Talent Management: Recruitment is the process of having the right person, in the right place, at the right time and it is crucial to organisational performance. According to a report from Oxford Economics the cost to employers of replacing a single member of staff is at least £30,000, so you need to get this right!  Ensuring your talent management strategy is up to scratch is vital for securing the correct candidates and ensuring they are respected and treated well in your organisation.

The last thing you want is to lose your top talent to other companies who may be offering a better work package and benefits.

In a recent survey Deloitte, HSBC, BT and Tesco, as well as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, were among 127 employers to reveal that more than half were having difficulty filling vacancies and most will spend more on training to bring recruits up to standard. Therefore it is important that the top talent you have within your organisation are retained and are there to stay!

It is essential to understand exactly what Talent is and how Talent Management is being used today in organisations. According to the CIPD these are defined as:

• Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential.
• Talent management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation

Many organisations are now focusing on evaluating their staff members; from this are able to develop their strengths and create training programmes tailored to each individual. The process is an ongoing loop from attracting, developing, managing, tracking and evaluating talent management – each part of this process in equally important in building a planned strategy to effectively measure the return on investment.

Within the managing talent category sits retention interviews, which are a one-on-one structured discussion between an interviewer (this may be a hiring manager, a member of HR or an impartial third party) and an employee within their employment. These interviews identify and reinforce the factors that might drive an employee to stay.

Retention or ‘stay’ interviews are a great way to find out what’s working well in your business and what might not be working effectively.

So the question is what works well and what can you do to ‘give back’ to your talented employees? Most businesses now offer flexibility, up front about working hours, actively promote good morale and offer plenty of training and development opportunities. Also, bonus plans are a great way to inspire and motive employees whilst rewarding hard workers and creating an overall positive office moral. According to Hubspot, innovative companies are now coming up with the idea that employees can suggest their own incentives allowing them to work towards rewards they want. Guess you need to get your thinking caps on!

Overall, you need to be forward thinking about talent management to ensure that your talent strategies contribute to your bottom line!

Written by Josephine Lester, Marketing Executive