Workforce trends impacting the future of talent management

Talent management has never been more pivotal. The labor market continues to grow at a healthy pace. And unemployment and turnover remain low.  

While advancements in technology have streamlined many cumbersome HR processes in the workplace and enabled more flexibility, employers must continue to embrace additional strategies to better attract, manage, and retain top talent.  

Here are five key workforce trends organizations must stay ahead of if they’re to succeed at talent management well into the future.  

Skills-based hiring and development are driving new learning priorities 

As manners and methods of work continue to evolve, organizations are increasingly prioritizing skills over traditional qualifications. Skills-based assessments, training programs, and talent development initiatives will be crucial to upskill and reskill employees.  

The good news is that many employees are receptive and eager to gain new skills. In Dayforce’s 2023 Pulse of Talent survey, nearly half (49%) of respondents said they want to contribute skills to new projects from within their current role. This was followed by 43% who were interested in moving into a new role in a different department or team. And 35% said they would like to change career paths within their company.   

Leading employers are prioritizing ways to identify employees for upskill and reskill programs and leveraging technology to help facilitate this growth and transition. 

Employee experience is impacting how well employers attract and retain top talent 

The path to employee satisfaction and retention starts the moment an employee joins the organization. Despite the positive impact a good onboarding experience can have on retention, a recent survey by Gallup shows only 12% of employees consider their organization’s onboarding process “good.”  

Creating the proper framework is essential to set up new hires for success. It should address the critical steps of compliance, clarification, confidence, connection, culture, and check in on employees.  

And it doesn’t end there. Organizations should continue investing in strategies to boost employee engagement, such as learning and collaboration opportunities, more positive fostering of organizational culture, and flexible work options.  

Continuous performance management is gaining favor over annual reviews 

Creating a consistent, transparent process for measuring performance is critical to retaining top talent. Organizations are continuing to move away from annual performance reviews and adopting more continuous feedback and agile performance management approaches, such as regular check-ins, coaching, and real-time feedback.  

Fortunately, there are robust tools and technologies on the market that can support today’s managers with more real-time performance assessments.         

Employee and financial wellness are becoming critical talent initiatives 

Organizations are recognizing the importance of employee well-being and mental health. In 2024, there will likely be an increased emphasis on fostering a supportive work environment, offering mental health resources, and implementing wellness programs to promote a healthy and productive workforce. This includes on-site gyms or gym memberships, healthy food options in cafeteria dining, and smoking cessation programs, to name a few.  

Financial wellness will continue to expand well beyond tuition assistance to include loan repayment assistance, early paycheck distribution, savings accounts, and stock purchase programs.  

AI, people analytics, and data-driven insights are informing talent decisions 
 
AI has become predominant in many areas of life, and HR is no exception.  The use of AI, people analytics, and data-driven insights in talent management will further grow in 2024.  

HR departments will leverage data to make informed decisions on candidate sourcing, resume screening, talent acquisition, onboarding, retention, performance management, and succession planning.  

As work and skills change rapidly, talent analytics will play a crucial role in identifying future workforce needs. HR professionals will use predictive analytics to understand employee sentiment and emerging skill gaps and will design training programs and strategies for talent acquisition accordingly. AI will increasingly make its way into other areas of people operations, making it easier for HR professionals to focus on more important and strategic activities.  

Consider the hundreds of resumes sent for a single job opening alone in today’s economy, and it’s difficult to imagine any large organization managing a diverse and distributed labor force. But with the right strategies and technologies, organizations can succeed with talent management now and into the future.