talent attraction & retention

“Fighting the war for talent is the wrong metaphor – what truly matters to organisational success through talented people is the set of management practices that create the culture” Jeffrey Pfeiffer, Stanford University

The issue of staff attraction and retention has long been debated. Mettle’s participation in this debate has not purely been one of highlighting the issue, but through the provision of pragmatic solutions that suit the industry and type of organisation.

The critical areas that Mettle believes need attention from not only HR and the Senior Executive Team, but the organisation as a whole include:

1. Identifying the current culture of the organisation
2. Developing an adaptable workforce
3. Leadership Succession Planning
4. Talent Attraction
5. HR moving to a key strategy role

HR & strategy:

“If there is no presence at executive level of someone from HR who can articulate precisely what the function does and can advocate the value it offers to the business, there should be no surprises when those at the executive level of the business do not understand what HR does or what it represents“
Hrpulse Research Report, AHRI, Nov 2007

It has been said many times in various popular business and HR press publications that it is critical that HR is able to provide input into the broader organisations business strategy and direction. HR, the senior executive team and business unit heads must collaborate and engage in an ongoing dialogue about strategic workforce investments, strategic transformation programs, overarching business strategy and how the people capital aligns.

An interesting report released in November 2007 indicates that when it comes to who develops strategy and who implements it, 23% of business leaders and 19% of HR leaders see HR as not involved in developing strategy, or only involved in helping to implement strategy. Nearly 25% of companies are not involving HR in strategy planning. 56% of business leaders in the survey claim that HR is primarily responsible for the workforce plan development only. A key factor that affects both the strategy and working relationship between business and HR leaders is that many business leaders feel HR lacks the necessary business acumen to take an active role in developing strategy.

Despite the above results, the HR profession does see the importance of moving beyond the traditional transactional role and more into the strategic relationship of the business, however more needs to be done by both the C-suite and HR professionals themselves to realise this transition. As HR’s Leadership and Culture partner, Mettle’s Leadership & Team Practice has numerous strategies and methodologies to support HR in becoming the strategic people capital partners to the Executive and CEO’s. For HR to be involved at the strategy level, HR needs to be more strategic in its thinking. At the highest level, HR strategy is a matter of understanding the company’s business goals and challenges, and ensuring that the right employees and programs are in place to support those business objectives. Few contributions can be as valuable to a company as providing complete alignment of the business and HR strategies.