Whilst other concerns of human capital development may have found band-aid solutions and long-term answers, the war for talent continues to dominate the chart as the most critical of HR challenges in Singapore’s business landscape. Businesses are chasing talent; ideally, it should be the other way round, The ability to attract, grow and retain talent is the most critical HR competence.
Needless to highlight, to cope, creativity and flexibility are essential to talent recruitment and development . Beyond traditional practices, HR could adopt a more dynamic and fluid approach that addresses key questions such as; has job re-design for stretching and growing individuals through their portfolios been considered? Have we strategised on how to balance between promoting internal staff and bringing in fresh blood? Have we tapped on the pool of retired or retiring workers through flexible work schemes? Do we realise ex-employees who are high achievers can be some of the best candidates for critical positions in the company at some point in the future?
Interestingly, at the upper tier of management, talent has become more global. Today, good hires can come from anywhere in the world. On the flip side, with this geographically free reign to hire, comes the free range to roam, thereby making the attraction and retention of talent a constant challenge.
Quite paradoxically, we could say that talent has become global and yet scarce. The sourcing of global talent at higher management levels is essentially pragmatic, but may reinforce a sense of elitism that undermines the morale of those not categorised as “talent”. Compounding the issue is that this perceived lowering of expectations for the “non-talents” may lead to poorer performance. HR professionals should reflect on this dilemma.
Perhaps, we should regard all levels of hires as “talent”, and focus on developing them from latency through effective HR profiling and practises to be the best in their class?

KEY TALENT CHALLENGES

i) War for talent - right talent at the right price at the right time
ii) Building the Leadership bench strength
iii) Multi-generational workforce
iv) Talent retention
v) Managing an aging workforce