Why companies must be agile enough to adapt their talent game

By Peter Hamilton

It used to be that people left their jobs and companies because of the lack of growth and opportunity, and for higher pay. But now, the reasons for attrition are more complex and nuanced, with higher employee expectations, a greater consideration of work life balance, as well as being allowed to have a hybrid work arrangement being thrown into the mix.

Irrespective of industry and sector, there is a churn of labour in a tight market across the board and globally since countries starting regaining back normalcy post-pandemic. Moreover, we are seeing this churn in senior management levels – as they are not immune to this life-work shift either. However, the ripple effect of “boss loss” when senior leaders quit can be larger as it means more might follow.

In a global workforce report conducted across 12 countries by KellyOCG recently, the Singapore statistics show that 81 per cent of senior management are planning to leave their jobs in 2 years. This is higher than the rate for the whole of Asia (69 per cent) and globally (72 per cent), which reveals that Singapore organisations have an even more urgent need to look into the changing life-work shift and take action now.

The implications are that workplace culture isn’t shifting enough to retain even senior staff, for organisations to remain competitive, profitable and attractive to top talent.

However, there is a leading group of companies that we have identified as Vanguards, which have reported an increase in employee wellbeing, productivity and revenue. From 12 per cent of such companies in Singapore (against 15 per cent globally), we have identified 4 critical dynamics of success - workforce agility; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); employee experience; and adoption of tools and technologies.

Companies need to make a concerted effort to improve the work atmosphere and culture and those that aren’t taking action across the 4 dynamics will continue to see employees of all levels walk out the door – creating, as you can imagine, disruption and lack of continuity.

Vanguards have a particular advantage in using contingent, or freelance, talent to improve workforce. They are more likely to have a clear strategic approach, and they are more likely to forecast an increase in the use of contingent talent in the next 5 years. This suggests a link between the use of contingent talent and higher employee productivity and wellbeing.

For Vanguards, the response is to redefine/redesign the employee experience and experiment with new ways of working. This group is more likely to have started offering higher wages and better benefits, provide better skills and development opportunities, have improved the annual leave allowance and have introduced policies such as salary transparency.

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Key to this is good work-life balance. Senior executives at Vanguard firms also say that their organisation is more respectful of employees as whole person and is reinventing work in partnership with them. Leaders and employees reinventing work together means actively capturing insights and predictions about how to create a future that works for all, and implementing policies that reflect.

Vanguards note that at least one C-suite stakeholder has been deeply involved in shaping the employee experience, which is almost double the level in other firms. Vanguards are also implementing strategies to assess employee sentiment and engagement and report C-suite accountability for improving the employee experience.

Vanguards typically are more likely to implement innovative initiatives to improve their DEI performance – such as having a clear route to report discrimination at work, having programmes to remove barriers that prevent under-represented talent from accessing rewarding work, and committing to inclusive leadership, behaviour and cultures.

Vanguards too would offer adequate resources to help employees take care of their mental health such as access to counselling services, mental health first aiders, and education sessions to increase awareness of common mental health issues.

In this digital age, businesses have better options than ever for finding the right tools and technologies to power their talent management strategies. Yet the uptake is limited as just 40 per cent of firms overall have adopted data analytics tools that capture key metrics, for instance.

Vanguards are adopting the right tools and technologies to empower today’s workforce. They are implementing knowledge-sharing tools that enable collaboration among in-office, hybrid, and remote workers and utilise platforms that allow a clear view of the mix of permanent and contingent talent across their business.

If data analytics tools are implemented, companies will be able to capture trends around employee retention and productivity better, as majority of firms which have adopted such technologies say they have been positively received by employees. Such implementation of knowledge-sharing tools can foster stronger collaboration among hybrid, remote, and in-office employees.

When these 4 dynamics are embraced together, businesses across industries can better attract, retain and motivate talent to meet their business goals.

Talent is a critical success factor of any business. Companies can take a leaf from the Vanguards’ playbook as they have reported an increase in employee wellbeing, productivity, and revenue. If companies are not agile enough to adapt their talent game, they will lose their competitive edge and cost their business success.

The writer is the vice-president and managing director (Asia-Pacific) of KellyOCG.