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Ethos Issue 5, Nov 2008
Global Talent: The War Goes On
Pushp Deep Gupta
In 2008, Hewitt Associates was commissioned by Singapore's Ministry of Manpower to conduct wide-ranging research on current and future talent challenges with a special focus on Asia. In this article, they highlight key findings from their research.
The term “war for talent” was coined by McKinsey & Company in 1997 as part of a research study on how companies manage leadership talent. The war for talent was deemed to be a strategic business challenge and a critical driver of corporate performance. Then, when the dot-com bubble burst and the economy cooled, many assumed the war for talent was over. However, the intense competition for talent persisted.
In today’s global economic environment, it is tempting to reach the same conclusion as was reached at the end of the dot-com era, but we believe that it will be the wrong conclusion to reach, yet again. In this article, we outline major findings from the research and highlight the fact that human resource (HR) and business leaders cannot take it easy—they will continue to face talent challenges, albeit of a newer shape and kind.
GLOBAL TALENT CHALLENGES
Research has confirmed that across the globe, significant demographic,
economic, socio-political, and technological changes are dramatically altering the
workforce and the world of work. Collectively, powerful global forces—such as changes in birth rates, retirement trends, technological advances, rising global competition, more liberal trade and migration policies—are radically altering the way we need to think about our workforce and manage our human capital.
Our research shows that the future of work and the next-generation workforce will be characterised by the following themes:
1. Workforce Diversity: From compliance to inclusion, managing a workforce that varies in age, gender, race, ehtnicity, nationality, religion, lifestyles and life paths is becoming a top priority.
2. Skills Shortages and Surpluses: An ageing workforce, less experienced and smaller younger generations, downsizing, declines in investment in training and education, and poor workforce and succession planning are some reasons contributing to skill shortages as well as surpluses.
3. Global Work and Workforce: Companies and jobs are being re-located across the globe. There is a proliferation of global nomads and student migrants. Electronic immigration is becoming more common, meaning that more workers are able to and are choosing to take jobs in other nations and work virtually.
4. Virtual Work and Workforce: Technology is re-defining the workday and workplace. Remote working and virtual teaming are on the rise. Workers are switching between work and non-work in new ways—for instance, working through their commutes, through their nights, or through their vacations, thanks to technological advancements in communications and IT.
5. Autonomous and Empowered Workers: Workers are focused on individual employability. They seek to be more powerful in the job market and more influential on the job.
6. Changing Employment Contracts and Disengaged Workers: Increased workloads and work hours, compensation cuts, intense productivity pressures and transactional relationships are some reasons for employee disengagement, calling employers to re-visit the overall employment deal.
7. Human Resource Costs and Return on Investment Pressures: The cost of human capital is increasing, while HR budgets are shrinking. Internal HR is under pressure to become a business partner and faces competition from HR consulting and outsourcing providers.
While some of the above global talent challenges, such as skills shortages and the rising cost of human capital are not new, other challenges such as workforce diversity, changing employment contracts and disengaged workers are becoming more prevalent than ever. In our view, organisations will have to take note of the unique effect these challenges will have on their respective efforts to hire and build organisational capability.
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