Business Leaders Laser Focused On Talent Strategy

Based on the 2019 Talent Trends Report

When we first surveyed C-suite and human capital leaders in 2016, 57 percent said their talent strategy goal was to make a measurable impact on business performance. In our recently-released 2019 Talent Trends Report, we found a remarkable jump in that figure. Today, 83 percent of talent leaders report their main talent goal is to create a measurable business impact. With unemployment at historic lows and a talent-scarce market, it’s clear that organizations unable to attract and retain talent are at an extreme disadvantage.

 

According to our Talent Trends research, in which we surveyed more than 800 human capital and C-suite leaders in 17 countries, business leaders now see opportunities to make changes in their talent landscape.
 

 
We found that CEOs increasingly see the value in having someone by their side, like a Chief Talent Officer, who can offer advice on talent strategies and which skills are available in the geographies targeted for growth. This year’s Talent Trends Report highlighted the following 10 workforce trends that human capital professionals will have to contend with and help their organizations adapt to:

 
With the future of work continually changing, businesses will need to hire for jobs that don’t yet exist, which will of course require some agility. Organizations will need to evolve their hiring paradigms, develop partnerships to create a pipeline of available talent, and even develop custom curriculums with targeted universities for their specific business needs.
 
Employers can also prepare for the future by providing their current workers with learning and development opportunities, and by creating talent communities to nurture a future talent pipeline.
 
While organizations have come a long way in advancing diversity and inclusion, harnessing the power of technology will allow them to go even further. Today’s hiring managers can take advantage of software that helps reduce unconscious bias, provide transparency during every stage of the hiring process, or connect them with community organizations to recruit a more diverse pool of workers. More than a third of our survey respondents said they are already using artificial intelligence and big data to reduce bias, and almost as many are using the same tools to attract a diverse set of candidates. 
 
Until recently, employers faced constraints imposed by conventional views of human capital, siloed approaches to talent, and fear of upsetting the status quo. Now they are boldly using the tools and data available to them to shake up old models and help their organizations prepare for the uncertain future.