The Business Case for Implementing Talent Management in the State Personnel System

 

Why Talent Management?

The State of Colorado Annual Workforce Demographics Report for fiscal year 2007-2008 found that:

• "Nearly 40% of the current workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years; and this number is projected to grow each year as the average age of the workforce increases; and
• Voluntary turnover for new hires (employees with less than one year of service) was almost double that of the statewide workforce (13.9% compared to 7.2%)." (State of Colorado Annual Workforce Demographics Report, p. 2)

 

The "Baby Boom" workers are expected to exit the workforce en masse beginning the year 2010. In the year 2000, the  Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)  reported that "Baby Boom" workers made up 48% of the labor force and predicted that they will constitute 37% of the labor force in 2010. The BLS also predicted that during 2010 "Baby Boom" workers will begin to retire in large numbers, reducing their numbers to 20% of the labor force by 2020 and to 6% of the labor force by the year 2030. The average age of the State workforce is 45.9 years with an average of 9.4 years of service. These averages indicate an aging workforce poised to leave the labor force with critical knowledge and skills.

 

The next generations entering the labor force, the "GenX-ers" and "Millennials," enter with perceptions of career success that are very different from those of the "Baby Boom" generation. For the next generations, career success is achieving balance in work and life. For them advancement is not as important as being challenged with work that makes a difference in their own development as well as in the work community. These differences have implications for HR practice.

 

If we are to stem the tide of "knowledge drain" and the rate of voluntary turnover for new hires our HR practice needs to reflect the values and beliefs of individual employees. We need to work to build a retention culture based on employee-centered development processes and policies focused on retaining older workers and attracting and retaining younger workers.

 

Building the Talent Management Infrastructure

Talent management requires a strategic and integrative approach. The Division of Human Resources' (DHR) Workforce Planning and Development Section recommends that the State's HR community embraces and works to develop these practices:

• Strategic Management--the practice of formulating and achieving strategic objectives through the cooperation/collaboration of all managers and departments.
• Talent Management--the practice of making the attraction, retention, and development of key talent a way of working and achieving near- and long-term success.
• Knowledge Management--the practice of capturing the knowledge of employees before they leave.
• Workforce Planning--the practice of adapting jobs, work, tasks, and locations to employees rather than adapting employees to a particular location or job to attract, motivate, and retain an effective workforce.
• Succession Planning--the practice of actively creating tomorrow's leaders at all levels of the organization.
• Retention & Branding--the practice of aligning the agency workforce plan, succession plan, and retention plan.
• Human Capital Management--the practice of assessing human capital (people's knowledge, abilities, and accomplishments), social capital (the extent to which groups collaborate and work together), and structural capital (the internal processes, databases, customer relationships, etc.).
• Accountability--the practice of holding all concerned accountable for measurable, high-quality, timely, and cost effective results.

 

These practices provide the foundation for meeting the needs of individual employees and the goals of their agencies.

 

 

 

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