Talent Management to become key
differentiator for companies competing in global marketplace
22/04/2008
Finding talent,
developing talent and keeping talent will be the new role of
Human Resources (HR) management in the future. This "talent
management" - the assessment and long-term planning of a
company's workforce needs - rather than the traditional filling
of vacancies, will become a key differentiator for companies
competing in the global marketplace. "This new role of HR
management comes as a consequence of three trends converging:
Globalization, demographic change and skills shortages",
says Donna Murphy, Managing Director of the Adecco Institute,
referring to the result of a study based on interviews with
5,000 HR professionals.
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Globalization in developed countries increases the demand for
skilled and highly qualified labor, while the demand for
unskilled work shrinks. This increased demand for a qualified
workforce is compounded by demographic effects: older workers
already comprise the fastest growing workforce segment in most
developed countries. Older, more qualified workers are retiring
and fewer young people are replacing them. Due to years of
falling birth-rates, the majority of people in Europe in the
next ten years will, for the first time ever, be older than 40.
In the United States the number of workers in the 55-and-older
group is projected to grow by 47 percent in the next eight years
- approximately 5.5 times the 8.5 percent growth of the labor
force overall.
These developments lead to an increasing shortage of skilled
workers. While global demand is growing, the supply is
shrinking. As a consequence, companies are facing more and more
competition for the best talent.
"Whereas in the past, business success was primarily a
matter of successfully competing for customers, in the future,
business success will increasingly depend on successfully
competing for qualified employees. This scarcity of one of the
most critical of all resources - human talent - will position HR
management as one of the most forceful factors in a company's
growth and productivity. To meet this challenge, HR
practitioners will have to break away from the 'just-in-time'
culture of filling vacancies, to a long-term planning of their
companies' skills needs", said Donna Murphy.
A survey among 5,000 European HR managers by the Adecco
Institute indicates that the average planning horizon of HR
professionals today is only 1.1 years. The survey also reveals
that companies are unprepared for the exodus of knowledge and
expertise resulting from the ageing of the workforce and the
subsequent mass retirement, especially of the Baby Boom
generation. Only 29 percent of European companies have conducted
a full analysis of which employees hold critical business
knowledge - 31 percent have done nothing at all. 35 percent of
the HR managers interviewed are already today experiencing
particular skills shortages in technical knowledge and another
19 percent are having problems finding job candidates with the
IT skills needed for the positions they try to fill.
"Tomorrow's companies will compete not on low wages or
natural resources, but on skills as the driver of innovation and
productivity. Growing companies will increasingly look to the
global workforce to satisfy their appetite for skills and
expertise. Technology has demolished the boundaries once
presented by geographical distances. Talent can be leveraged
regardless of location. These changes will magnify the challenge
of managing people and talent. Competing for skills will mean
finding the right strategy to keep skilled employees, and
keeping them engaged, trained and committed. Talent Management
will increasingly become a key differentiator for
companies", said Wolfgang Clement, Chairman of the Adecco
Institute and former German Minister of Economics and Labor.
For more information please and to download the paper visit:
www.adeccoinstitute.com
Source:
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