Simply, talent mobility is optimizing the current pool of talent and the ability to develop the skills of the workforce to be able to move up the ladder, adapt to challenges diagonally or in fact, relocate to a different office without having the need to rehire or dealing with the culture shock. Further, it’s not only a beneficial to the company but also a great opportunity for the employees to expand their skill set, get enhanced exposure, flexibility and be nimbler to align with the dynamically evolving industry.
What are some of the benefits of talent mobility?
1. Avoiding Excessive Turnover Costs
When a good resource or an employee quits, we only see calculate the cost of hiring replacement, but it’s not just limited to that. It also entails the cost of lost productivity, the cost of training, the strength of that employee. As per a study in LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2020 report, 41% of the employees would stick longer at companies that do internal recruiting as compared to those who don’t.
2. Increased Employee Engagement
Avoiding the attrition rate is inevitable and that much more important to work on as a team. To retain good talent means providing the talent new encouragement, new goals, new opportunities to grow & learn. This also includes conducting a proper skill analysis and building on lacking competencies. As per McKinsey’s report in 2021, not feeling valued in the team and not feeling a sense of belonging were the major reasons for employees quitting. Investing in talent mobility shall do the trick! Because when the employees feel the company is investing in their needs and growth, they wouldn’t feel disengaged leading to enhanced productivity.
3. Be ready to go Global
This is probably not discussed enough but its very important to realize that the ability to go global doesn’t stem from having an established legacy or a brand but the agility to be able to cater to the demands. It’s about having the correct pool of talent that’s ready for any disruptions erupting in the industry. Obviously, the departments cannot work in silos for this to work. There’s something called, ‘Build, Buy or Borrow’ – investing in technology & making efforts to having a ready database or pipelines of company’s talent, both internal and external to know where we stand really in terms of talent potential. So, when the time comes, the organization is not dependent on talent acquisition but be strategic about it, save time, effort and additional costs by relying on their pipeline first.
ESG is the Future of Global Mobility
If you’re an individual with Internet, you would have come across words & discussions around climate change, social issues and at least, purpose! Especially post-pandemic because that’s literally the discovery of the decade; having purpose at the core of your business strategy. ESG is literally companies being better, more responsible, ethical because employees prefer to work with more purpose-driven companies. PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2021 states that 75% of employees said they wanted to work for an organisation that makes a positive contribution to society. Therefore, putting ESG at the forefront of your company’s policy is imperative because this generates more value & attracts future talent and there are numerous ways to optimally capitalize ESG goals:
● One of the major areas it may affect is the option to have hybrid work option, which helps in reducing daily commute, aligning on replacing air travels when required etc.
● By investing in date & technology, companies can better identify the opportunities if they align the current discussions around ESG such as carbon footprint, gender inequity, privacy etc and employee’s preparedness to come through the needs. This helps the business to have right people be at the right place & time.
In nutshell
Being flexible isn’t about having recreational spaces in offices, it’s about businesses being prepared to rewire and evolve as per the industry’s dynamicity. It’s about using technology optimally, knowing the importance of retaining talent, in having ready pipelines and further, knowing that external partners are just as important as internal people because when the need so arises, the mark of a good HR team is to know exactly where their strengths lie. To be able to nimbly align the requirements as per the available skill-pool and how best to capitalize on them in the changing world needs. Basically, to invest in robust global mobility practices.
