Talent is almost always the precursor to real business success. An organization’s talent is widely considered its top competitive differentiator, assisting businesses with initiating new ideas and strategies, and, ensuring success in the face of heightened competition and globalization. Nearly 75% of HR and procurement executives have taken a talent-based approach towards work optimization, which essentially entails prioritizing workers, skillsets, and expertise ahead of other historical areas (such as costs and budgets).
As discussed in Ardent’s research, the realm of “agility” has cascaded into the way businesses structure their workforces. In 2020 and beyond, businesses will continue to strive for an agile and intelligent workforce that has the capability to address shifting market pressures and global challenges with top-tier, on-demand skillsets and expertise. As focus on the Future of Work becomes clearer, the shifts happening in today’s workforce emerge as the key elements to work optimization and the achievement of business agility.
Across the wide spectrum of “talent,” there are several facets driving the Future of Work:
- Transformation of the worker “experience.” The “employee lifecycle” has come full circle; no longer are professionals beholden to traditional employment structures. On top of record-low unemployment rates, more and more businesses are finding that there is a real “war for talent” occurring and they must be prepared to fight it. The reality today is that more individuals have an ability to do what they want from a career orientation. This places more emphasis on the “talent experience,” an amalgamation of the employee experience and overall engagement that strengthens the day-to-day ways that all types of talent work within their respective organizations (or on their respective projects). Since talent is a major competitive differentiator; worker experience is paramount to how businesses continue to attract the best available talent and derive the most from it.
- Advances in talent acquisition. In the context of talent, “agility” generally boils down to on-demand access to, well, everything. Pursuing an agile workforce promotes real-time access to talent via digital staffing providers (including talent marketplaces). This major progression in talent acquisition technology has allowed businesses to tap into talent in near real-time. Too, by embracing the so-called Gig Economy, more and more businesses understand that the independent professionals seeking “side hustles” can have an impact on critical projects and business objectives. What were once considered “alternative” work arrangements have become a standard means of getting work done today. As the Future of Work progresses, businesses will account for this shift and regularly rethink and restructure their talent acquisition strategies.
- A new way of monitoring the effectiveness of talent. While a worker’s experience is a key factor in the talent engagement processes, the emergence of “soft skills” such as problem-solving, positivity, and critical thinking have become crucial factors in how enterprises monitor the effectiveness of its talent pool. And as businesses shift towards more project-based work, non-employee talent will become more critical to the average organization. This has resulted in organizations placing more emphasis on how workers (both FTEs and contingent labor) perform within specific projects/initiatives as a means of measuring true aptitude.
- Diversity as a core focus. Being open and inclusive of new voices, regardless of race, gender, or culture, is one of the best possible means for a company to expand the overall depth of its talent pool. The future success of any business is incumbent upon its ability to find, engage, source, and hire voices from all backgrounds and cultures. To better spark innovation, businesses should remove bias from their talent acquisition efforts as a means of boosting diverse hiring efforts, and, ultimately, ensuring that the depth of the overall talent pool is not limited in any capacity.
- The next generation of skills. Innovation is not just the bridge to the future, but also a pure reflection of how organizations must structure their workforces to account for work optimization advancements. As AI, blockchain, machine learning, and newer solutions become bigger pieces of the corporate technological architecture, it will be critical for businesses to have access to the specialized skillsets that are necessary in implementing and utilizing these solutions. The ability to reskill and upskill will be crucial for the future state of talent in businesses well into the next decade.
It is important to note that the generational shifts happening in the world of talent play critical roles in the Future of Work. As Baby Boomers (and Gen-Xers) exit the workforce, younger groups like millennials and Gen Z will bring their respective characteristics to the workforce. This interesting, generation-led shift is another indicator of the importance of talent in the Future of Work movement.
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