A look at current trends and data

Citation

Nolan, S. (2012), "A look at current trends and data", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 11 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2012.37211caa.012

A look at current trends and data

Article Type: Research and results From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 11, Issue 3

Sara Nolan

Story 1

Talent management is to be transformed as seemingly unrelated trends around the world converge to impact profoundly on the way companies of all sizes compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy. This is according to research from Taleo Corporation, a specialist in SaaS-based talent management solutions.

The research report, “The future of talent management: underlying drivers of change,” identifies economic, demographic and technological influences that will define how companies acquire and manage talent over the next five to ten years. The first in a two-part series aimed at identifying the direction of talent management, the study combines independent analysis of data culled from the US Department of Labor and United Nations Population Surveys with interpretation of documented trends. The resulting conclusions reveal where companies will find tomorrow’s top talent – and what it likely will take to acquire it.

Following are some of the colliding trends identified in the study:

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  The economies of countries around the world have become increasingly integrated. Globalization has allowed businesses to expand their operations into new countries and new markets, increasing the diversity of their customer base and their workforce.

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  The line is blurring between “inside” and outside talent, which will force tomorrow’s managers to broaden their current idea of what it means to manage talent. Eventually, some analysts believe half of the workforce in mature western markets like the US will be made up of “contingent workers,” such as part-time employees, consultants or independent contractors. The Taleo Research paper points to various drivers of this trend, including health care reform in the United States, which is expected to prompt many smaller employers to abandon health insurance plans – often the only reason some people seek a full-time job – and thus sending more talent to the ranks of contingency workers.

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  Demographic challenges are found in developed countries, where population growth rates and aging populations are poised to stifle local economies. That means companies must move talent from areas of abundance to scarcity. And here, some new shifts are occurring. As once-new markets like China and India mature and labor there achieves parity with other developed economies, companies will look to other regions for cost-effective pools of talent, including Russia and Eastern Europe, Mexico, South America and “the rest of Asia.”

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  The Arab Spring uprisings are likely to unlock previously unattainable talent. A largely young and educated population of people who want to work may soon become suddenly available thanks to revolutions in the Middle East. This may put even more knowledge workers into the global talent pool and give companies more options for sourcing talent in emerging and increasingly Westernized markets where they will seek a local presence.

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  To attract the best knowledge workers and keep them engaged, companies must constantly and aggressively evolve how they engage them with mobile, social networks and other digital tools. In this atmosphere of individual empowerment, companies that embody “old school,” top-down corporate structures and communication methods will grow increasingly irrelevant to the knowledge workers they value most.

“Companies whose business relies on knowledge workers are competing on a global scale, whether they realize it or not, and the way they manage talent in the next decade will be increasingly defined by global changes in demography, economic paradigms and technology,” said David Wilkins, vice president of Taleo Research. “Organizations that regard talent as a key differentiator have no choice but to consider the impacts of these trends on their talent processes and strategies.”

For more information. A complete copy of “The future of talent management: underlying drivers of change” is available at: www.taleo.com/resources/thought-leadership-studies