Senior executives and HR leaders are becoming more driven by long-term goals rather than short-term cost savings or initiatives, research from recruitment specialists Randstad Enterprise has found.
Its 2023 Talent Trends Report surveyed more than 900 c-suite and HR leaders in 18 countries. This year, twice as many leaders (77%) said their talent acquisition strategies would be focused on total value creation for the company this year, rather than cost savings. In the UK, this number was 68%, up from 60% last year.
Almost nine in 10 (88%) UK leaders said the goal of their company’s talent strategy was to have a measurable impact on business performance. This is the highest level since before the pandemic. Seventy-two per cent said they also recognised the importance of workforce agility.
Globally, a shortage of talent continues to be a challenge, with 42% describing this as a pain point. The UK has the highest proportion of leaders reporting this as an issue, at 76%.
To deal with these challenges, 76% of leaders globally are increasing their focus on reskilling and career engagement, and 56% plan to increase spending on internal talent mobility platforms. This is not so much the case in the UK, however, where only 44% of talent leaders expected to invest in internal mobility.
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Talent teams in the UK are most likely to be investing in the talent experience, including making diversity and inclusion a central part of their attraction strategy (64%), conducting internal audits to map the candidate experience (60%), creating talent communities to nurture future talent (56%) and using technology to improve engagement (52%).
“Many leaders are taking a more people-centric approach, focusing on the talent experience to ensure their teams have the support and resources to grow professionally, while evolving their organisations to be well equipped to address any business fluctuations or other obstacles,” said Mike Smith, chief executive of Randstad Enterprise.
“Their ultimate goal is to be a more agile organization where people are empowered to reach their full potential, in turn delivering a better return for the business due to a greater alignment between workforce strategies and business priorities.”
Despite concerns around skills shortages, only just over half (52%) of talent leaders in the UK are using analytics or technology to support their hiring and workforce planning decisions, Randstad found, compared to 72% globally. Only a quarter are investing more in predictive analytics and external market intelligence to inform their talent strategies.
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More than eight in 10 respondents to Randstad’s survey said the world of talent acquisition was changing, with leaders in this space now expected to think about issues such as mobility, development, career pathways and skilling alongside recruitment.
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