Talent Management

Human resources plays many roles in a company. The department manages employee
relations, talent acquisition, payroll, onboarding, and much more. One more duty of HR is
talent management.

This is key to keeping your organization moving ever closer to its goals.

What Is Talent Management?

Talent management is a constant process that involves attracting and retaining high-quality
employees, developing their skills, and continuously motivating them to improve their
performance.
The primary purpose of talent management is to create a motivated workforce who will stay
with your company in the long run. The exact way to achieve this will differ from company
to company.

Talent management in HR
Talent management naturally encompasses many of the responsibilities of HR.
All the same, it is not enough to expect that just because you have an HR department, you are
managing talent.
You need to have a talent management strategy in place designed just for your company to
gain optimal results.

The importance of Talent Management

1. It helps businesses improve performance
Talent management is most effective of all when it combines three key components: rapid
talent allocation, positive employee experience, and a strategic HR team.
2. It allows companies to stay competitive
By hiring and developing talented employees, your organization becomes stronger and
better prepared to face changes and risks.
3. It drives innovation
New technologies are always hitting the scene, whatever your industry. Talented
employees are able to find ways to harness the capabilities of new tools and solve
problems or come up with original ideas.
4. It helps form productive teams
The appropriate talent management strategy will allow you to form a more productive
team. This is far more useful than just having a bunch of creative and talented people in
your organization.
5. It decreases turnover
When employees feel valued at a company, when they know they will have plenty of
opportunities to grow in the business, they are less likely to seek work elsewhere.
6. It leads to strong employer branding
Talent management brands your company as an employer. This helps you to attract the
best candidates for future hires.
7. It motivates others to grow
Having inspiring talent on your team will motivate other employees and help them grow.

Talent Management Model

Whereas there is no standardized model for talent management, some HR professionals

have proposed excellent models that any company can use.
However you choose to develop your model, it must include the following.
1. Planning
Planning aligns your talent management model in line with the overall goals of your
organization.
Only with the correct planning can you ensure that you seek talent with the right skills
and experience. In addition, it assesses current employees to see what is working well for
the company.
For instance, if employees with certain characteristics tend to stay at the organization for
longer, you should plan to hire more workers like them.
2. Attracting
It is not always as simple as when one person leaves the company, you start a search for
someone else to fill the role.
For instance, your needs may change or employees may take on new responsibilities.
Talent management ensures that you always have sufficient staff to carry out all your
operations and prevent heavy workloads that could cause demotivation.
The right strategy will attract just the kind of workers you want at your business. Such
hires will be driven, skilled, and seeking to advance within the company.
Attracting talent is all about branding your company as an employer. You’ll need to find
ways to increase visibility in ways that allow you to present company as a best place to
work. The main consideration here is to make your business more approachable.
Even if you choose not to hire someone for a particular position, you still need to create a
positive experience. This will give you the opportunity to hire these candidates for other
jobs or use them as ambassadors to acquire other talent.
3. Developing
The development part of the model involves taking steps to help talent grow within the
company.
It should be aligned with the employee development plan and includes identifying roles
where particular employees could move to in the future as well as considering how to
expand workers’ skills and knowledge to fulfill new challenges facing your organization.
Talent management also looks at what will keep employees at your company enthusiastic
and willing to go the extra mile. It is necessary to provide employees with value.
Motivation also requires the correct onboarding — to give new hires a great impression of
your company from the very beginning. This will increase the chance that they stay with
the company and work hard.
4. Retaining
Another purpose of talent management is to keep people at your company for longer.
Employees need to continue feeling that the company is an enjoyable, meaningful place
to work.
Through training and other types of engagement, employees have the chance to create a
career without leaving the company. You may achieve this by focusing on compensation
(monetary and otherwise) as well as company culture.
5. Transitioning
After hiring and developing their skills, you need to plan for employees’ transitions.
Your aim at this stage is to keep their knowledge within the company — this is called
knowledge management.
You need to have a plan in place to promote employees or move them to another role,
department, or office. If a worker does decide to leave, you need to know why.

Talent Management Strategy

A talent management strategy is based on the talent management model. It should match
your organization’s goals and clearly define what type of talent you need.
You organize the talent management process based on the talent management strategy.
There are few different types strategies you can choose from.
Strategy #1: Hire Only Top Employees
The advantages of this strategy are obvious:
1. You immediately receive top talent.
2. The employees will perform well and probably reach high performance faster.
3. You are able to grow your company faster.
4. You are more prepared for challenges and risks.
However, there are some disadvantages:
1. It’s expensive, and will cost you even more if you end up needing to hire someone
else.
2. It could be more difficult to retain top talent.
3. The hiring process may take longer, as you’ll probably want to select from a wider
pool of candidates.
4. It can be challenging to manage team of top talent.
5. Having too many top performers on a team can lead to competition and result in
underperformance.
Strategy #2: Hire Promising Specialists and Develop Them
This second option has a couple advantages:
1. You can find talent faster. This may be necessary if you are in urgent need for
talent and have insufficient time to search for top employees.
2. You will likely save money on salaries.
3. The employee has the potential to become a skilled and loyal professional.
4. You can hire two, or even three, promising specialists for the same amount as for
one top performer.
The main disadvantages are:
1. Your company may grow slower.
 2. Compared to top talent, these hires lack of knowledge. This can lead to lower
performance.
3. You may need to hire another specialist if the employee cannot handle the role.
4. It requires a larger investment in development.
5. The strategy may fail entirely and you’ll need to revert to option 1.
Strategy #3: Combine Strategies 1 and 2
This quote describes the strategy best:
"Your team’s strength is not a function of the talent of individual members. It’s a
function of their collaboration, tenacity, and mutual respect."
Finally, the pros of combining the two above are:
1. It gives you the best of both worlds.
2. It also allows you to take advantage of a combination of new hires and existing
talent.
3. Having top talent and potentially good specialists (e.g. young employees) will
help the specialists grow faster and motivate them.
4. It leads to knowledge transfer — top talent can teach other employees.
All the same, there is one con:
1. If you have specific requirements (such as you are in urgent need of growth or if
you are on a tight budget), sticking to a single strategy may be more appropriate.

Building Your Talent Management Strategy

Lastly, before you go ahead and launch your recruitment and talent management strategy,
make sure you include the essential components of a talent management strategy.
1. Know What Is Your Talent Management Strategy Is For
Every organization has its own unique goals. Whether they relate to better performance or
higher revenue, your goals need to be clearly stated and achievable. You also need to
know exactly how employees will play a role in helping you meet your targets.
2. Measure the Results
You need to know how to measure results to see if your strategy is working. Define the
metrics you’ll use and how often you’ll take measurements.
3. Assign Responsibilities
Much of the talent management strategy is down to HR, but other people at your
company will also need to be involved. For instance, C-level executives are responsible
for succession planning.
4. Communicate with Employees
Make sure your employees are clear about where they stand and know what is expected
of them. Talk to them about their career goals to ensure that your company is creating the
right opportunities.
The Talent Management Process
The talent management process is how you organize the management of your human
resources. It is how you choose employees, how you hire them, and how (or if) you train
them, motivate them, fire them, and so on.
The 7 Steps of a Great Talent Management Process
Step 1: Specify What Skills You Need
What is the first step in the talent management process?
Before you can go any further, you must determine what kinds of hires you need and
what requirements they should fill.
Consider if it would be possible to teach existing employees to avoid the need to hire
anyone new.
Step 2: Attract the Right People
There are several stages to attracting talent:
Create targeted advertisements and post them on top job sites — HR branding is helpful
here.
Plan interviews and other means to identify the best person for the job. In addition to
regular questions, consider using personality assessments, references, and tests that
require candidates to perform in real-life situations.
Hire your top choices.
Step 3: Onboard and Organize Work
Help new employees feel orientated by being ready for them as soon as they enter the
company.
Know what tasks you will set them, have training sessions scheduled, and assign current
employees to support new workers settle in.
Step 4: Organize Learning and Development
Remember, it is often easier to develop the skills of your current employees than to hire
new talent.
Plus, even if you do hire top talent, they will likely want to learn something in their new
role.
Plan ways for your workers to learn and grow, such as through conferences, courses, and
a learning management system to create a learning environment.
Step 5: Hold Performance Appraisals
Checking employee performance regularly allows you to see if workers could manage
additional responsibilities.
This could save you hiring new talent and it may help an employee prepare for a
promotion.
Step 6: Strategize to Retain Your Best Talent
Keep employees satisfied at work through promotions, benefits, motivating tactics,
ensuring job satisfaction, and improving company culture.
Step 7: Plan for Successions
Nurture employees for successions, such as for when a senior member of staff retires.
Enable employees to perform to their best through continuous learning opportunities,
including knowledge management.
If an employee decides to leave the company, conduct an exit interview to find out what
went wrong — this will help you prevent the same issue occurring again in the future.
 Performance Management
What Is Performance Management?
Performance management is the process of continuous feedback and communication
between managers and their employees to ensure the achievement of the strategic
objectives of the organization.
The definition of performance management has evolved since it first appeared as a
concept. What was once an annual process is now transitioning to continuous
performance management. The goal is to ensure that employees are performing efficiently
throughout the year, and in the process, address any issues that may arise along the way
that affect employee performance.
This is the current state of performance management. However, it doesn’t have to be that
way. Automation now plays a significant role in performance management, and many of
the processes involved can be streamlined so that employee performance can be
strategically managed. This is the age of continuous performance management,
Performance management differs from talent management in that the latter is a set of
initiatives taken to engage employees to retain them. Performance management, on the
other hand, is an initiative that guides employees towards establishing and achieving their
goals in alignment with the organization’s immediate and overarching goals.
Why is performance management important?
1. Performance management supplements the annual performance review. This
prepares both employees and managers about what to expect during the annual appraisal.
It keeps both the manager and the employee in the loop about ongoing changes to the
performance management process, what both can do to streamline it, and how
performance overall can be improved.
2. To employees, continuous performance management indicates that managers
value them. Employees believe that their managers are interested in their work and care
about their goals and any issues they may face in the course of their job. They also
become more open to receiving constructive feedback.
The Performance Management Cycle
The performance management process or cycle is a series of five key steps. These steps
are imperative, regardless of how often you review employee performance.
1. Planning
This stage entails setting employees’ goals and communicating these goals with them.
While these goals should be disclosed in the job description to attract quality candidates,
they should be communicated once again when the candidate becomes a new hire.
Depending on the performance management process in your organization, you may want
to assign a percentage to each of these goals to be able to evaluate their achievement.
2. Monitoring
In this phase, managers are required to monitor the employees performance on the goal.
This is where continuous performance management comes into the picture. With the right
performance management software, you can track your teams performance in real-time
and modify and correct course whenever required.
3. Developing
This phase includes using the data obtained during the monitoring phase to improve the
performance of employees. It may require suggesting refresher courses, providing an
assignment that helps them improve their knowledge and performance on the job, or
altering the course of employee development to enhance performance or sustain
excellence.
4. Rating
Each employees performance must be rated periodically and then at the time of the
performance appraisal. Ratings are essential to identify the state of employee performance
and implement changes accordingly. Both peers and managers can provide these ratings
for 360-degree feedback.
5. Rewarding
Recognizing and rewarding good performance is essential to the performance
management process, as well as an important part of employee engagement. You can do
this with a simple thank you, social recognition, or a full-scale employee rewards
program that regularly recognizes and rewards excellent performance in the organization.
How to Improve the Performance Management Process
To improve the performance management process, ask the following questions:
1. What does your workforce want from performance management?
A performance management program can either help or hinder your workforce. However,
before you can make any practical changes to your current processes and tools, you need
to understand what isnt working and why. You also need to take the time to evaluate what
your employees want out of a performance management program. During this evaluation,
there’s nothing more important than talking to your people. Your employees and
managers likely have some strong opinions that they’ll be more than happy to share with
you. You might be surprised how many of them crave an improved process. The next step
is to convey your findings to decision-makers who can sponsor and drive change in your
organization. Share your internal findings as well as evidence-based research from
experts that show the impact that an improved performance process can have on business
results.
2. Do you deliver continuous performance management?
Employers want their employees to be happy. But happiness isnt necessarily what people
want from their employers. Instead, employees want to feel motivated and understand that
their work matters and why. A performance management experience that delivers value to
employees should focus on increasing motivation. To drive motivation, a performance
management process must include frequent, ongoing conversations between employees
and managers so that goals, progress, and personal achievement remain relevant and top-
of-mind. The content of these conversations is just as relevant as their frequency.
Motivation is tied to a future-focused outlook focused on developmental opportunities.
Managers must authentically engage with employees about their career success, goal
achievement, and alignment of their work to the organization’s top priorities. To be
successful, these frequent conversations should be lightweight and include future-oriented
questions for employees such as: What motivates you? What’s helping you? What do you
need? And HR can support this by coaching managers in giving more productive,
proactive feedback, as well as asking the right questions.
3. Do managers have the tools to manage the performance management process?
Managers are critical to the success of your organization’s performance management
program. They play an outsized role in motivating, engaging, and developing staff. This
makes it essential to ensure managers are trained to give and receive useful feedback and
are coached in the elements of a continuous process. Take time to meet with managers
and train them on your talent management practices so that everyone feels comfortable
having frequent, lightweight conversations. Finally, having the right technology in place
to support continuous performance management is essential. You need HR technology
explicitly designed to help managers and the organization in a continuous process.
Key features of effective performance management software
Any software should be chosen with the following considerations in mind:
1. Customization: It should be customizable to suit your organizations industry and
performance management strategy.
2. Transparency: It should be able to eliminate the confusion that both managers
and their teams experience in the process of performance management.
3. Objectivity: It should be able to offer objective metrics on which managers can
base their performance evaluation.
 4. Frequency: It should allow for real-time, instant feedback and periodic employee
ratings.
Based on these considerations, the ideal performance management tool will have at least
the following features:

Fig 1. The 10 key features of performance management software

1. Dynamic goal-setting: The employees goals should be aligned with the organizations
goals. The solution should allow the option to change the goal as and when needed.
2. Communication on the fly: A good performance management solution provides
interaction between team members and managers effortlessly at any time with an in-built
chat feature. A quick chat with team members or managers can keep communication
transparent and effortless.
3. Scheduling tools: It should allow scheduling for team members to complete tasks, plan
meetings, and collaborate with other team members. This works as an excellent tool for
employees who work out on the field or remotely.
4. Continuous performance evaluation: Managers should be able to set up automated
self-assessment and general evaluation questionnaires delivered in the flow of work
through the PMS. This gives managers a clear view of how employees perceive their
performance on the job and whether they are on track to achieve their and the
organizations goals.
5. Recognition tool: The PMS should have a platform where managers can shout out to
their team members for doing well. Further integration with an email to give direct,
instant feedback is another great feature that can motivate employees and enable positive
employee engagement.
6. 360-degree feedback: Feedback from multiple sources or 360-degree feedback is
essential for effective performance management. It significantly reduces the bias that can
arise from the evaluation of an employee by just one person. The tool should be able to
offer the option of feedback collection from team members, reporting managers, reports,
and peers from other teams.
7. Project performance tracking tools: It should offer tools such as timesheets that help
track how employees use their time, and whether their input matches the expected output
and outcome. Artificial intelligence-powered tools use features such as advanced natural
language processing, which track project-related keywords through email and other
communication to gauge progress on a project. These tools can enable more objective
performance evaluations.
8. Performance comparison: Managers should be able to track the performance of all
employees in their team or those assigned to a specific project. The tool should go further
and be able to generate a performance report automatically, providing data on the metrics
you have customized it to evaluate.
9. Automated reminders and notifications: A gentle nudge to employees/managers to
remind them of deadlines, notifications that indicate progress on a particular project, and
general updates to changes in the process can improve an employees experience with
performance management.
10. Data security: This level of granular data about individual employees should be
safeguarded with a robust firewall in place. Always ensure that any tool you shortlist
offers a robust data security and protection feature.
The gig economy is a relatively small but ever-growing way of earning money. In the
USA, there are approximately 1.6 million gig economy workers - this makes up under 1%
of the US working population. With more and more companies employing this model as
their primary functioning mode, the gig economy is becoming a livelihood for more and
more people around the world.
What Is The Gig Economy?
The gig economy refers to workers who rely on freelance contracts and one-off jobs, as
opposed to a fixed salary position with one company. Many musicians and artists use this
mode of working alongside other workers, such as mechanics, contractors, taxi drivers,
and more.
The word “gig” refers to the transient nature of the job itself.
Gig Economy Examples
The gig economy definition encompasses all sorts of contingent work arrangements, for
example:
 Freelancers
 Consultants
 Independent contractors and professionals
 Temps (temporary contract workers)
The Pros and Cons of The Gig Economy for Companies
There are both positive and negative points for using the gig economy as a company
owner.
 Pros:
 No fixed salary. Having employees on a fixed salary means that you are required
to pay holidays, sick pay, and notice period salaries. This is inevitably expensive
for the business. Using zero-hour contracts avoids this.
 Lots of flexible employees. Having a vast number of flexible employees means
you are less likely to rely on a few people. This means that no matter what the job
is, or where it is located, you are likely to have it covered by one of your many
workers.

Cons.
 Workers are not as invested. Because they are ‘casual’ workers, employees are
not loyal to your company and can leave at any time. In addition, gig work can
reduce the workers’ incentive to do a great job, because if anything comes up,
they can easily switch to another company.
 Ethical issues. Ethically, the gig economy has come into question many times. If
you are a company that thrives on an ethical reputation, be careful with the gig
economy. Due to the fact that employment is casual and no benefits are given to
the employees, you can run into ethical dilemmas when it comes to the treatment
of workers.
The Pros and Cons of the Gig Economy For Workers
Pros:
 Flexible work. For those with complex and fluctuating needs, such as students, those
with young families, and those with health problems, this can be a great way to work.
Without the pressure of a strict routine, you can decide when you work, and how
much. This creates freedom to take care of dependants in your life, and also to take
care of your own health and wellbeing.
 Low commitment. If you find yourself disagreeing with the work you are doing, or
you have a bad relationship with your chosen company, it is very easy to leave and
take up employment elsewhere.
 Remote working. If you’re not interested in office life, the gig economy might be for
you. Working as a delivery driver, a contractor, or similar, you can have the freedom
to travel around during your day and never get bored of sitting at a desk.
Cons:
 H
‍ igh stress. With no fixed income, the gig economy can be stressful. If it’s difficult
to find work, you might constantly be searching for work where there is none. This
can lead to a decrease in your monthly income, and impact you and your family.
 No safety net. Without things like healthcare benefits and fixed contracts, it can be
difficult to feel safe in the gig economy. If something goes wrong or a company cuts
down their numbers, you can be left jobless at the drop of a hat.
 Taxes. Seeing as employers do not pay your income tax on your behalf, you pay your
own. Be careful not to run into issues with working out your tax.
Industries That Hire Remote Freelancers and Gig Economy Jobs
Here are seven career categories that hire for freelance and gig economy jobs that you can do
remotely.
Computer & IT
The Computer & IT category covers a broad range of jobs. You can find postings in
everything from computer repair to internet security.
Recent freelance computer & IT jobs:
 Information Security Engineer
 Network Analyst
 Linux Middleware Administrator
Writing
Writers produce a variety of written materials for various audiences. This can range from
corporate reports for the executive suite to blog posts and web content.
Recent freelance writing jobs:
 Content Writer, Project Manager
 Resume Writer
 Senior UX Copywriter
Software Development
Software developers design and test the software that runs computers, apps, and even online
interactive games.
Recent freelance software development jobs:
 DevOps Engineer
 Game Engineer
 User Experience – User Interface Designer
Accounting and Finance
Careers in accounting and finance include all things money-related. Jobs can include
handling accounts payables and receivables, tax return preparation, or financial forecasting.
Recent freelance accounting and finance jobs:
  Mortgage Representative
 Specialist
 Accounting Assistant
Project Management
Project managers coordinate projects from start to finish. This can include working with
internal and external vendors, managing the budget, and dealing with delays.

Recent freelance project management jobs:

 Epic Management Project Manager
 Project Manager
 Office Manager
Administrative
Administrative professionals provide support for executives, including handling incoming
and outgoing communications, managing projects, and scheduling travel.
Recent freelance administrative jobs:
 Virtual Assistant
 Pharmacy Technician
 Design Administrative Assistant
Education and Training
As an educator or trainer, you’ll help teach people new skills. You can work as a corporate
trainer, part-time professor, coach, tutor, or instructor.
Recent freelance education and training jobs:
 Instructional Designer
 IELTS Tutor
 High School Teacher
How the Gig Economy Will Impact HR in 2020 and Beyond
As we enter a new decade, business leaders who do not have insights into trends related to
self-employed workers will do so at their peril: More than 60% of work is now done by gig
workers. The overall size of the gig workforce will only increase as more people seek self-
employment—both out of necessity and by choice—and employers choose to hire more
people who are off the balance sheet.
So even if your organization is not engaging a significant number of gig workers today,
chances are good this will change in the near future.
For employers, making decisions at “the speed of people” can be challenging–promotions,
turnover, and other job changes don’t fall into neat quarterly cycles. And if that’s not hard
enough, with the rise of gig work, it’s only going to get trickier.
Not all your gig worker data is in your core HR systems, it’s constantly changing, messy info,
no connection to business outcome data. If a significant portion of your workers are
contingent, this makes it difficult to answer questions like–do we have the right/enough
people to achieve our business goals? Is our high turnover rate a “bad” thing–or is it just a
benign result from contracts ending as planned?

Gig Work is Here to Stay: Implications for HR

The rise of gig work means the focus for HR will be finding tools to bring together the talent
lifecycle across all the roles in your business (contingent and regular workers included)
together with organizational effectiveness to understand and optimize structure and plan.
Other implications for HR include:
 The redefinition of roles. The staying power of the gig economy means it’s time to
rethink how work gets done. Freelancers may not fit precisely into the whole job of a
caregiver or retail sales associate, but the opportunities to find talent become clearer
when you see work as a series of tasks that can be shared, rather than a single job
completed by one person.
 Evaluation of gig worker impact. Unlike traditional employees, systems that track a
freelancer’s employee lifecycle are relatively new. In order to measure the impact
these kinds of workers have on the business, it’s essential to connect this data to your
other workforce systems, so you can spot issues, trends, and opportunities.
 Updating traditional labor policies to incorporate freelancers. As gig work
becomes more deeply rooted in hourly labor, HR will need to lead the charge in
creating policies that provide proper benefits, rights, and protections to these workers.
Clearly, finding the optimal mix of regular employees and alternative workers will be a
critical task for HR leaders over the next decade. Follow these tips to set your organization up
for success:
Deconstruct jobs in your organization.
 To see where you can tap freelance platforms to alleviate work shortages, start by
deconstructing the job into its tasks, advises Dr. John Boudreau, professor and
research director at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of
Business and Center for Effective Organizations.
 This exercise will lead you to re-evaluate not just the nature of that job and the kind of
talent needed to accomplish it, but the different types of arrangements—including
contracts, gigs, alliances, volunteers, automation, etc—that can be used to create a
more fulfilling career path for all involved.
Build in measurement systems to better analyze gig work.
 When gig work data is combined with multi-dimensional analysis that combines
information from several systems, you gain powerful and actionable answers that will
 help you design the best programs for all your employees—and make a better impact
on business goals.
 Look for robust analytics platforms have insight and value paths for contingent labor
analysis, hourly, seasonal workers, contractors, etc. and connection points to business
outcomes to understand impact. They can bring together the talent lifecycle across all
the roles in your business, together with organizational effectiveness to understand
and optimize structure and plan.

Pilot a test program.

 If you’re ready to try incorporating gig work into your labor force, it’s important to
conduct your due diligence. Once you know the scope of your test project, involve
your partners in Legal, Compliance, IT, and Finance to find out what infrastructure
and policies should be in place for gig workers to come in and accomplish the
necessary tasks.