Power of Big Data & HR Analytics and it’s key benefits to the organization.

Power of HR Analytics & Big Data and it's benefits

HR analytics is a methodology of deciphering data for creating insights on how investments in human capital assets contribute to the success of four principal outcomes:

(a) generating revenue

(b) minimizing expenses

(c) mitigating risks

(d) executing strategic plans

This is done by applying statistical methods to integrated HR, talent management, financial, and operational data.

The two most recent and major fields of study and implementation for Human Resources have been, The Big Data, and HR Analytics. The power of HR Analytics and Big Data has made companies make more informed decisions. Companies so far had largely been dependent on “intuitions” based decision making as a trend. With the advent of HR analytics, the official decisions have become more promising and accurate across the board, worldwide. 

This is the most important reason for companies which are investing millions and billions into talent management software and hiring subject matter experts including data scientists, key statisticians, and data analysts.

Now let's spend some time to understand what HR analytics and Big Data really mean. When an organization maintains a record of all its prospective candidates and present & past employees, it means that the HR function has any time excess of that data, making it easier to manage people and processes and get a better return on investment on employees. Employee Hiring these days is also based on the inputs through HR Analytics.

As organizations are realizing that employees are the central bodies of their business, it is the HR department that takes care of every aspect of these bodies. In that way, the HR function becomes the central point for collecting and processing the data regarding employee information, hiring requirements, salaries, promotions, attrition, etc. But HR analytics does not just deal with gathering data on employee efficiency. Instead, it aims to provide insight into each process by analyzing data and then implementing it to take relevant steps to improve these processes.

There are various aspects of the workplace where HR analytics and Big Data can be useful:

1. Talent Acquisition
2. Training and Induction
3. Performance Review
4. Compensation
5. Rewards and Benefits
6. Retention
7. Employer Branding

This useful data could be all over the place and be worthless in the absence of a proper HR analytics tool. This is why a desirable HR analytics tool could use HR and big data analytics to interpret this useful data and transform it into useful statistics. Once observable patterns are depicted, HR can decide what to do with it based on the observations. Analytics are used to examine the effects of HR metrics on organizational performance. In general terms, analytics look for patterns in the metrics.

For example, using the HR Analytics, organizations can find out if the high potential employees are leaving more often and can use this data to ponder over ways of retaining and engaging these Hi-pots.

By using analytics, organizations and their management can become predictive over time. In other words, you can use the data you may already have to discover answers to questions like which of my top performers are at risk for leaving the organization in a few quarters, or distinguish which HR initiatives like job enrichment, onshore project or long term incentives will defer the decision of employees leaving your organization.

Here are 8 benefits of HR analytics:

1. Data-driven recruitment decisions

HR analytics helps HR and Line managers to make better choices based on historical data. A great HR analytics tool can make a difference by enabling HR to easily derive the best candidates to hire from the historical data.

For example,­ if you hired 10 candidates and 4 out of them belonging to a particular background couldn't qualify beyond a level, perhaps you will not hire someone from a similar background again. HR analytics prevents you from making such mistakes. Moreover, it also allows the recruiter to learn more about candidates through online databases, applications, social media profiles, job portals, records, etc.

2. Reduced Talent Scarcity

Data-driven recruiting strategies provide insight to build a larger pipeline. With the help of HR Analytics, it is easier to target potential candidates for a particular position arising in the company. It is easier to understand the type of talent required, the knowledge required along with other important aspects that might be missed in a regular talent acquisition process. When the required talent is scarce for a specific industry or a job role, HR Analytics helps in identifying a Plan B for the next best talent which can be groomed into the role.

3. Process Improvement

Once the company has enough data to provide to the experts to come up with accurate statistics and patterns, the company can then use it to make the hiring process fast and efficient. Hiring managers will know which positions in the company require what type of talent, people, background & experience, along with the type of people that will not be suitable. Then it becomes much more streamlined to target a specific talent pool and get the much faster conversion for the pipeline of candidates. Organizations are realizing they need to embrace a data-driven culture to compete with others and attract top talent.

4. Improved Process Training

Training is a necessary requirement for any organization. Gaps in the training process can increase the job errors leading to unwanted issues. In the present time, most enterprises have started investing in good HR analytics and utilizing the collected data and patterns to design their training programs. This method also helps the organization identify if employees are making full use of the opportunities and knowledge imparted to them during training programs.

5. Better Insights about performance

HR analytics also help the company look at the employee's professional life by tracking, sharing, and analyzing performance-related data. This is the reason why companies track and record the behavior of their employees with customers and co-workers regularly. This employee's performance data is also used by the hiring manager to identify great talents during Internal Job postings as well as for promotions. This data not only provides more insights about the employees but also shapes the strategies to boost employee morale, retention, and engagement.

6. Controlling Attrition

When it comes to retention, HR analytics is an important tool to identify the retention rate of employees. It tells the company about the major reasons why employees leave and why they stay. There could be a variety of reasons ranging from under-performance, compensation, lack of skills to anything else. HR analytics could also be helpful in finding the gap areas where employees are finding difficulty in meeting goals and targets. HR can use various methods like employee surveys, team assessments, exit as well as on-stay interviews to find out the reason for attrition and map out strategies to retain them.

7. Improved Employee Experience

Once your recruitment process becomes swift, it automatically gives a good impression to candidates you want to attract to your organization. HR Analytics methodology in turn helps in employer branding too. It makes the recruitment process faster and the candidates don't have to wait endlessly to know whether they are rejected or shortlisted. This gives them a better candidate experience and improves the brand image simultaneously which gives your enterprise an edge over your competitors.

8. More Productive Workforce

Since enterprises have a grip on the kind of people to hire for a job, it becomes easier to expect better performance and productivity from employees. With analytics, you get an understanding of the workforce and hence know what kind of environment, policies, and teams will make them work hard and give you results that you expect from them.

The Future of HR Analytics & Big Data

Many renowned as well as few lesser-known organizations have actively started using Big Data and HR analytics and have been reaping the benefits of the same. Cognizant, HCL, Deloitte, Google, to name a few have been consistently making use of HR Analytics as a daily practice.

We’re experiencing huge changes in the HR landscape. Data analysis has taken over as a necessary tool to move beyond intuitions and gut feeling, but it comes with its own challenges. Once consensus is gained by removing peoples' apprehensions to move beyond traditional ways, then human resource management solutions will need to be chosen wisely to ensure goals are met.

Prior to Machine Learning, organizations used to manage data in manual and semi-automated ways. It would gather, store, analyze and process data to produce statistics before the data became irrelevant and needed updating at regular intervals. Moreover, there was a huge wastage of useful data that could help enhance the organization’s performance if stored and assessed properly. No data was being used and reused for multiple reasons and solutions, until now.

With machine learning, we can understand patterns in Big Data and accelerate business through automation. Resume parsing, for example, fast-tracks the screening process by identifying the candidates with the apt skills and education with existing data. Artificial intelligence also helps eliminate human error while performing repetitive tasks. Other concepts allow matching skills and qualifications of job seekers to provide a list of recommended jobs and creating relevant personalized learning opportunities based on individual learning history, goals, and preferences.

While HR analytics and Big Data has been a game-changer for many years, these new possibilities promise a plethora of potential from data insights.

HR analytics offers some undoubted benefits. It allows HR teams to significantly streamline processes that reduce costs, reduce attrition, and consequently improve the bottom line.

With task automation, you are freed up to innovate and explore the human aspect of human resources without spending time on tracking mountains of data from multiple sources.

Overall, the use of HR analytics has been established as an HR technology trend, as it is posed to improve the employee experience that directly translates into improved business outcomes.

Hiring Practices During Recession Hit Economy

Hiring Practices During Recession Hit Economy

During a Recession, hiring practices generally don’t change, but companies are much more careful in evaluating the need for additional staff — be it executive or otherwise. When possible, they tend to look more closely before adding outside hires. In many cases, companies consolidate responsibilities and do more with less staff. Early signals of this are when companies don’t replace positions left vacant by normal attrition. As business trends continue in the manner that they have during the last two quarters of this year, and into 2009, companies feel the pressure to reduce overhead expenses. This could be reduction in facilities (more virtual employees), reduction in workforce, accompanied by increased responsibilities and reduction in compensation packages. Of course, companies still seek the right executive talent to manage “the new order” going forward.

Companies Hiring Right now

Currently, we are seeing some hiring in the public sector, technology, alternative/green energy and life sciences/medical sectors. To a lesser extent, there are some midcap companies in the industrial sector that are continuing to grow as larger concerns exit markets, leaving a void for lower cost, higher value options. Indicators also point to a resurgence in finance & accounting roles across industries.

From Entry-Level to Executive

Right now, it’s tough for both executives and entry-level employees, but particularly challenging for executives to match employment opportunities that exist in better times. Generally speaking, the higher the price tag, the longer the job search. Revenue producers, at all levels, are highly coveted in this business environment. As for entry-level job seekers, there are still opportunities for the determined.

Strategies

Flexibility to the needs of the prospective employer would be advised. What the prospective employee can contribute to the bottom line is the key to success in a job search during these times. The use of one’s business and personal network should be a vital strategy—get the word out. Be aware of current events in the industry or sector being sought—the volatility of business is at a high point. There is no excuse to be unaware with so many communication tools at one’s disposal.

Trends in the Current Employment Markets

Retention of current, valued employees has taken a greater importance. In many companies downsizing has already occurred. As business units operate with leaner teams, every member of the team takes on a more important role in the organization. The loss of top performers is highlighted even more in tough times, as productivity could experience a decline, along with adding the cost of replacement. Some might say that with crisis comes opportunity.


(About the Author: Juan Morales is managing director of the Miami office of Stanton Chase International. The 450-member organization conducts local, regional and international executive search campaigns for many top companies worldwide. Stanton Chase currently has 66 offices in 41 countries. There are 12 offices in North America. For more information, visit www.stantonchase.com)

Economic Slowdown - An Opportunity

Economic slowdown is bound to pose some major challenges for corporates, but it does provide some interesting opportunities too, especially from an HR perspective.

Post the meltdown, employee expectations with regards to salary hikes during job changes are bound to mellow down. We already have reports that the average salary jumps during job changes are lowering to levels of 20-25%, down from 35-40%. While salary used to be the key factor for job changes, post the downturn, employees are likely to become wiser and take a more long term perspective when changing jobs. One can sense that job security will hold a more premium position, in the list of priorities, than it has done in the past.

Long Term View

Another fact that the downturn has highlighted is the importance of working in a reputed, professional and values based firm. There are organisations that at the very first hint of hard-ship will retrench employees and we already have enough examples of that. However, in the past, since the economy was booming and nearly all sectors were doing extremely well, even a remote thought to downsize hardly arose in the minds of most companies. More importantly it didn’t occur in the minds of the employees or prospective employees. Hence, since the industry was too bullish, job security was never a key deciding factor for employees when they went looking out for a job.

However, the current situation has made retrenchments a real possibility and we have even had few companies showcasing the same. Hence, in future, I reckon employees are going to lay a premium on the management ethos and culture of the organisation before they make a change. Organisations which are deemed to be employee friendly and having a professional management culture will hold an advantage in hiring talent than the companies which are perceived as more cut throat having a hire and fire culture.

Employer Branding is key

The above factor is hugely advantageous to the reputed professional organisations for attracting talent and it also provides an opportunity to the rest to improve their respective employer branding by working on building a professional work culture and show-casing the same through media, industry bodies, academic institutions etc. Indeed, this provides a very exciting proposition to HR professionals across corporate India. As of now employer branding has not really taken off in corporate India but, hitherto, I do see that in the medium to long term, this aspect will gain prominence and will become a key deliverable for HR professionals.

HR taking charge

Not very long ago corporates were running from pillar to post to hire talent. A high percentage time of HR professionals was devoted to recruitment. Steep growth paths of corporates across sectors left hardly any time for management to develop leadership pipeline to sustain and manage future growth levels. However, the current scenario of lower future growth prospects does provide a good opportunity for corporates to reflect and devote more time and focus on building a healthy leadership pipeline, so come the next phase of high growth, the companies have a strong bench strength to manage the growth trajectory. Now is the time when organisations can really put their might behind developing robust talent management processes in their set-ups. The most effective talent management systems are owned by the top, ably facilitated and supported by HR. However, in the initial stages HR must take the ownership to drive the process, prepare coach and hand-hold senior leadership to lead it while HR eventually acting as a facilitator.

Another key focus area for corporates is going to be increasing employee productivity and efficiencies. The current meltdown provides an opportunity for organisations to ‘review the way they work’. In order to improve efficiencies and productivity to better their top-lines and already stretched bottom lines, companies start exploring innovative ways to improve their systems, optimise costs, decrease inventories, reduce cycle times and introduce great value innovative products. The name of the game is ‘innovation’. HR can play a key role in building an environment and culture of innovation within the organisation.

So, one can see quite a few silver linings, leave alone one, in today’s environment consumed by the dark clouds of gloom and doom. The trick is to start working on these opportunities, so when the next steep growth phase comes, you are right in front of the pack to gain competitive advantage.



Ref: Randeep Sisodia

Accountability for Talent Management

Accountability for Talent Management

New research finds talent-management processes are in place, but underused. Plans don't translate to reality because too few organizations hold managers or executives accountable or to compensation packages to drive the strategy.

First, the good news from a new study from Hewitt Associates and the Human Capital Institute: Most companies now have a talent-management strategy in place.

The bad news? Very few of those companies are executing that strategy successfully.

So says the newly released research that identified lack of accountability for talent management as a key reason companies have difficulty executing talent-management practices. In short, plans on paper don't translate to reality in the workplace when it comes to developing and retaining talent.

"Most organizations have the fundamentals in place," says Bob Campbell, leader of Hewitt's North American Talent Management practice in the Norwalk, Conn., office. "The question is where do we go from here?

"What we saw emerging as a key issue," he says, "is developing manager capability to carry out the practices in place. Despite the distractions, it has never been more important than in these challenging times that managers have a steady hand on the tiller to coach employees and guide brighter future prospects.

"The research, entitled The State of Talent Management: Today's Challenges, Tomorrow's Opportunities, included input from 700 senior-level talent leaders across a wide spectrum of companies.

Among the findings:

a) 92 percent of business leaders recognize superior talent as providing a vital competitive advantage.

b) Only 7 percent of organizations consistently hold managers accountable for developing their direct reports through performance- management processes.

c) Just 17 percent of respondents indicate their workforce strategy is consistently aligned with their business strategy across the organization.

d) Only 10 percent of companies consistently measure the effectiveness of talent-management programs.

The survey largely confirms the challenges that have long vexed many HR professionals, says Carl Robinson, managing principal of Advanced Leadership Consulting in Seattle.

"Even though many companies say that people are their most important asset, they often don't build in the systems and processes to develop their people," Robinson says. "While the findings here are common sense, I think they are useful. The reality is that talent management is so low on the priority list that surveys like this can remind senior executives to pay attention."

In his work with corporate leaders and companies, Robinson has found several repeating themes as to why talent-management processes are not adhered to and strategies are not executed.

Among them:

a) Not enough time.

b) Compensation systems that do not incent managers to develop people.

c) CEOs rarely model behavior consistent with talent-management strategies.

d) Inadequate funding for talent-management execution.

"The reality is that organizations have to build accountability for talent management into managers' and executives' compensation packages," Robinson said. "It has to be part of the compensation review and people need to dinged for not developing their people effectively.

"The companies Hewitt and HCI, a Washington-based membership organization focuses on talent research and strategies, found that made significant strides in managing talent have effectively institutionalized specific talent-management programs, such as conducting talent reviews, performing succession planning and improving manager ability to further develop employees, according to the researchers.

For HR leaders aiming to beef up execution of talent-management strategies, Campbell of Hewitt suggests focusing on three steps.

1. Determine the most critical areas of the business to support. Ask what aspects of talent management are most closely aligned with the company's top business priorities.

2. Position HR to be the internal experts on talent management. Present the HR department as a professional consulting team, equipped to provide guidance to managers and insights to company leaders.

3. Measure the results. Use predictive analytics and metrics to determine if talent-management initiatives are being implemented and are effective.

Katherine Jones, president of San Mateo, Calif.-based Independent Consulting Services who worked on the research with HCI, said talent-management measurement is essential particularly in "times of belt-tightening."

"In the past, many company had no way to assess where there top talent was," Jones says. "Today, in the current economic environment, it becomes incumbent for a company to look closely at the talent they have now what they will need in a year or two years.
"When dealing with turbulent times you can't have a slash-and-burn mentality," she says. "You have to know who your top talent is and keep those people."

Ref: Scott Westcott

Four Key Questions Candidates Should Ask Potential Employers

Four Key Questions Candidates Should Ask Potential Employers

Employer-employee compatibility must be a two-way street for an appointment to be successful over the long-term. To gauge compatibility, candidates should ask potential employers four critical questions during a selection process.

A significantly shrinking talent pool worldwide means that competition is often stiff for organizations trying to identify and retain peak performers. Organizations often invest in testing and assessment programs to ensure that new hires and internal promotions have the right "fit" with the company culture. However, candidates do not always think about whether a company culture is compatible with their own values and professional needs. Employer-employee compatibility must be a two-way street for an appointment to be successful over the long term.

As such, during the selection process candidates should ask potential employers, managers, and peers the following four critical questions:

1. How does this organization listen to employee feedback?

Unfortunately many organizations treat employees as nothing more than numbers -- and subservient numbers at that. Consequently, the answer to this question will reveal whether the organization values the wisdom and contributions of its talent pool, engages the employees, and/or instills a sense of company ownership.

2. How does your employee performance evaluation process work?

It may surprise you to learn that many companies do not have a `systematic employee appraisal process in place. Therefore, the answer to this question will reveal whether the organization is structured and consistent in its performance expectations. By understanding how your work will be appraised helps to identify clear expectations, which directly feeds the notion of job security, which is a crucial factor to all employees.

3. What opportunities are there for development?

Human resource is a concept that does not always have a succinct definition of renewable. By asking this question you are delving into the culture to understand if employees are viewed as investments or merely as replaceable resources. The answer to this question will help you determine if this company will provide you with the necessary tools to progress along your desired career path.

4. How does this organization reward talent?

Believe it or not, some companies reward employees who simply maintain the status quo and penalize employees who show initiative and talent. For example, we know of an episode whereby an employee took much time to provide unsolicited but constructive feedback on a piece of marketing material that was full of factual and grammatical errors. Instead of appreciating the employee's efforts in trying to spare the company considerable embarrassment and potential business, the organization largely reacted defensively and stopped including this employee in key interactions. Therefore, this is a potentially challenging question to an interviewer who is also a manager at the hiring company. You will also be able to ascertain how prevalent recognition is within the organization's culture, for example does recognition occur on a weekly, monthly or annual basis. The answer will reveal whether the organization is organized and committed about employee retention and professional development, as well as how it goes about it.

It is also important to note a fifth question for possible consideration: Can employees be themselves at this organization? Sometimes organizations demand that employees conform to management's skewed - or even downright counterproductive - definition of an "ideal employee." With this in mind, the answer to this pointed question will help to reveal management's expectations for employee behavior - that is, whether employees are encouraged to act as company "drones" versus act as individuals with unique personalities and perspectives to be shared and strategically leveraged.

Again, issues with skill set and lack of fit with the company culture are among the top reasons organizations disqualify candidates. Likewise, lack of recognition, advancement and fit with a candidate's value system are among the top reasons why candidates disqualify employers. For this reason, we encourage candidates to conduct due diligence on companies just like employers do with applicants during the recruitment phase.Come to think of it, all organizations should contemplate the four questions above if increasing morale, productivity and profitability are top priorities. A shrinking talent pool means that the onus is now often on companies to convince talented individuals why their time, devotion and energies should be invested in their organization versus their competitors.

Ref: Jim Houran and Whitney Harper

Boost Engagement in a Financial Crises: Tell the Truth

Boost Engagement in a Financial Crises: Tell the Truth

The recent turmoil on Wall Street appears to carry more than just financial implication: It may be lowering employee productivity and engagement, as well.

In a new survey by Workplace Options, a work-life consulting and training company, half of respondents said they are experiencing stress because of financial concerns, and nearly the same amount said that stress makes it hard to perform their jobs.

"It's a critical issue because the first reaction is to hunker down, play it safe and try to not stick out," said Jim Haudan, CEO of Root Learning and author of The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap Between People and Possibilities.

"When fear, uncertainty and doubt reign supreme, people begin to get on the [anxiety] train," Haudan explained. "They look at turf control, they begin to catastrophize what's going on, and they begin to worry if [they're] next. All of these emotions are very real, and all of these emotions are exactly what you don't need at a time when you want people to unify, align, change and be agile.

"To help get employees back on track and to leverage workers' capabilities to the fullest, Haudan said talent managers should advise leaders to do the following:

1. Convey the reality of the situation.

Above all, leaders must be frank with employees. "People are amazingly resilient and able to deal with the downside, but the unknown is paralyzing," Haudan said. "The leader's job is to bring the facts into focus and create a perspective.

"To do that, leaders must engage in two specific behaviors: tell the truth and show the bigger picture. "[When leaders tell] the truth, people actually becoming more trusting," Haudan said. "It's when you're not thinking you're being told the truth that you become less trusting.

"There's a very emotional connection, too," he explained. "Telling the truth also conveys that we, leaders, understand the predicament our people are in in such an empathetic way it creates a connection [that allows us] to go forward rather than stay where we're at.

"But leaders also should be sure to convey the bigger picture to employees. Haudan said employees often complain they only receive bits of information that can often give them a haphazard view of what's going on, like disparate jigsaw puzzle pieces.

"They said, 'Why don't [executives] just send the cover of the box across to the puzzle, so we can see how it all fits together and then realize that some of these parts that seem to be in conflict may have their appropriate places?' I think more than ever in these turbulent times, getting people to see the 'box top' of the business and the state of the business is absolutely essential to tap into their capability," Haudan said.

2. Communicate the "score.

"When the financial crisis began to unravel, many employees were glued to their computers, constantly clicking for updates."I've never seen so many [people] check the market so many times in one day," Haudan said. "Human beings, in times of turmoil, want to know what the score is. There's never been greater curiosity about the score; use and leverage that curiosity to not only [get employees to] understand the business but to keep everybody in the game. The urgency can either tear us apart or be a catalyst to bring us together."

3. Prioritize.

Employees are likely to feel overwhelmed in turbulent times, and when upper management unwittingly leads them to believe every initiative is urgent or important, they're more apt to just give up. Leaders should focus on keeping things simple and direct to improve engagement.

Ref:Agatha Gilmore

Three New Strategic Roles Defined

Driving Change: Three New Roles Defined

While breaking down the barriers between the existing HR functions that impact talent management is in itself a profound success, leading organizations are also formalizing a number of proactive activities that add true strategic power to talent management.

By creating a formal workforce planning role, organizations are empowering staffing departments, training departments, and operations departments to take the guesswork out of how it will happen, and they are managing using robust forecasts that scientifically demonstrate the correlation between workforce utilization/composition and organizational capability and capacity.

To further support strategic talent management, workforce planning is coming online with two other proactive roles. Employment branding is becoming more mainstream as organizations recognize the need to make themselves more visible and attractive to top talent, and to motivate existing employees. Retention efforts are formalizing not just to stave off the need for hard-to-find replacement talent, but also to support knowledge management and knowledge transfer between several generations of talent.

Each of these new roles is outlined here:

Vice President/Director/Manager of Workforce Planning

This role will be responsible for developing systems that ensure that the organization has an adequate supply of talent to support planned business objectives in both existing and new markets. (Note the emphasis here is not to run statistics and create reports, but rather to ensure an adequate supply of talent.)

Specific responsibilities for this role include:

· Overseeing the creation and management of all strategic HR goals, management practices, organizational policies, and talent management systems to ensure the organization has the capability and capacity to secure an adequate workforce when needed.

· Participating in organization-wide strategic planning and operations-planning sessions to provide input on workforce-related touch points.

· Projecting the organization's supply and demand for talent on a moving one-, three-, or five-year basis (timing dependent upon industry).

· Identifying gaps in projected supply and demand for talent and developing strategic and tactical plans to acquire the labor needed to meet objectives.

· Marshaling the cooperation and integration of HR deliverables.

· Establishing and maintaining the business case for organizational change needed to retain a position as the "employer of choice" among key internal and external talent constituencies.

· Analyzing data from all internal functions to determine the relationship between talent availability or utilization and productivity, or the occurrence of sentinel events. (A sentinel event is any unexpected occurrence that results in a severely negative outcome.

Vice President/Director/Manager of Employment Branding

This role will be responsible for developing systems that identify and manage how the organization is perceived by both internal and external key talent constituencies to ensure that the organization develops and maintains a dominant position in relevant labor markets as the employer of choice. (Note that the emphasis of this new role is not on employment advertising but on understanding and managing perception among key constituents.)

Specific responsibilities for this role include:

· Developing and implementing an employment branding strategy that ensures key constituents continue to perceive the organization as an employer of choice, thereby simplifying talent retention, motivation, and attraction.

· Marshaling internal management practices and people programs to ensure that the employment experience delivered is one capable of sustaining projected talent needs.

· Overseeing the creation and integration of employment branding messages in all public relations, media relations, marketing communications, community relations, special events, and recruitment advertising campaigns.

· Identifying and developing storylines around company management practices that can be repeated internally and externally through employee referral campaigns, public speeches by executives/managers, news stories, and select awards program applications.

· Periodically assessing employment brand internally and externally to ensure alignment between current strategy and labor market conditions.

· Establishing and maintaining the business case for organizational change needed to develop the required employment brand.

Vice President/Director/Manager of Retention

This role will be responsible for developing systems that identify mission-critical talent stores within the organization and a stable of tools and approaches that can be used on a one-to-one basis to retain them. (Note the emphasis here is not to develop organization-wide approaches that treat employees equally, but rather to provide differentiated treatment to top performers in key roles that have been characterized as critical to the success/failure of organizational objectives.)

Specific responsibilities for this role include:

· Overseeing the development and implementation of talent management methodologies to identify mission-critical roles within the organization based on objective assessment versus speculation.

· Overseeing the creation and deployment of tools and approaches on a case-by-case basis to ensure the retention of key employees.

· Analyzing internal data from all functions to identify relationships between organizational practices/events and turnover.

· Developing and administering knowledge management and transition processes for planned turnover.

· Developing and maintaining systems that monitor and report on managers' abilities to develop and retain top performers.

· Establishing and maintaining the business case for organizational change needed to drive retention efforts.

Conclusion

It's a brave new world, one with few barriers to competition, which is why barriers to strategic talent management must be removed. Existing barriers include isolated HR functions, lack of strategic mindset, and lack of infrastructure to power true strategic talent management. Removing these barriers isn't easy, but is a necessity for survival in a global economy. Many professionals in HR are not adequately equipped and will not survive in a modern HR function. Organizations cannot let those incapable of transitioning become barriers themselves.

It is time to step up to the plate. It is time to embrace new proactive activities. It is time to stop talking about being strategic and actually be strategic! Enjoy the future — it your turn to be the corporate hero.