contractors, freelancers, part-timers, and other contingent forces.
Solution: Look to these independent workers and interim talent now: this is the key to filling positions, unlocking scarce skills and expertise, expanding talent pools globally, and scaling up and down in response to business cycles. In today’s market, when it comes to talent, it is now critical to cast the net as wide as possible, and keep that talent fresh and relevant. It’s about anticipating change and being able to access the right talent to match your changing needs, on-demand.
PREPARE HR TEAMS FOR CHANGE
Traditional organisational structures are now completely ill-suited for the future needs and expectancies of the future workplace. In the past, business models were predicated upon predictable commercial patterns, and in a modern world of market unpredictability and volatility, these siloed structures, although rigid and efficient, are simply not adaptable enough to compete with an environment that necessitates speed and agility.
SOLUTION: Map your teams to your objectives, not roles, and you will begin to create a dynamic ecosystem, that you can plug into on an as-needed basis.
THINK BIG PICTURE
Many businesses look at a blended workforce as a short-term solution, and not a long-term strategy.
SOLUTION: Start building a process to manage this future workforce, or risk falling behind. The right talent is only going to become harder to find, so managing your blended workforce will become strategically critical, to ensure that your business is able to continue to motivate, and allure, the right talent where and when it’s most needed to get results. Align procurement, IT, and HR to talent acquisition strategies, and use them to organize work arrangements, learning and development plans, and benefits management.
BE APPEALING
It is up to the skilled workers themselves to choose which businesses they want to work for, and so it remains important to offer engaging, valuable or challenging work, and to be flexible to employee needs. Creating a happy and efficient workforce model is about being adaptable to shifting markets, changing customer needs, and evolving employee expectations, all at the same time.
SOLUTION: When you’re recruiting independent talent, do away with the dull, rambling, job description, stacked with over-explanation and excessive specifications. You’re already reaching out to the top 1%, who don’t need reminding of their own skill-sets, and don’t have the time to read waffle or help you figure out what you want. Be concise, be specific, and offer a short but concrete description of the project, work deliverables, and expected results.
ESTABLISH FEEDBACK CHANNELS
Ultimately you want to be able to keep your talent fulfilled and happy to remain with the organization, or be willing to offer their services again, should the opportunity arise.
SOLUTION: Keep your feedback lines open and use this information to help your organization grow and evolve alongside your talent. The only way to ensure that you continue to hire the right talent is to learn from previous experiences, to evaluate each result, and to make improved decisions.
ALWAYS FOSTER COLLABORATION
Foster collaboration throughout the company. A blended workforce strategy requires a shared set of objectives between human resources, procurement and business leadership, and continued communication between them. Make sure that all facets of your organizations are aligned with existing processes and future directives.
THINK ABOUT SOFT SKILLS
You need to make sure that the talent you opt for is the right fit for your company. Just because they are a prized commodity doesn't necessarily mean that they are a good fit for your company. According to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report, 92 percent of Deloitte’s respondents now rate soft skills as a critical priority. Finding the right communication skills, cultural fit, and social and emotional intelligence has now become a critical factor in bringing in the best talent to businesses and has become a regular request from our clients.
SOLUTION: Make the most of tech-enabled platforms like Talmix - our platform allows clients to specify and rate soft skills relevant to each of their requirements. Finding the right communication skills, cultural fit, and social and emotional intelligence helps to foster a unified, collaborative team, and drive business growth.
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It’s time to get talent acquisition right. Leveraging and managing blended workforces will become essential to business growth in the years ahead. At Talmix, we want to make this process simple and flawless. To find out more about how Talmix can help you on this journey, visit us here, or get in touch via our Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram pages.
