A global talent shortage is challenging firms worldwide to revamp their people management strategies – and Asian firms face bigger challenges than most.
According to the results of a recent Mercer survey, talent management is going to be a top priority for Asian firms over the next few years. Almost all the Asia Pacific respondents to the firm’s Future of Talent Management Survey anticipate an increase in competition for the best employees over the next three to five years, with 53 percent expecting that increase in competition to be significant.
And in the wake of the global financial crisis, firms across all industry verticals must revisit the strategies they use to attract, nurture and retain their key employees – or face a bleak future.
“It’s a different business environment now,” says Jason Jeffay, Mercer’s Global Leader of Talent Management Consulting. “We’re looking ahead to a period of positive but slower growth, which translates into different talent needs. Talent programs need to be reviewed and tailored to fit this new reality.”
The findings are backed up by the results of a separate study conducted by recruitment specialists ManpowerGroup, in which the number of Asia Pacific employers reporting difficulty filling job vacancies due to lack of available talent stood at 45 percent – well above the global average of 34 percent. Japanese companies reported the most critical skills shortages, with four-out-of-five employers finding it difficult to hire staff with the right skills; meanwhile, two-thirds of companies in India, and 54 percent in Australia and Taiwan, reported similar problems.
Peter Haglund, Country Manager of Manpower Singapore, said: “While not all employers are feeling the pain associated with the global talent shortage, external forces mean it is likely that they will soon feel pressure. Businesses need to adopt a long-term approach to ensuring they have the talent they need to achieve their business objectives.”
As such, talent management programmes must be seen as key to addressing the talent shortage. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” says Brenda Wilson, Mercer’s Asia Pacific Leader of Talent Management Consulting. “Leading organizations have shown they are more effective at tailoring talent management practices to fit their own business models when taking a more quantitative, fact-based measurement approach. And we have found this approach steadily drives improvements year after year.”
Attracting top talent is just one of the topics due to be discussed at the upcoming Human Resources Summit APAC 2011 being held from 14-16 June at the Amara Sanctuary on Sentosa Island, Singapore. This closed-door summit, hosted by GDS International, will feature some of the leading voices in the people management.
For info visit: http://www.nghrsummitapac.com
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