talent strategy

As a consumer, you would have noticed shifts in your buying behavior to a hybrid choice of online and physical stores over the last couple of years, even more since the pandemic started. 

You are not alone, – many consumers are now buying more online, and many more are using digital channels as a precursor to physical buying. For example, searches for products mostly now begin on Amazon, or on other digital sites. 

To remain competitive, brands are realizing the need to embrace digital marketplaces to meet and interact with consumers and make these spaces an integral part of their product strategy.

A similar transition is happening in the world of talent. 

For long, companies looked at talent with boundary conditions like office attendance, full-time employment, and gradual career progressions. 

Most talent models neatly fitted into this approach with minor variations, till the 2019 pandemic disrupted the world of work forever. 

Overnight, our assumptions about work, workers and workplaces changed, and as we now look ahead, it is important that we envision a talent marketplace that is largely digital and dynamic.

Let’s look at five trends shaping the talent marketplace of today and tomorrow.

Talent demographics

We are probably experiencing the most significant workforce transition since the end of the second world war. 

By the turn of the decade, the workforce will largely be comprised of millennials, gen Z and post-gen Z, as the earlier groups will move out of the workforce. 

The outlook and drivers for this future workforce are very different – they are digitally native and are more ready to experiment with new employment options. 

Also, there are other important changes – Africa and Asia will be home to roughly three quarters of the worlds working population; women will have a much larger composition in the workplace and new talent segments are likely to emerge.

Remote work

Current surveys show us that more than half of the tech workforce does not intend to come back to office permanently. 

Even if this number drops slightly, for most workers, the on-demand, hybrid, and work that is fully remote will become the norm. 

It is not easy to manage combinations of in-office, hybrid, and fully remote workforces. 

Therefore, the talent model will need to incorporate algorithms that enable utilization of individuals in an optimal mix, evaluate performance as well as handle aspirations. 

Along with new collaboration tools, companies will also need to invest in experience technologies that will allow a seamless people operation. At the same time, this will expand the talent marketplace by a factor that was unimaginable few years back.

Digital platforms 

Most large companies have been deploying internal talent marketplaces to improve staffing and mobility. These both save money on hiring as well as help optimize internal talent. 

Aided by AI and machine learning, talent platforms can source and match talent to demand in a way that is seamless. In addition, these platforms allow reskilling at scale, match skills to jobs, and help people promote their skills and meet aspirations. 

Future platforms will go outside company boundaries and span industries to create an open-source talent pool. 

This means a wider choice to employees as well as employers but will demand a much greater focus on creating a workplace that is attractive and purposeful.

The Organization

Just like biological open systems that comprise of parts that share resources within, as well as with the external environment; talent in the future will largely flourish if organizations operate as open systems. 

This would require a free flow of talent within as well as outside the firm, continuous professional relationships, as well as an ability to have access to a wider talent ecosystem. 

Of course, there will be changes in terms of how we treat areas of information security, intellectual property, contracts, etc. 

Perhaps this big shift in how we work has provided us with an opportunity to rethink our talent models and conceptualize a digital talent marketplace for the future. 

A place that is more open, allows greater freedom of choice to all its constituents and embracing technology while focusing on the needs of the human at work.

We can help you address the most critical issues facing leaders today and for the future.