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The Changing Landscape of Talent Management

Whats Happening, and What It Means to You
Its a simple fact: People produce results. And with the right people, a company can create a powerful competitive advantage that cant be replicated by others. Leading organizations understand this, and are creating forward-looking strategies to leverage their talent and stay one step ahead of the competition. Heres a look at what those strategies include.

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BY ADRIENNE HEDGER

THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT TALENT MANAGEMENT IS A BUSINESS IMPERATIVE. But what are leading companies doing to identify, acquire and develop the right people? Workforce Management reached out to five companies who are recognized leaders in the Talent Management space, and asked them to share their thoughts. What trends are they seeing? What challenges are companies facing? And what best practices are standing out? Heres a look at the insight they sharedand what it means for you.

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SourceRight Solutions
New Ways Recruitment Process Outsourcing and Managed Services are Adding Value

The Rise of a Blended Workforce

Another trend: Many people are choosing to work by the project, on a contract basis, says Callahan. They want shorter-term projects and a more flexible schedule. Its happening in Information Technology. Its happening in Financial Services. Its happening across all types of industries, particularly those undergoing significant change. This has created a new type of highly qualified talent pool, says Callahan. And it offers companies true scalability. They can get the right folks when they need them, and assign them to specific projects that require their unique skills. The challenge: It can be complicated to manage this type of blended workforce, made up of full-time, part-time contingent and contract workerseven alumni. At SourceRight, we refer to the management of a blended workforce as Strategic Talent Optimization, says Callahan. They key is to create an integrated approach that helps the company identify the right person for the job, and take full advantage of all the options open to them. As part of this approach, hiring managers have a single point of contact for talent acquisition and resourcing. They participate in strategic intake sessions to determine the best talent to fulfill business requirementswhether full-time, part-time, contingent, or independent contractor.

What exactly is the hiring process? Our definition is that it begins with the job offer, and ends when your new hire is fully engaged. Theres a lot to manage in between. TalentWise is an industry-leading Hiring Process Management (HPM) solutions provider, offering background screening, drug testing, assessments, employment eligibility verification, and onboarding all managed from a single platform in the cloud. Visit www.talentwise.com today and see why our innovative technology and superior customer service has put us in Workforce Management magazines Hot List of Employment-Related Screening Providers the last five years.
sales@talentwise.com 877.893.1669 www.talentwise.com

Expertise: Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Managed Services and Contingent Workforce Services Rebecca Callahan, President As President of SourceRight Solutions, Rebecca Callahan has seen firsthand how the MSP/RPO partnership has been transformed over the past few years. As she notes, the RPO/client relationship has become more strategic, and more essential as companies grapple with the rise of a blended workforce.

RPOs Expanded Role

The RPO evolution has been driven in large part by the economic downturn. Many companies dramatically reduced their recruiting staff over the past few years, and are now relying on their RPO partners to play a broader strategic role. Companies are trying to determine where the next wave of talent is coming from, and how to develop that talent, says Callahan. They are realizing that their RPO provider is in an ideal position to help them understand whats happening and how to capitalize on it. Indeed, a growing number of companies are asking their RPO partner to engage in exempt-level hiring, including sourcing hard-to-find, passive candidates to fill critical positions within the company. Theyre also looking for guidance in social mediaand news ways to reach candidates. Many companies dont have the expertise or the resources to deploy a strong social media strategy, so they turn to their RPO provider for help. We have provided clients with private, web-based social networks that are fully configurable and consistent with the companys brand, says Callahan. They are seeing how a highly interactive, online social community helps them develop a ready-made pipeline of candidates. This can not only speed time-to-hire, it can also improve the overall quality of new hires.

Putting the Right Processes in Place

The blended workforce will continue to grow, and in order to take advantage of it, companies need to integrate their processes at a new level. This is where the RPO partnership can make a significant difference. The right RPO partner will be able to deliver: Standardized technologies, so activities that used to be separate are now aligned Integrated processes underlying the technologies Ongoing attention to risk and compliance Streamlined administration and lower costs
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Strategic counsel at every step For many, the answer to capitalizing on the blended workforce is finding the right MSP/RPO partner, says Callahan. A partner who can deliver flexible, scalable technologies and a cost-effective solution to manage many types of workers. Were seeing this demand within our client base, and its a trend that will only grow stronger. phone calls and faxing. Then something as basic as making sure the employee has a computer and a badge on Day One. It requires an incredible amount of coordination and timing, says Owens. This is hard enough to manage in a centralized organization, but if the organization is decentralized, problems multiply quickly. Vendors are increasingly automating their own slice of the process, but this doesnt get to the heart of the problem. No matter how streamlined the background check or drug test process is, HR still needs to play traffic cop to the overarching process, managing disparate vendors and a laundry list of tasks, to ensure a smooth, compliant new hire process. Spreadsheets and whiteboards are their lifeline.

SkillSoft is a leading provider of e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses. SkillSoft enables organizations to maximize business performance through a combination of comprehensive e-learning content, online information resources, flexible learning technologies and support services.

TalentWise
The Hiring Process Like Youve Never Seen It Expertise: Hiring Process Managementcloud-based solutions for screening and onboarding; new hires; and assessments William Kerr, Chief Executive Officer Todd Owens, Chief Operating Officer William Kerr, Chief Executive Officer at TalentWise, is well aware of how complex the hiring process can be. Teams within TalentWise have diagrammed it, processmapped it, and studied it in depth. We knew there had to be an easier way for companies to manage this process, he says. So we started talking to HR departments about their pain points, and what they would like to see in a solution. Guided by this insight, the team realized that a brand new approach was neededa solution that would leverage trends in other areas of HR and fill a void that exists between recruitment and posthire solutions.

An Unintended First Impression

All of this complexity can create a frustrating experience for the new hire. It is not uncommon for a new hire to go here and go there, fill out forms, take a drug test, then come back into the office to fill out another form, says Owens. This is the first impression they have of their new company, and unfortunately, its not all that great. This introduces risk. A new hire unimpressed by their new employer is more apt to be stolen away by offers from competitors. It is critical to give them a positive experience, and get them fully engaged as quickly as possible.

Beyond Automation
What, then, is the solution? Companies need to be able to manage their entire hiring process on a single, integrated software platform, says Kerr. The Hiring Process Management (HPM) solution is more involved than just automating each step of the hiring process and linking them together. To be effective, it must go deeper: Intelligent workflow, to correctly align and time all the moving parts of the hiring process, enforcing the right order and dependencies of each of the steps. Flexibility, so companies can easily and precisely configure the solution to meet their unique hiring process requirements. Turnkey setup, allowing HR to implement a powerful and user-friendly
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Acknowledging the Pain Points

What exactly is the hiring process? It begins when a company identifies the person they want to hire, says Todd Owens, Chief Operating Officer at TalentWise, and it ends when the new employee is fully-engaged and contributing to the organization. In between those two points there is a lot to coordinate, to say the least. There are drug tests, background checks, hiring credits and incentives, and new hire forms, to name a few. There are compliance issues, FedEx shipments,

To find out more about SkillSoft, visit www.skillsoft.com or call 877-545-5763.

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solution with minimal, if any, involve- Arizona 85020 hiring process, where the imTrend #1: Not Just Screening, Phoenix, reaching the Pleasanton, CA 94588 877-263-8033 HR will be profound. 925-951-9000 ment from the IT department. pact to Strategic www.universalbackground.com www.workday.com Embedded compliance, ensuring the In the past, assessments were primarily process is consistent and compliant with used as a screening tool to efficiently narUniversal Background Screening is a leading provider of employment screening About Workday SHLPreVisor corporate including a comprehensive selection of background checks, drug testsolutions policy, as well as federal and Workday is the leader in on-demand enterprise solutions for human resources to row a candidate pool from, say, 1,000 ing, employment physicals and payroll, with mid-sized to Fortune Using People state employment laws. and compliance management services.Universal ex- Intelligence to more than 65 customers spanning fromview of assessments 50. But that narrow perts consult with clients to implement compliant background screening pro500 businesses. Built on a completely new model, Workday uses the most modImprove Quality of Hire and grams tailored integration,needs.it plugs criminal record searches, Seamless to their unique so Services include ern, standards-based technologies to provide an unparalleled level of agility, is changing. credit reports, systems on of employment, education Talent Developmentease-of-use, and integration capability, offering customers significantly lower and professional liinto recruitingand verifications the front end Companies are seeing the about censes.Universal helps clients create safe work environments by uncovering total cost of ownership than on-premise solutions. For more informationstrategic and Humancriminal records, falsified resumes, inclusion on sanction lists, and Expertise: Employment Assessments, www.workday.com assessments can deliver, he candidates Resource Information SysWorkday, please visit value that additional back end. Consulting Services, Interviewing tems on thebackground information. Universals innovative solutions help clients says. They are far more than just a and cost savings in enhance security, reduce liability, and improve productivityTools, Research, Employee DevelCloud based, allowing organizations screening tool. the candidate selection and hiring process. opment, Certifications to deploy a simple hiring process with For example, once HR has narrowed little upfront time and expense, while Robert Morgan, Chief Marketing the candidate pool to 50 people, they can offering them a tool that can adapt 14040 N. Northsight Boulevard and www.workforce.com/vendordirectory those Officer apply assessment tools to look at Scottsdale, AZ 85260 scale as their business needs change. Compare services candidatesRequest information 480-922-2020 50 and ask, Which person is
www.worldatwork.org the best hire? In this way, assessment Employee assessment is a fundamental HPM is broadly applicable to organibecomes a key driver for Quality of Hire. WorldatWork a global says Owens. It part of compensazations of allis sizes,human resources association focused ontalent management, and Robert tion, benefits, work-life and integrated total rewards to attract, motivate and reIn addition to someones performance, Morgan, allows a talented workforce. Founded in 1955, WorldatWork provides a Chief Marketing Officer of HR to improve the applicant tain network you need to look at behaviors and potenSHLPreVisor, lives experience, reduce time to hire, ensure certification, research, con- in this world. In the of HR professionals in 75 countries with training, ferences and community. on more strategic tial, says Morgan. How will this person last 12 months alone, his company has compliance, and focus WorldatWork Society of Certified Professionals, an affiliate of WorldatWork, administers the exams required for attaining the presfit in? Will they be able to help grow the delivered over 25 million online assessactivities. tigious professional designations: Certified Compensation Professional business? You need that multi-dimensional (CCP); Certified Benefits solutions have Integrated software Professional (CBP); Certified Sales Compensaments worldwide. tion Professional view of the candidate. Otherwise its a transformed the (CSCP); Global Remuneration Professional (GRP).vantage point, Morgan sees way HR works, from From his WorldatWork equips you with the HR education and resources you need to make Contact Linda Hutton distorted picture and you risk making recruiting to payroll to performance man- network and join the dis- shaping the way assess- with questions or to list your company today! the three major trends strategic HR decisions. Plus, expand your professional cussions adds Kerr. Now this Community. ment are used and the value they (313) 446-6020 lhutton@workforce.com agement,in the free WorldatWork Onlinetrend is deliver. wrong hire.

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Trend #2: Using Assessment to Drive Development

Companies are not only using assessment during hiring, theyre also taking the tools into the post-hire world and using them to help create a roadmap for career development. If you assess someone when theyre hired, its a huge mistake to file the information away and never look at it again, says Morgan. You can to use that data to continue developing the individual. For example, as part of a college recruiting program, SHLPreVisor assesses graduates and then creates a development report that can be reviewed by the new hire and the manager. The findings help the new employee understand their strengths and opportunities for developmentinvaluable information for someone who is just joining the workforce. In addition, companies are using assessments with their existing talent pool, to gain insight about the performance, behaviors and potential of their current staff members. This is a major trend, and were seeing smart companies really start to get a handle on it, says Morgan. They see that the data arrived from an assessment process can be used to gain greater intelligence about the people in the organization. This people intelligence helps drive smart decisions about performance management and skill development.

The undisputed leader in talent acquisition outsourcing, SourceRight specializes in improving and managing workforce-related processes through a comprehensive spectrum of offerings that can be deployed singularly or in combination. Building upon a 60-year heritage in recruitment and staffing innovations, our solutions provide the insight needed to drive strategic talent decisions by leveraging embedded technologies, a scalable global service model and the best recruitment talent in the industry today. Offerings include: Strategic Talent Optimization, RPO, Contingent Workforce Services and Managed Services Programs.
www.SourceRight.com 1.800.814.8613

a recruiting plan, development plan or comprehensive talent plan. This may mean training people, hiring new team members or redeploying talent within the organization. While an increasing number of companies are using assessments strategically, there are still organizations that believe an assessment is simply a test that can be found online and administered by anyone. Its easy to go print a test, says Morgan. But that wont help you achieve your goals. The true value in an assessment lies in the repository of data, the analysis, and the consultation to create the right action plans. Done right, assessments transform data into people intelligence that enables a company make better decisions and drive business results.

SkillSoft
Taking the Fear Out of Performance Reviews Expertise: Software as a Service, on-demand training and e-learning solutions Julie Ogilvie, Vice President, Corporate Marketing The performance review is critical. Unfortunately, most of the time its also dreaded. Conducting a performance review can be intimidating even for experienced managers, says Julie Ogilvie, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at SkillSoft. And employees usually arent looking forward to it either. However, when its done well, a faceto-face review can help improve performance, align goals and accelerate career development. Research from Bersin and Associates found that companies with strong, positive performance management processes outperform their peers by 3 to 1. The study also found that companies that teach their managers coaching skills have higher levels of productivity, engagement, customer satisfaction and financial performance. The question is: How do you help
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Trend #3: Understanding the Power of People Intelligence

Gathering this People Intelligence can also help a company manage change. For example, if an organization is transitioning from a product-selling business to a solution-selling business, they need to re-evaluate the skills, competencies and abilities of their staff. SHLPreVisor refers to this as a talent audit. Since weve conducted so many assessments, we have a deep repository of data to draw on, explains Morgan. We can tell a company which behaviors and the competencies they need to look for, assess their current workforce to identify gaps, and then create a roadmap to help close the gaps. This roadmap could be

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managers overcome fear, and help employees gain more value from the experience? Ogilvie and her team at SkillSoft have been pondering this question, and have insights to share. tion. Companies can also leverage their eleaning platforms to make performance appraisals more valuable to employees. One best practice is to use performance management as a way to direct employees to online learning resources, says Ogilvie. This can help close a skill gap. Or a manager might recognize that an employee has an unusual talent that can be further developed. Research shows that a managers involvement in employee development is a strong factor in whether that employee improves their performance. By recommending specific courses, books, videos or other resources, the manager can demonstrate a clear interest in the employees development. During the review, managers can also suggest that an employee take courses that are of special interest to them and will help them advance in their career. As a result, employees see more value in the performance management process. You dont want the review to be viewed as a negative situation or something that just needs a box to be checked, says Ogilvie. By getting past the fear and the stress, both the manager and the employee can have an open, valuable conversation that truly helps the employee develop, advance in their career, and add more value to the organization.

SHLPreVisor is a global leader in talent management solutions, driving better business results for clients through superior people intelligence and decisions from hiring and recruiting, to employee development and succession planning. SHLPreVisor delivers more than 25 million assessments annually in over 30 languages so clients benefit from both global expertise and local insight. Along with world-class consulting practices and 24-hour support center, SHLPreVisor offers over 1,000 assessments through an easy-to-use online platform. Headquartered in London, UK, the company has offices in North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
www.shlprevisor.com Toll Free: 1-800-367-2509

Helping Managers Overcome Fear

Conducting a good performance review is a skillone that can be taught and practiced. There are specific things a manager can do to make the performance review successful, says Ogilvie. A little knowledge on the topic can take out a lot of the negative emotion and fear. For example, skills such as listening, questioning and goal-setting are areas where managers can learn to be more effective. Companies that have e-learning solutions are in the best position to offer easy, on-demand learning support for managers. And this is particularly helpful when preparing leaders to handle performance reviews. Sometimes a manager just needs a quick refresher before going into a difficult coaching situation, says Ogilvie. For example, we have short-duration resources, such as scenarios of common business issues and short videos from authors and business leaders. According to Ogilvie, one video that managers find particularly helpful is the CEO Exchange QuickTalk featuring Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Electric, on performance management. In it Immelt states that honesty about performance is a human right. In addition to videos, e-learning can offer quick access to books that help managers choose the right language to use during a performance appraisal. Or compliance courses that keep managers from unintentionally wading into sticky legal issues. Its like having an in-house expert that you can call on at any moment when you have a question, Ogilvie says.

Right Management
Implementing a Workforce Strategy to Address Global Trends Expertise: Talent and career management experts within ManpowerGroup, the global leader in innovative workforce solutions. Michael Haid, Senior Vice President, Talent Management the Americas
Weve identified four global trends that affect the quality and availability of talent, says Michael Haid, Senior Vice President of Talent Management for Right Management in the Americas. To be successful, companies need to understand whats happening and how it will impact their business.
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Delivering More Value to Employees

But managers are only half of the equa-

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The time to start thinking about this is now. Successful companies are already putting together Workforce Strategies to help them navigate the changes ahead. What exactly are the trends and how does a Workforce Strategy address them? Haid explains. reshaping the landscape of Talent Management, and influencing the availability and quality of talent. For companies, the question is: How do we prepare? The best way to think through the risks and tradeoffs is to create a Workforce Strategy, says Haid. As he notes, this is not the same as creating a Workforce Plan. A Workforce Plan is a near-term assessment of needs, largely built on the belief that talent is available, you just need to know what you want. A Workforce Strategy, on the other hand, is longer-term and directly tied to the business strategy. You integrate the Workforce Strategy into the business planning process, says Haid. So every time you are creating or refining your business plan, you are also developing your Workforce Strategy. While HR helps facilitate the Workforce Strategy, the majority of the input comes from senior leaders. This way, you can identify what talent will be needed two, three, five and even 10 years out. Clarifying the business strategy and talent needs is critical, says Haid. But you also need to think strategically about where and how you will attract that talent. You arent assuming the talent will be available; you are creating a plan to find the talent you need, even if its scarce. Smart companies are starting to implement Workforce Strategies now. We are working with several clients who are seeing the effects of these talent trends, he says. They understand the value of a Workforce Strategy, and they are incorporating it into their business plan.

Right Management is the talent and career management expert within ManpowerGroup, the world leader in innovative workforce solutions. Right Management helps clients win in the changing world of work by designing and executing workforce solutions that align talent strategy with business strategy. Our expertise spans Talent Assessment, Leader Development, Organizational Effectiveness, Employee Engagement, and Workforce Transition and Outplacement. With offices in over 50 countries, Right Management partners with companies of all sizes. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies are currently working with us to help them grow talent, reduce costs and accelerate performance.
www.right.com 800.237.4448

Four Global Trends for Talent Management

As part of the ManpowerGroup, Right Management has a footprint in 82 countries and interfaces with millions of HR executives and professionals every year. With input from this global reach, the company has identified four trends that cross industries and geographies. 1. Talent Mismatch. Organizations are looking for skills and abilities that arent readily available in the talent pool. At the same time, the demographic bubble is creating an impending crisis. People are approaching retirement age or thinking about taking on a new form of work. When they leave, they take their specialized skills with them. 2. Technology Transformation. Technology has changed how, when and where we work; its even changed the definition of work. As a result, organizations need different skills and abilities to succeed, and they need to find different ways to motivate and manage their talent. 3. The Rise of Individual Choice. Many skill sets that are in demand are also somewhat scarce, and this gives job candidates the ability to choose how, when and where they want to work. Many organizations are beginning to write individual contracts, or take other special steps to court certain talent. 4. Increased Customer Sophistication. Nearly every business is seeing the rise of a smarter customer. A customer who has conducted research, analyzed information, and knows exactly what they want. This increasing sophistication is forcing companies to re-think customer-facing jobs, and what skills they need in these areas.

Talent as a Differentiator
The notion of a Workforce Strategy underscores a fundamental change in the way talent is viewed. Companies are realizing that talent is the last differentiator, says Haid. Operating plans, marketing plans, sales strategiesall of this can be replicated by a competitor. But your talent cannot. Your people bring unique strengths into your company, and that cant be copied by anyone.
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Creating a Workforce Strategy

Taken together, these trends are

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