A cold war for talent?

If you're thinking that the current recession has tempered the urgency to recruit and retain employees, think again. Using 'but where else do they have to go?' as the basis for your talent management strategy will come back to bite you.

According to a recent report that StepStone commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to write, the Perfect Labor Storm drama continues. Companies are embarking on what might be described as a “cold war for talent.”

Here are a few highlights from the report:
• While employers tighten their belts through redundancies, the need to fill key roles remains critical. In many developing markets, growth is expected to continue, albeit at a reduced rate. Consequently, competition to hire skilled employees remains fierce for local firms and multinationals alike, especially in Asia and Latin America.
• Some 52 percent of respondents agree the slowdown will mean either reducing staffing levels, or scaling back or freezing recruitment. But 27 percent see this as an opportunity to target competitors’ employees who have lost their jobs.
• There is strong evidence labor shortages will continue, with 46 percent agreeing that recruiting and retaining talented employees is becoming more difficult, and a similar proportion (48 percent) identifing a shortage of talent in their organizations.
• Some 40 percent of respondents say additional training for current employees helped them fill talent gaps in the last year, while 58 percent cite career development as a critical factor in efforts to recruit and retain key employees. A similar proportion (54 percent) expects this to remain true in three years’ time.
• Most respondents (62 percent) say employees’ increasing expectations of switching careers or jobs is the factor most likely to fuel talent shortages in their organizations in the next three years.
• But benefits and packages are predicted to alter only slightly: Around a quarter of respondents (24 percent) expect employees’ salaries and benefits to remain the same over the next three years, and 40 percent see them as improving only moderately. Therefore, the report surmises, HR needs to work hard to maintain staff engagement.

Source: Stepstone A Cold War for Talent


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Ira S Wolfe