At the end of the day, every company or organization is about its people. As an HR executive, your role is to entice top talent to take a position within your company and then motivate them to stay.
For this reason, you should strongly consider aligning your talent strategy with a smart combination of compensation, benefits, and personal growth opportunities or what is referred to as Total Rewards.
Deciding on a Talent Strategy
There are several different talent strategies or ways to gather people. Which type of talent strategy a business employs depends on the kinds of people they need because every company is different, and no two cultures are the same. But no matter what strategy is deployed, those strategies need to be congruent with the mission and vision of the organization and aligned with its core values.
For example, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, everyone is aligned around the same mission and vision of “Making Cancer History.” It doesn’t matter if you’re a physician, technician, or janitor; the organization has created a culture where everyone knows they are making a healthy environment for patients and then, in turn, contributing to the bottom line.
Regardless of the type of culture, companies need a work-free plan to successfully identify individuals who have the right mix of skills and leadership ability to take over the business and lead it into the future. To do this, they need to implement the right talent strategy.
Types of Talent Strategies
When choosing a talent strategy, several businesses should consider both for the short-term and over the long term. Let’s look at each of the talent strategy types in more detail.
Buy Strategy
This short-term approach focuses more on the immediate needs and is often a reaction to market demands. Suppose it’s a tight job market and you need a specialized skill set. In that case, you start thinking of the competition and lure talent away with a competitive salary, a sign-on bonus, and leadership opportunities.
Build Strategy
A “build strategy “identifies people from within as potential leaders and develops coaching, training, and development opportunities for them. The timeframe to infuse such a strategy can take months or years, depending on the skills required for leadership positions.
Borrow Strategy
If you don’t have an internal talent for a specific job role, you may opt to utilize consultants or follow the “borrow talent” model. By doing so, you bring on someone with a lot of experience and horsepower to the table to complete a specific project or task. They only need a short time to get up to speed and can deliver results quickly. A “borrow strategy” can complement companies that are attempting to build talent from within. For example, when you hire an external leadership consultant, that person has the opportunity to coach and work one-on-one with members of your internal team. They can provide on-the-job training, something your existing leaders and supervisors may not have time to do.
Hybrid Strategy
A combination or hybrid approach to talent strategy will help mitigate risks. Even if you didn’t hire outside consultants to fill in gaps, it’s not wise to rely solely on a “buy strategy.” Throwing money at people might work in the short term, but they will be looking for opportunities to grow over time. Remember, while you are busy building your talent, the competition is also building theirs and getting in a position to poach your best people.
Enter the Role of Total Rewards
It’s no secret. Employees are expensive investments. On average, it costs 50% to 70% of the spend to train and 30% to 35% on benefits, let alone base pay. To hire someone only to have them leave a couple of years later is money and time wasted. Because of this, companies should view talent strategy from a long-term perspective and consider the importance of Total Rewards.
Employees devote a large portion of their lives to work, and no longer is it acceptable to offer only a competitive salary and a decent benefits package. Companies need to align their talent strategy with Total Rewards. As an HR executive, you need to figure out what drives people to come to work and what makes them tick. Tangible components of Total Rewards, including compensation, benefits, work-life balance, recognition, performance management, and talent development, are essential, as are the intangible and intrinsic values of teamwork and loyalty.
Viewing talent strategy with Total Rewards in mind will give your recruitment, retention, and overall productivity a leading edge.
Tam Nguyen is international business management & human resources leader possessing expertise and technical knowledge in the areas of strategic human capital management and execution, including business strategy, global compensation & benefits, human capital and measurement, employment law, global mobility, and HR information systems integration and deployment to stabilization. Connect with Tam on LinkedIn.