How the COVID Pandemic Changed Talent Management Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended talent management strategy and changed how companies attract, retain and develop employees. 

Companies are transforming the office by offering workplace flexibility, implementing new methods for managing employees remotely, providing skills training and focusing more on the well-being of employees. Because of the current talent shortage, workers are in the unique position to pick and choose which company they want to work for. 

What was once an organization-driven market is now a candidate-driven market, says Varun Sachdeva, APAC Recruitment & Business Leader at NLB Services, a workforce solutions provider.

“It is the right opportunity for workers at this point,” he says. “However, there has to be a balanced approach where it’s a win-win for employees, as well as employers. When we talk about a working relationship, if it is only one-sided where employees are dictating their terms, I don’t think that’s a sustainable model. We need to get to a level where the employers understand what the employees are looking for and vice versa.”

The Reimagined Workplace 

All in-person, 9 to 5 workplaces are no longer the norm. Before COVID-19, 8% of people worked exclusively from home, compared to 70% of people working from home as of May 2020.

Hybrid work is also changing office environments. As of Feb 2022, 42% of workers had a hybrid schedule, compared to about a third of workers at the beginning of the pandemic. Gallup predicts that the changes will result in a doubling of the number of people who will be working remotely for at least part of their week.  

“Some jobs you can do remotely, some jobs you cannot,” says Ibraiz Tarique, Chair of the Department of Management and Management Science and Professor of Human Resources and Talent Management at Pace University. “The blend of that hybrid work will depend on the type of job, type of organization, type of employee.”

While workers are in favor of hybrid-remote work, 50% of leaders say their company already mandates or is planning to mandate employees to return to in-person work full-time in the next year. Citigroup, American Express and BNY Mellon are among the companies that had their workers return to the office, for at least part of the week.  

“At the end of the day, they have to make money and be profitable the way they are structured,” says Tarique. “They are adapting, they’re redesigning jobs and they’re offering remote work where it’s necessary, but there are boundaries. There are CEOs who said if you don’t show up for work, you should resign. There’s a meaning behind those statements.”

Workers Have More Control

The pain of the Great Resignation is real and companies are adapting to meet workers’ needs. 

Some companies are addressing the talent shortage by dropping their job requirements for four-year college degrees and instead focusing on skills. This could potentially open an additional 1.4 million jobs for workers over the next five years, according to the Burning Glass Institute, an employment data research firm. 

“The employee engagement experience and experience during the evaluation process and the recruitment process matters a lot because candidates have so many opportunities,” says Sachdeva. “Whosoever is giving them the right experience and the right engagement, they are going after those organizations.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, flexible work arrangements, mental health support and child care assistance were the order of the day. Now, because of the shrinking labor pool, companies are getting more creative in what they offer workers. Signing bonuses, seasonal housing and college degrees for the entire family are among the perks being offered, according to Safeguard Global.

“I see extremely large talent shortages in your top performers, your high potentials,” says Tarique. “When they go in, they control the conversation and companies are willing to give whatever they can. Right now, in the talent shortage context, retention becomes key.”

While more workers are in the driver’s seat, Tarique has this warning – be careful what you ask for.  

“If you force your companies to redesign for remote, they can take work and talent to other countries,” he says. “Companies have realized that if there’s talent in Spain, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Australia – let’s take the work and find that talent there.”  

The Evolution of Performance Management  

As companies try to adapt to this new world of work, leaders are leaning on technology to help improve talent management and elevate the process to performance enablement. 

With frequent conversations and feedback and a goal-based approach to performance measurement and career planning – performance enablement is an ongoing process where managers can help their employees develop and grow.  

Non-manufacturing leaders at Wolfspeed, who worked in the office before the pandemic, experienced a dramatic shift in how they manage their teams virtually, says Shawnice Meador, Senior Director, Global Talent Management at the semiconductor developer.  

“They needed to quickly adopt the use of technology and webcams to continue to foster collaboration, make business decisions and manage the performance of their employees,” she says. “Informal chats in the hallway became moot, and the need to schedule frequent virtual one-on-ones and team meetings became imperative.”

The pandemic has also forced companies to change their approach to employee development. 

“Prior to the pandemic, all of our development programs were in person,” says Meador. “Wolfspeed quickly implemented a self-paced online learning solution and created engaging workshops and courses using virtual functionality like breakout rooms and polling.”

In this new world of work, leaders need to be ready to manage employees in any environment – onsite, remote or hybrid. According to Gallup’s research, working from home can either engage or disengage employees – it all depends on how their leaders manage their teams. 

Importance of Reskilling & Training  

Nine in ten executives and managers believe their organizations currently experience skill gaps or expect gaps to develop within the next five years, according to a 2020 McKinsey & Company study. 

“Many of the skills that were sought for a good job in 2018 may not be applicable in 2022 and beyond,” says Sachdeva. “Technology is constantly changing.” 

Sixty-two percent of HR directors believe that workers will need to upskill at least once a year to remain competitive in the labor market. 

“I see a lot of this realization by managers that they will not be able to find talent and the skill that they’re looking for, so the conversation moves to development,” says Tarique. “They look internally, so there’s a lot of focus on learning. Individuals are getting the work environment they want. The people who have the motivation to learn, now have the opportunity to learn.”

Sachdeva says learning new technologies can ensure that employees don’t become obsolete, but it can also benefit workers’ current and future employers.

“It’s a win-win situation if an organization is able to draft a well-defined training program for every level within the organization,” he says. “They might not have to depend too much on hiring the talent laterally. They can focus on building the talent internally and then getting the work delivered.”

Focus on Employee Wellbeing 

More than three-quarters of workers are experiencing stress and burnout and it’s the top concern for their well-being at work. The rise in remote work has also increased feelings of being disconnected from colleagues, leading to anxiety and depression.

“You need people to talk to each other, learn from each other,” says Tarique. “You cannot have people become lonely at work. It has these unintended consequences to the organization and societies and countries as a whole.”

WEBINAR: Mental Health: Redefining Wellbeing in the Workplace 

Companies are responding to the rise in stress and the need for workers to connect with their colleagues by adding employee resource groups (ERGs) and increasing mental health offerings. 

During the pandemic, Wolfspeed expanded its ERGs from one to six, including a Black, Hispanic, Latinx group formed after the murder of George Floyd and a mental health allies affinity group. 

“All six of our current ERGs at Wolfspeed have grown and thrived throughout the pandemic, and have strengthened our sense of community and our ability to advance our DEI efforts globally,” says Meador. 

Wolfspeed also added new mental wellness benefits at no additional cost for U.S.-based employees and their dependents, “including therapy, wellness exercise programs, and access to psychiatrists, among others,” Meador says. 

Tarique says the last two years have taken a toll on the mental health of employees. A key component of an effective talent management strategy will be teaching managers how to be supportive of the well-being of their workers. 

“They have to be more flexible,” he says. “They have to be good listeners. They have to design those practices and be more empathetic.”

 

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