Taleo has released findings of a new research report examining how ready businesses and HR are to adapt to changing conditions. The findings show a worrying lack of talent visibility among UK companies as well as exploring some of the skills issues that are concerning businesses post-recession.
The Workplace Change Report surveyed UK HR managers to assess their organisations’ ability to adapt to changing conditions over the next 12-18 months, a period likely to see substantial shifts in the country’s political, economic and business conditions. The research found that many businesses are lacking the workforce visibility to effect business change, with just 35% of respondents ‘very confident’ of their ability to redeploy talent within the business. 48% of HR managers said that the one thing that would help them effect change within the company is ‘better visibility of employee skills’.
This lack of visibility into the skills already held within the business is a significant barrier to HR achieving its top priority; retaining top performers. 47% of respondents listed retention as their organisation’s top talent priority at the moment.
More positively, there are signs that succession planning is being recognised as key to employee retention. 62% have succession planning processes in place to develop future leaders, with a majority (54%) of respondents confident that their next senior hire will come from within the current workforce.
“It is clear from our research that there is a significant need within British businesses for greater insight into their existing workforce,” comments Alice Snell, vice president, Taleo Research. “This visibility is essential if HR or business managers are to adapt their organisations to changing circumstances and conditions. It is only by knowing what skills and experiences they already have within the workforce that HR can redeploy talent effectively and identify potential areas of weakness.”
The Workplace Change Report also investigated HR’s confidence in the economic recovery and skills that are likely to be in demand post-recession. The research found that a large majority (79%) of HR teams are confident that the UK economy will improve over the next year. However, 64% of respondents see the economy as the biggest challenge facing the UK right now, indicating that there is still some way to go before economic confidence is restored.
Alice Snell continues, “As the economic recovery continues, businesses will need to get the most from their current workforce and ensure talent is placed where it can be most effective. Management insight is an absolutely vital element of this. Without a high level of visibility into each employee’s skills, HR and management’s ability to effect business change is likely to be severely compromised. The fact that just 40% of companies have a unified technology platform in place to manage talent processes explains why workforce visibility is lacking. Without a single system to track employee skills and make information on them accessible, businesses will always struggle to provide the insight that really adds business value.”
