With unprecedented rates of transformation and change impacting the world of work, keeping pace with the latest talent management trends is more challenging than ever. In response to this, at the close of 2018 Guidant Global ran a global buyer survey to over 1,500 managers of recruitment programmes, seeking their feedback on topics covering Brexit; access to talent; engagement with diverse groups; the value of humans in the increasingly tech-driven world and any criticisms from their experience of working with recruitment partners.
Survey results summary infographic
We have summarised the key survey findings in a handy infographic and you can download it here. Use the infographic to get at all the key data as simply and as easily as possible!
How is Brexit impacting the access to talent?
Astonishingly 42% of respondents said that Brexit is already negatively impacting their access to talent, and with a further 24% anticipating that the UK’s exit from the union will have a negative impact on skills availability in the near future. This clearly indicates business are feeling the pinch of Brexit months ahead of the UK actually departing from the EU.
We delved a bit deeper into global buyer’s feelings on the Brexit topic, asking respondents to give us their ‘wish list’ for post-Brexit migration policy in terms of skills availability; a nearly a quarter (24%) believe that clarity on immigration rules ‘at the earliest possible opportunity’ was absolutely crucial.A further, near quarter of respondents (23%) said that retaining free movement of labour within EEA would be advantageous.
Only 14% indicated that highly skilled workers should be prioritised, which is interesting given that 66% said that are feeling the effects of Brexit on their access to talent now and in the near future. Does this indicate that the UK’s departure is mostly being felt in the access to low-skilled talent?
Survey reveals that businesses focus on engaging diverse talent
The survey responses indicate that businesses are taking active steps to improve candidate engagement with individuals from specific groups in an effort to overcome ongoing skills shortages.
The group with the highest number of responses is emerging talent, at 18% this shows that businesses are looking to the next generation to booster talent pipelines. The next most popular group (17%) is female talent, aside from the obvious talent acquisition needs, is this a sign that business with a poor gender balance are looking to improve their, now publically published gender pay reporting by attracting more females into the workplace?
Next sees business actively taking steps to tap into disabled talent pools by actively working to encourage disabled talent (14%).
The news comes as 78% of all respondents admit they are currently finding it difficult to access the quality and volume of talent their businesses need to thrive, with 16% of hiring managers viewing tapping into underutilised talent pools as their ‘greatest opportunity’ from a talent management perspective.
Developing talent internally is the greatest talent management opportunity over the next three years
Internal mobility is clearly high on the agenda for many, with nearly half of all respondents (49%) citing internal staff development as the greatest talent management opportunity for business over the next three years.
Receiving more than double the amount of responses that the next highest response of “Using technology to plan and manage workforces more efficiently (talent analytics)” (22%), this tells the story that businesses are looking to their people, over technology to meet business objectives and deliver talent pipelines through to 2022.
Summary
The results of the survey indicate clearly that the impact of Brexit is already being felt on business’ talent pipelines and is only due to increase; in response to this exasperating the already challenging skill shortage, business are looking to diverse talent pools and a focus on internal mobility to bolster talent pipelines and meet business demands over the next few years.
You can also download a PDF version of the infographic here. Please feel to share with your colleagues and on social networks!