Taking a quick reading of the environment, it seems that the clear answer is yes… The famous war for talent that has so worried managers in recent years seems to have taken a truce.
We just have to ask our hiring managers and see that the number of candidates / managers in the market has increased due to the change in the cycle and the uncertainty of many companies in many sectors. In short, it seems that once again companies are choosing candidates instead of the opposite as has happened in recent years.
However, the reality is that the war for talent has come to stay and this is only being a small truce. It is clear that talent is being a key element in the competitiveness of companies worldwide, but we must not forget that there is a clear correlation between the need for talent and the economic boom, so with the evident change in the cycle, we are experiencing a clear truce in the war for talent.
Reviewing the reasons that have led us to the war for talent, I detect six elements that have generated it:
1.- The shortage of people due to the end of the baby boom.
2.- A cultural change. Generation 'Y' arises, people born after 1980 with a different profile than companies were used to, who demand higher salaries, freedom, personal-professional life balance. In short, they value their personal life over their professional one. And that in general they see their professional life without too much commitment and therefore tend to move in periods of 2 to 4 years.
3.- The growing need for organizations of more prepared, more motivated and more flexible people due to the increase in competitiveness at a global level.
4.- The impossibility on the part of the organizations and the Government of being able to develop talent with training and / or culture / values.
5.- The lack of a clear culture in organizations for the attraction and retention of talent beyond declarations of intent without concrete actions.
6.- Globalization means that profiles are needed in countries that until then did not exist, so they either have to be “imported” or they have to be trained with the corresponding difficulties that both cases entail.
All this has led managers to include difficulties in talent management as one of their biggest concerns. However, they do not usually see it as one of the aspects that they give the most importance on a day-to-day basis. In fact, when we ask them about the biggest concerns in times of crisis, concepts such as drops in sales or profitability usually appear, but in few cases they talk about talent management. However, the impact that the flight of talent has on the income statement in times of crisis is very important.
Managers who have suffered a lot with talent management in recent years will perceive in the coming months that they have the "upper hand" again (as 10 years ago) and many will be tempted to not worry. Those who follow this path will be making the wrong strategic decision that may be key for the coming years.
Not managing talent correctly will lead us to have “prisoners”, that is, to have relatively unhappy employees who remain in our organization because the market does not offer them other alternatives. However, this situation generates at least three problems:
1.- Important dissatisfaction of the "prisoners" since they are not aligned with the objectives of the organization and that can cause the situation to spread to other people.
2.- Decrease in your productivity directly linked to dissatisfaction.
3.- Increase in turnover in a relevant way when the market recovers and the “prisoners” are “released”.
This moment should be identified as an opportunity to attract and retain the best talent to correctly face the change of cycle as well as to be prepared for the next expansive cycle. To do so, there are five key recommendations:
- To convey to senior managers and middle managers that people and their leadership is a key element in the current situation and that they will be selected, trained and evaluated in this regard.
- Create winning organizations with concrete and achievable goals. Everyone likes to be in winning projects!
- Management by Objectives and career plans in which the people of the organization grow with the organization.
- Clear evaluations in which we develop the best and make decisions with the worst.
- High commitment to a model of values that are aligned with our people and that create a good working environment.
In this way, we can take advantage of the strategic opportunity that appears to us and be a winning organization for the next few years collaborating with our talent or, on the contrary, not making it a priority issue in our organization… what decision are you going to make?
