Despite nearly two-thirds of employers indicating that managing critical talent is vital for success, only a handful of employers feel their programs are communicating these values to high performing staff.
In a new survey of more than 120 employers across industries in the U.S. and Canada, Mercer finds that only 30% feel their programs are extremely effective in hitting these goals.
Companies are not capitalizing on all the approaches and resources available, such as monitoring talent through workforce analytics, says Loree Griffith, a principal in Mercers talent practice. While companies spend a good deal of time and money identifying and rewarding top employees, they put much less effort into formally tracking and communicating the development of talent areas that can surely make talent strategies more effective.
Findings from Mercers Critical Talent Practices Survey highlight that roughly 49% of organizations have told critical talent of their worth in the company hierarchy, but only 34% currently track this employee group with HR analytical systems.
Approximately three-quarters of the organizations surveyed identify that 2-5% of the workforce is categorized as critical. Mercer explains HR managers and leadership should incorporate additional transparency and communication
Additionally, tracking career progression,
Given companies focus on employment branding and the prevalence of non-cash rewards, better communication with critical talent along with greater transparency regarding critical talent status are two worthy considerations to further differentiate the employee experience, says Griffith.