Talent Mangement Post Covid: What's the "new normal" in managing talent?
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Introduction
The way we work and our expectations from work have been transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic. While this trend may have been gradually emerging, the outbreak made it apparent that work can be modified and tailored to suit personal requirements. In this blog post, we will discuss how talent management has evolved post-pandemic (Mapes, 2022)
What is Talent Management?
Talent management encompasses all HR processes to attract, develop, motivate, and retain high-performing employees. (Vulpen, 2023)
What is the talent management loop?
There are six main areas of the talent management loop: attracting talent, recognising talent, nurturing talent, engaging talent, retaining talent, and deploying talent.
Source:https://professionalleadershipinstitute.com
As per the Professional Leadership Institute (2022) the 6 steps are explained as follows;
1. Attracting Talent
The ability to reach qualified talent depends on how the applicants perceive your business and industry. Developing the right employer brand online on sites like Linkedin & other platforms is vital in hiring external talent.
2. Recognising Talent
Once an organisation has successfully branded itself to attract talent, it becomes imperative to determine the key positions that require hiring. Failure to fill these roles could leave the organization exposed to vulnerabilities.
To address this, succession planning is implemented, wherein employees are trained to assume critical positions. Replacement decisions are based on a combination of past performance and future potential, and a comprehensive performance management system should be implemented by every organization from the outset.
3. Nurturing Talent
Nourishing talent is associated with research, learning, and developing skills that reflect the business objectives. Organizations at this stage invest and value on-the-job training, mentoring or coaching.
4. Engaging Talent
Research shows that employees are happier, well-managed and healthier when business and personal goals are aligned. Therefore, people management and motivation are critical components of talent management
5. Retaining Talent
Engaging with employees improves and increases employee retention. Furthermore, retention tools like rewards schemes, recognition, monetary incentives etc., can be incorporated to the organisation
6. Deploying Talent
Workforce deployment is crucial for all companies. Through meticulous workforce planning, businesses can identify the skill gaps and start appropriate training.
How has Covid changed talent management?
According to Professor Ibraiz Tarique, PhD “Employees have more control over their work now—how they work and where they work. If you’re a high potential employee or high performer, you’re controlling the conversation” (Pauker, 2022)
Employee flexibility, remote work options, proactive wellness measures, mentoring programs, clearly defined career development, childcare, and DEI policies are all criteria top talent considers when thinking about joining a company. (Schramm, 2022)
Combining Talent Management with Employee experience
Post pandemic EX is becoming an integral part of talent management as organisations realise that they should treat their employees as customers, seeking employee satisfaction as equally as customer satisfaction (Boquen, 2022)
Employee experience basically how employees feel about everything they encounter throughout their employment journey which a particular employer, from the time they apply for a job until well after they leave an employer (Vulpen, 2023)
EX is made up of 3 key components, namely physical experience, digital experience, and cultural experience.
Source https://www.forbes.com
The physical experience includes the sensory elements of the work environment and how they affect employees' ability to focus and carry out their duties. The digital experience involves the technology employees use to find jobs, do their jobs, communicate & interact with colleagues, HR and other services. The cultural experience includes the values, symbols, and visible behaviors that are displayed in everyday practices and influence how the work environment feels.
Conclusion
Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes to the way employees work and the expectations they have from employers. This has also resulted in the evolution of talent management practices. Post-pandemic, employees have more control over their work, and employee experience has become an integral part of talent management therefore the talent management loop which encompasses attracting, recognizing, nurturing, engaging, retaining, and deploying talent, has become even more crucial to the overall success of an organisation.
As businesses continue to navigate through the post-pandemic world, it is essential to adapt to these changes and focus on talent management practices that align with the evolving needs of employees.
References
Boquen, A. (2023) | What is Employee Experience and Why Should It Be a Priority?. Available at: https://nhglobalpartners.com/what-is-employee-experience/ (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Mapes, M. (2022) Council Post: Developing Talent In A World Transformed By The Pandemic, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/11/28/developing-talent-in-a-world-transformed-by-the-pandemic/ (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Pauker, L. (2022) How the Pandemic Has Changed Talent Management (no date) Pace University New York. Available at: https://www.pace.edu/news/how-pandemic-has-changed-talent-management (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Professionalleadershipinstitute.com (2023) ‘What Is Talent Management And The 6 Steps Of Retaining Talent! - Professional Leadership Institute’ (2022), 24 June. Available at: https://professionalleadershipinstitute.com/resources/talent-management/ (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Schramm, P. (2022) ‘How COVID Changed the Talent Lifecycle’, Lattitude, 27 July. Available at: https://golattitude.com/how-covid-changed-the-talent-lifecycle/ (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
Vulpen, E. van (2023) ‘Employee Experience: A Complete Guide for HR’, AIHR, 31 March. Available at: https://www.aihr.com/blog/employee-experience-guide/ (Accessed: 16 April 2023).
I found the blog post on how COVID has completely changed talent management to be very insightful and relevant to the current business environment. You have done an excellent job of highlighting the key changes that organizations need to make in order to adapt to the new reality of talent management.
ReplyDeleteIt would be helpful if you address the impact of COVID on employee retention and provide some guidance on how organizations can retain their existing talent in a highly competitive and rapidly changing talent market. Hope to see those in your future blogs.
Thank you very much for your kind feedback Prasadi, I'm very glad that you found my blog post insightful.
DeleteWith regards to some of the retention strategies, Aguinis, H., & Burgi-Tian, J. (2021) actually moot the idea of "stay interviews" where organisations focus on discovering what makes star performers decide to stay in their jobs and provide information that managers can use to implement actions that will retain them & others like them. This is in stark contrast to the traditional "exit interview" which in my personal experience adds very little value to either party.
Very impressive article. The article explain about how the way people work and what they expect from their jobs has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. also its explains the six main parts of talent management: finding good employees, choosing the right people for important jobs, training employees, keeping them interested in their work, making sure they stay with the company, and giving them the right jobs to do. The article also talks about how employee experience, which is how employees feel about their job from start to finish, has become more important for companies. My question is What are some specific actions that companies can take to improve employee experience as part of their talent management practices in the post-pandemic world?
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind feedback Eashan!
DeleteYou raise a very valid question, given the importance of talent management, companies need a solid strategy to ensure their overall employee experience, Herman (2022) suggests a few options such as having Excellent Communication, Offer Growth Opportunities, Responding to Feedback and offering employees "meaningful" work
Great article with massive knowledge for any reader. Really like the way you have explained "combining TM with employee experience".
ReplyDeleteI think there are many retention issues nowadays such as most valuable human resources may be stolen by rivals who offer higher salaries, more enticing benefits, or other chances, any idea or experience with that? :)
Thank you very much for your kind feedback Ramal.
DeleteI think depending on the nature of the job or area of expertise there will always be intense competition for talented individuals, but financial motivation alone is very unlikely to motivate people, usually if that is the sole motivation to move it's unlikely that the organisation will get the best of that particular employee. Based on my personal experience, aspects such as a "sense of belonging" which is built on a particular organisation culture or the desire to challenge oneself or going out of one's comfort zone can be far more powerful motivators and the savvy organisation will be able to recognsie that and offer their employees opportunities accordingly
Amazing write-up and insightful post. As you correctly mentioned, employees have more control over, how and where they work. And also, through technology and remote work, talent is geographically dispersed. Before you would bring talent to work, now you can take work to talent. If you want talent that is in a different country or location, you now can, through technology, take work to that person, develop that person, and retain that person. This trend was there for a while, but COVID accelerated this trend. (Pauker, 2022)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind feedback Thilini. Absolutely, Covid forced organisation to look at finding talent in a very different way, for example, there is a company called Oceans (oceansxyz.com) which has been hiring Sri Lanka talent and matching them with US startups, the company itself has grown from about 15-20 staff in Sri Lanka to around 75 staff because it has created a win-win situation for both startups looking to hire and Sri Lankans looking for better opportunities
DeleteThis essay is excellently written! The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on people management practices, and as a result, many businesses are reevaluating their strategy for talent management in the post-pandemic environment. This provides some insightful information about the pandemic. Talent management's "new normal" will probably be more adaptable, data-driven, and centered on the growth and well-being of employees. In the post-pandemic period, businesses that give priority to these criteria are more likely to draw in and keep top people.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind feedback Chathura
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