Expand Your Mind: the Talent Force, AKA, People
by Miki Saxon
Today we look at some interesting commentary on the state of the talent force (I positively detest the term ‘human capital’); some new and some seriously old.
Companies frequently hire from the outside based on the idea that new blood is good for the organization, but is it?
According to Wharton management professor Matthew Bidwell, “external hires” get significantly lower performance evaluations for their first two years on the job than do internal workers who are promoted into similar jobs. They also have higher exit rates, and they are paid “substantially more.” About 18% to 20% more.
Have you wondered if the job market will ever turn for more than the young tech-enabled? Maybe not quickly enough, but time does move on and demographics will not be denied.
A Human Capital Zeitgeist, is emerging as companies big and small are getting smacked with the realization that talent management is SO critical to competing in a volatile marketplace, they might actually have to throw a bit more respect at the “human” in the human capital equation.
This demographic time bomb isn’t new; it was recognized more than a decade ago, but managers’ ability to recognize, attract and retain talent has escalated dramatically, with the economic crash more like an attack of hiccups, than an actual change.
McKinsey declared the start of “the war for talent” in 1997. It has turned out to be a more or less permanent conflict. Revisiting their earlier work in 2001, the management consultants stated: “The war for talent will persist for at least the next two decades. The forces that are causing it are deep and powerful. The war for talent is a business reality.”
Do you believe that happy employees perform better? Not everyone agrees, although I freely admit I’m on the pro side of that argument.
Productivity measures across national economies have captivated the attention of policy makers and executives alike. Ultimately, though, the source of productivity is the individual knowledge workers who get things done every day. And the evidence is clear: People perform better when they’re happier. OR Happy employees tend to enjoy the status quo so much that they might resist changes to it. This is hardly a recipe for success in today’s world, where agility and embracing change are essentials for success.
Of course, no discussion of productivity can take place without including Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Effect. Impressive experiments, since they are as relevant today as they were nearly a century ago.
What he found however was that work satisfaction depended to a large extent on the informal social pattern of the work group. … He concluded that people’s work performance is dependent on both social issues and job content.
Finally, no commentary on people and the workplace would be complete without something on the Millennials; the demographic the media and pundits keep insisting are completely different from preceding generations—but are they really?
“For the past 12 years, I have studied the so-called generation gap through empirical research, and have found that stereotypes of millennials in the workplace are inconsistent at best and destructive at worst.” –Jennifer J. Deal, senior research scientist, Center for Creative Leadership
Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho
