Down Economy Offers Upside Opportunities

Talent management has risen to the forefront as a central issue for today's organizations worldwide and established itself as a key business strategy in any economic season. Regardless of market conditions, companies need to hire and manage their talent to fill positions and manage performance. Even

Executives Know Talent is the Winning Strategy

Executives are increasingly realizing-and appreciating-the positive impact of successful talent strategies and practices on the organization. A recent Accenture survey of more than 850 top executives found that two-thirds put the inability to attract and retain the best talent second only behind competition as the key threat to business success. Another study found that an overwhelming majority believe that talent has an impact on profitability, a significant effect on customer satisfaction, and drives innovation and new product development.

Talent Management: Performance in All Economic Seasons

Hot and cold economic climates may not both support overall business growth, but they both certainly fuel gross job creation and require talent management to guide hiring and performance processes. Net job creation may go down, unemployment may go up, and other key indicators can point to economic slowdown. The simple fact is that companies continue to hire-even in a recession. While net job creation might go to zero, or even become a negative number, gross job creation still occurs as the workforce shifts from sectors that are hardest hit to areas that continue to grow. An economic downturn also presents an opportunity to improve the overall strength of the talent already in place.

Successful talent management is a key driver of business performance and the returns are not confined to the benefits derived during a robust, high growth business cycle. Rather, at the core of the value of talent management is the appreciation of its power to drive organizational performance in all business seasons. Four areas of focus are:

1. Mitigate Turnover

Voluntary turnover does not evaporate in a downturn. Hiring new employees-whether for new positions created through growth or to backfill existing positions due to churn-continues. In these circumstances, a strategic hiring process that captures best fit talent quickly is essential to mitigate the financial drain from open positions and poor productivity.

2. Manage Higher Application Flow

In a declining economy, organizations receive high volumes of resumes as an increased supply of candidates applies for vacant positions. The ubiquitous adoption of the Internet and corporate career sites as the main method for job posting and accepting applications can be a boon if an automated recruiting platform is in use or a burden if the corporation is buried under an avalanche of applications without the ability to find quality talent among the quantity.

3. Unify Recruiting + Performance Management

Talent management strategies-with unified processes for managing recruitment, performance, and succession planning-respond well in a slowing economy as companies restructure to meet changing market conditions. Visibility into employee talents and aspirations-through ongoing career planning-provides the key to efficient redeployment of talent in a restructuring. A unified talent management process provides even greater returns than do isolated activities.

Recruiting and performance deliver benefits from establishing a single talent system of record that are more holisticalIy substantial for business performance. Recruiting helps performance through identification of external succession candidates, pre-employment history and skills, and finding skills to meet corporate goals. Performance helps recruiting through top performer modeling, proactive sourcing, visibility into internal talent, and job profiles and competencies.

4. Drive Improved Business Performance

To the unenlightened, talent management investments during cold economies may seem incongruous. But demanding economic times actually present new opportunities for success. Businesses can redeploy existing resources to expand into new markets, align employee performance to corporate goals, focus on bringing new skills in-house, and implement employee development and retention programs. Talent management insight can reveal top performers, identify who to reward, pinpoint skill sets, and intelligently guide deployment and a reduction in force.

Successful organizations know that exceptional business performance is driven by superior talent. Talent management is a critical business function in any economic climate; the acquisition and retention of top talent should be an ongoing process. A talent management system that aligns your workforce with shifting corporate objectives can mean the difference between merely surviving downturns and using economic slowdowns to create competitive advantage.