Talent Tracker

Employees are an organisation’s greatest asset. Yet many companies are not sufficiently equipped with an efficient talent management process that tracks employee performance and progress.

According to the 2011–2012 HR Service Delivery and Technology Research Report by Towers Watson, only a third of responding organisations have a clearly articulated succession plan, while 57% are actively working to develop one.

With economic uncertainty in Europe and North America, every Chief Experience Officer (CXO) will be challenged to do more with less, says Gary Messer, President for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa NorthgateArinso. For this to work, organisations must understand the talent at hand and how best to leverage associates into roles that are not only challenging, attractive and rewarding but are also roles that they can be successful in, he says.

This is where talent management software can help, as it provides HR with a clear overview of its existing talent, training gaps and top performers that could possibly be groomed for leadership. It allows HR to focus on the big picture without the need to rely on separate silos of offline information spread across the organisation. “Trying to drive control of your talent management from spread sheets, email systems and clunky databases is messy and inefficient,” says Matt Allanson, Sales Director, HiringBoss. “Generally, this leads to communication and decision blockages. With a good system, nothing gets left behind.”

According to the Towers Watson report, talent management technology is enabling HR “to deliver a more integrated experience for employees and managers as it takes a more holistic and connected view of various talent management programs.”

Succession planning

The quarterly labour market report released by the Ministry of Manpower in September revealed that it is still a job seeker’s market, with a healthy number of vacancies. Employees who see a long-term future with an organisation are less likely to jump ship in times like these. This makes succession planning a critical practice for all organisations.

According to Messer, “we hear of million-dollar contracts being signed to safeguard systems, yet when it comes down to an organisation’s key asset, succession plans are often seen as a necessary evil rather than a strategic conversation. Organisations that do not have a Plan B run the risk of failing to achieve their corporate goals.”

How many times has the departure of an employee in your organisation resulted in a reshuffling of roles and responsibilities? “A single, key departure could result in a chain reaction of events that could force the leadership of an organisation to lose focus on the job at hand,” says Messer. Managers need to act as scouts to identify possible future leaders, but not all managers have that innate gift, he adds.

By giving insights into the future, talent management software enables managers to be proactive rather than reactive, says Cher Chan, Head of Field Marketing, APAC, Lumesse. A staff-self-service system, for example, is an online platform that allows users in different roles to work with shared data. “Users can extract data across different matrices and produce simultaneous analytics about workforce conditions and even produce forecasts about workforce demand.”

Talent management software also enables HR to collect information about employee mobility, future plans and cross-functional deployment. With this information, HR can help employees create individual career paths.

Boosting learning and development

Organisations with a strong focus on learning often see a strong link between performance management and training. “Talent management software systems greatly support this integration of development planning by linking competencies with performance management, learning management, succession management and career management,” says Chan.

In addition to enabling employees to chart their own career paths, such software allows them to select development activities that match identified training needs, explains Chan. Employees can play a more active role in development planning and the maintaining of professional certification, she adds.

The real-time nature of talent management software also allows HR to monitor an employee’s individual progress against benchmarks. This ensures that employees, managers, HR and training teams understand key performance indicators, says Chan. “Analysis and reports generated in the shared platform immediately allows HR to manage training requirements proactively.” This permits processes to be streamlined, reducing administrative and bottom-line costs.

Without a technology platform, an organisation’s vision to evolve into an employer of choice may be stunted, says Messer. “Talent management software will allow an organisation to not only identify gaps in skills sets, but also recommend, schedule and track both participation and results.”