Talent Management

The rise of talent management

As organizations plan a return to post-pandemic growth and expansion, talent management has taken center stage as a critical role in helping to meet top business objectives. Digital transformation, hybrid work environments and the “great resignation” have added additional complexity to the task of managing talent. In this environment, many organizations are attempting to rethink the way they handle strategic workforce planning, competency models, skills, profiles, recruiting and retention – and seeking strategic business partners that offer deep expertise, insight and experience.

Based on extensive research of world-class enterprises, The Hackett Group^® provides global companies with consulting services driven by a deep understanding of what it takes to establish and sustain outstanding talent management programs. Our work positions human resources (HR) as a strategic enabler of business performance management, helping the world’s leading HR organizations to define and measure their contributions, and raise their capabilities, performance and value.

Talent priorities

In a Key Issues Study conducted by The Hackett Group, HR executives identified 10 top priorities for talent management in 2022 and beyond.

• Provide strategic advice to the business. As managing talent becomes critical to business success, many HR organizations must upgrade their staff skills and support capabilities to act as strategic advisors to top management.
• Recruit and retain critical skills. In the fallout from the “great resignation,” HR organizations must transform talent acquisition processes, focus on retention and fundamentally rethink employee value propositions.
• Create a high-performing organizational culture. A shift to hybrid work environments requires more focus on developing a collaborative and connected workplace.
• Support growth strategies. As enterprises return to focusing on growth, HR operations must develop talent management strategies and programs to help reach expansion targets.
• Enhanced talent management capabilities. To help drive business performance, HR departments must focus on the capabilities of managers throughout the enterprise.
• Engage employees effectively. To combat record turnover and accommodate changing expectations of workers, HR must take steps to quickly address the concerns and needs of employees.
• Develop top executives. HR must equip managers to guide the organization through disruption caused by digital transformation and evolving business requirements.
• Create a resilient workforce. As workforce burnout creates issues with health, productivity and turnover, HR must help leaders and workers adopt healthy and sustainable work practices.
• Support digital transformation. HR organizations must help manage requirements for leadership, culture, skills development and change management to support the digital transformation initiatives that have been accelerated by the pandemic.
• Meet changing business needs. HR must manage talent to better align skill sets with evolving business requirements.

Talent management with The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group offers strategic HR consulting services that span the entire spectrum of HR transactions, talent management and planning processes. Our teams can help organizations address every HR priority and all the strategic and operational dimensions that impact business performance. From organizational design and HR outsourcing decisions, to business process improvement, technology enablement and information requirements, we provide the right combination of capabilities, resources, and programs to help identify and adopt world-class capabilities that deliver maximum value from talent management functions.

Backed by our unparalleled benchmarking data and best practices repository, as well as experience across the full transformation life cycle, our HR services include:

• Access to HR advisers. Our advisors offer on-demand advice and insights on best practices, data, and recommendations to support the planning and implementation of HR initiatives.
• Best practice research. Our research offers objective, empirically based analysis, and insight into the best practices and performance metrics of world-class companies.
• Facilitated briefings: Our advisor-led briefing sessions can be tailored to address key issues that impact your business. Briefings may cover a wide array of topics – from presentations to key stakeholders to workshops that help accelerate key learnings.
• Performance studies and value accelerators: These resources are a rolling series of topical and process-based surveys on key areas of talent management. Performance studies identify key business issues and emerging best practices that can improve operational excellence and drive competitive advantage. Value accelerators are prepackaged “health check” tools that facilitate rapid assessment of elements of the HR service delivery model, as well as process capability maturity.

Harnessing the megatrends shaping talent management

With help from The Hackett Group, HR organizations can rethink talent management policies and practices to accommodate and take advantage of seven key trends transforming how businesses must manage talent in a rapidly evolving talent landscape.

• Transparency. Digital communications technology has brought the inner workings of organizations to light. The Hackett Group can help companies to develop workplace and talent management policies that can withstand scrutiny when exposed to public view.
• Continuous feedback. Social media and organizational feedback tools have made it easy for every employee to share their opinions about the company and their work environment. Our consultants can help organizations to use this data as a positive force for change and improvement.
• Real-time monitoring. Worker-monitoring tools provide unprecedented details about every second and every movement of employees at work. The Hackett Group can help companies create policies that alleviate potential risks and allow this data to be used to improve productivity.
• Social and embedded learning. Advances in learning technology, such as virtual reality, are poised to revolutionize training and employee education. Our consultants can help organizations select and deploy solutions that offer the most promise.
• Big data and analytics. The Hackett Group can help organizations understand how to use big data analytics capabilities to improve the performance of managers and employees, and raise the effectiveness of talent management practices.
• Automation and cognitive computing. Robotics and software algorithms are increasingly replacing higher skilled workers. With help from The Hackett Group, companies can use robots and AI to augment human skills and expertise, and understand how to manage talent and handle workers displaced by automation.
• Creativity and innovation. In a constantly evolving business landscape, companies must continue to break ground with new products, transform business models and disrupt competitor strategies. The right talent is critical to these efforts, and The Hackett Group can help organizations to develop the culture, policy, benefits, and work environments that will attract and retain top talent.

Why customers choose The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group is a leading enterprise benchmarking firm and intellectual property-based strategic consultancy for organizations in diverse industry verticals. Drawing on unparalleled intellectual property developed through more than 26,600 benchmarking studies, we facilitate digital transformation through a wide range of services, including enterprise analytics, integrated business planning, working capital management, business partnering, managed services and global business services.

Companies interested in transforming talent management choose The Hackett Group for three key reasons.

We know HR

With deep experience leading cloud HCM implementations and talent initiatives, our team has the expertise to create solutions that are customized for the needs of any business.

We accelerate time-to-value

Our rapid deployment methodologies help speed time-to-value for cloud-based HCM and talent management applications.

We deliver proprietary insight

Our benchmarking data and proven intellectual property help organizations to design and develop programs that drive world-class HR performance.

FAQs

What is talent management?

Talent management is the practice of strategically attracting, developing, and retaining employees with the skills and experience required to support key business objectives.

How do performance leaders manage talent?

Companies that are performance leaders in their field tend to work with a talent management model that’s focused on transforming transactional and task-oriented employees into versatile, business-savvy advisors with analytical and relationship skills that allow them to shift easily between functions and roles as business needs and operations evolve.

What is human capital management vs. talent management?

Human capital management combines business intelligence, work management activities, and technology to transform the way that organizations manage and support their workforces. Talent management is one component of an HCM strategy, focusing specifically on developing individual employees.