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Rare is the progressive company of today where senior executives do not recognize the need for skills beyond just technology or market trends and statistics. It is important, of course, to know about the progress of artificial intelligence (AI), but it is also equally important to be someone with empathy and understanding.
In the past year, the top talent management trend is the fact that it is now the topmost global competency for the C-suite. Talent is no longer a mere contributory function but has a critical role to play in the strategy and success of the business.
In this scenario, what skills do CEOs believe to be the most important?
According to 473 CEOs polled by Gartner to understand their list of the top four organizational competencies needed to excel at strategy delivery, the results are quite telling: 18% of them ranked Talent Management skills at the top, while the next three competencies are technology-oriented and fall outside the comfort zone of most CHROs.
What affected the role of Talent Management in the future of work? While disruptive technologies diverted the global skill trajectory to an entirely uncharted path, growing public consciousness placed fresh societal demands on the profit-making enterprises. The existing workforce moved closer to the departure lines and the new workforce braced for greater challenges. This new generation of workers arrived with offbeat expectations and compositions, which HR professionals need to take note of. Innovation became the norm and new business models demanded newer skills and tasks to function.
The following forces play a key role in shaping the future of work:
- Disruption of traditional tasks
- The requirement for skills for the future
- New business models
- Distributed workforces
- Changing business models
- New societal expectations
While the Talent Management Institute (TMI) observed an overall 200% increase in the rise of Talent Management profiles worldwide, most of these profiles were hastily filled and by Talent Management professionals with generic skills. Organizations are waking up to the reality that they cannot thrive or even survive without Talent Managers.
Another key Talent Management trend was a major rise in senior-level job roles in Talent Management. The openings for Talent Management Coordinator rose by 372% – the highest – while even for the lowest position i.e. Talent Management Managers, the number of openings went up by 70%.
There was a rise in Talent Management hiring across the world. The US still held the top spot with 54% of overall openings for Talent Management professionals. However, this number dropped from 63% of the previous year as hiring increased substantially in other parts of the world. The lowest shares belonged to Germany, China, Brazil, and France, at 2% each. Brazil, France, Netherlands, Australia, and Germany are the new entrants in the list.
Salaries too saw a significant boost. The most prominent increase was observed in the hikes offered to Talent Management Managers, who received a 66% increase. This was followed by an increase in the salaries of Talent Manager Partners, which rose by 33%. Right at the top i.e. for Chief Talent Officers, the salary increase stood at 26%. The average increase in salary for all profiles was 23%.
So what is the way forward for HR professionals? In 2019, they battled digital transformation, a multi-generational workforce, changing company culture, employee wellness and talent automation challenges in 2019. These challenges unveiled new priorities for 2020, the top ones being:
- Establishing employee workplace rights
- Corporate social responsibility
- Building an overall human experience
- Improving engagement and productivity
- Introducing flexibility
- Using data and analytics
- Introducing peer success initiatives
With the changing nature of work, demand for skills changed, too. These seven skills gained the most traction and will generate great appeal in the days to come:
- Predictive data analytics
- Digital HR
- Digital employability
- Technology for collaboration
- Personalized employment
- Improved agility
- Organizational development
When it comes to industries that will employ the most Talent Management professionals, Human Resources and Information Technology will take the lead. The overall share of HR might drop from 52% in 2019, although this might be boosted by an added 3% in staffing and recruiting that’s likely to move from 13% in 2019 to 16% in 2020. Financial services, management consulting, hospitals and healthcare, and education management are likely to see a minor boost.
For more interesting facts to help you in planning your Talent Management needs in 2020 and ahead, download the TMI factsheet “Talent Management: Facts for Planning 2020 & Beyond“.
