Albert Einstein once said: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
Today, businesses undoubtedly need to demonstrate their adaptability more than ever before if they want to succeed. Not only is the modus operandi across industries continuously changing thanks to technology, but employees’ expectations of their employers are also evolving.
The LinkedIn 2019 Global Talent Trends Report brings this to light, with emphasis on four trends that are shaping the modern-day workplace:
- Soft skills– with the rise of AI/automation changing the job market, strong soft skills are becoming increasingly important.
- Workplace flexibility– most talent professionals agree that this is important; after all, it is becoming the norm and a perk that is attractive to employees.
- Anti-harassment – more people are demanding that companies do a better job at handling and preventing harassment, and growing a culture of respect.
- Pay transparency– while some fear upsetting employees, those who practice pay transparency say it aids in the efficiency of the hiring process and helps ensure fair pay across gender and race.
Talent management processes in a changing professional world
Perhaps your business ticks these boxes and succeeds in attracting talented employees but it is equally important to have the right strategies in place for retaining top talent. As with all aspects of the morphing business world, talent management strategies also need to be transformed. It’s no longer simply about cost-saving and productivity.
Talent management processes of the future should focus on:
1. Performance
As outlined in one of our previous blogs, researchers have found that people with high intrinsic motivation (i.e. those driven by internal rewards and satisfaction) perform much better than people offered high extrinsic motivation (i.e. external rewards).
By understanding intrinsic motivation, you’ll be able to redesign your talent management processes around what truly motivates people:
- Autonomy – employees are happier when they’re trusted to manage their responsibilities and make their own decisions, motivating them to manage their own success.
- Mastery – high performers are driven by an intrinsic desire to master new skills and are therefore likely to be drawn to opportunities where they can receive training and further their development.
- Purpose – employees want to be involved, they want to make a difference and improve their skills, and they want to have work-life balance.
With the help of technology, aiding your employees’ performance becomes a manageable task. Our performance management software provides a foundational system for managing performance and aligning with organizational objectives; it allows you to engage your workforce in a meaningful way.
Offering employees real-time feedback is another way of enhancing performance. It lets them know if they’re on track with the objectives that have been set out and helps you to course-correct if necessary before small glitches become big problems. This can also be done with greater ease using our real-time feedback software.
2. Innovation
Innovation is the thing that will ensure your company thrives in the future – and it’s essential to foster this from within. A spirit of innovation is cultivated among employees when businesses understand the value of diversity and entrepreneurial thinking and encourage these ways, rather than being afraid of them.
‘Intrapreneurs’, although employed full-time, have an entrepreneurial mindset; they want to learn, grow and make a real difference. As we explored recently, these individuals have the ability to positively impact how work is done if they’re given the right platforms to share their insights.
Investing in skills development and giving employees the opportunity to take on stimulating internal work gigs in other departments, or with other teams, are great ways to underpin organizational growth, and to help retain valuable employees.
Our skills tracking module empowers employees to visualize their ‘career paths’ and to gain the experience they need to progress. Our work allocation module also equips you to optimize the management of short-term projects, allowing people to find assignments that meet their skills and career objectives while ensuring that aren’t over or underutilized.
3. Retention
High attrition rates are detrimental to the future success of your organization as there are high costs associated with voluntary turnover – a trend that is on the rise in the US. If you want to minimize these financial knocks and retain valuable employees, it’s important to have a turnover prevention strategy in place.
In the modern work environment, this involves a three-part formula, as outlined in our recent blog:
- Integrate – new hires need access to certain resources to become happy, productive and high-performing employees as soon as possible.
- Advance – as mentioned earlier, high performers want to master their jobs and know that they have a career plan and the ability to advance at your organization.
- Include – modern employees care about the environments they work in and want to be part of a diverse, fair and inclusive workplace.
Our employee integration module helps ensure that your employees become integrated into the cultural fiber of your organization, while our performance management module equips you with the technology needed to cultivate a culture of the highest performance.
Embracing change
As much as technology is forcing change, it’s also supporting it. Ensure that your organization is equipped for success in the future – don’t wait to change the way that it attracts employees, manages its talent and retains high performers.