Programs that get all employees engaged are key to talent management success.
As companies’ global footprints expand, one of the most pressing issues is talent management. A recent discussion of the NeuGroup’s Treasurers Group of Thirty 2 (T30_2) meeting highlighted what many in that group are doing to develop a solid treasury workforce and what’s needed to maintain it.
And of course, successful talent management has a formal structure. Sixty-two percent of T30_2 members have a formal talent management program in place, with many offering such non-monetary incentives as flexible work schedule, telecommuting, subsidized fitness programs, and executive education programs.
All for one. Getting buy-in – from employees and management – is one pre-requisite: “You can have a brilliant talent management program but if people are not invested in it, it won’t go anywhere,” said one T30_2 member.
A critical component in garnering engagement from employees is to formally communicate the program details to employees. This communication should include all aspects of the talent management program including performance management and career development. One T30_2 member described a process of regular email distributions to alert the employees of career and development information and news. This process was seen as a very successful way to build employee engagement in the overall program.
Where am I going? The formal identification of a career path is another important way of keeping employees engaged and excited about the progression of their career. By providing a clear career path to the employee, it was shown to significantly increase employee commitment, thereby significantly reducing the employee’s probability of departure.
Another successful tool in the overall talent management toolkit was that of rotational assignments. One member used a process called categorization to identify the business strengths and career desires of each individual. The results were then used to create an appropriate recommendation for potential rotational assignments, sometimes within the individual group, sometimes in other areas of finance, and other times across the entire organization.
Although these programs and incentives were seen to be a successful part of the overall talent management program, most reiterated that like most initiatives, it will go nowhere without support of upper management and the engagement of all.