Most employers do not have a talent management strategy despite nine out of
10 accepting that ‘war for talent’ is an important business issue.
The joint research by Personnel Today and recruitment firm Kenexa shows that
in many organisations there is a lack of workforce planning with the approach
to assessing talent ad hoc and poorly coordinated across the business.
Firms rely on traditional methods when assessing and predicting talent. The
most common selection method is formal qualification analysis or performance
appraisal. More cutting-edge approaches – such as talent- or trait-profiling –
are used by only 10 per cent of the 222 senior HR professionals surveyed.
Some larger companies have appointed talent directors, but only 37 per cent
of employers have anyone on board with talent as their specific remit.
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Three out of 10 organisations use psychometrics or assessment centres,
claims the research. But the vast majority use qualifications as the bedrock of
talent assessment.
Commenting on the findings, Sue Conder, partner in human capital at
Andersen, said: "Talent management is still viewed as discretionary,
rather than essential to the delivery of business strategy. Too many firms are
giving priority to managing financial resources."
