But, according to a new study by Mercer, less than 10% of respondents in both regions have the confidence that their organisation is very effective at measuring the impact of their talent decisions and investments.
Mercer’s Future of Talent Management survey was compiled from responses from 290 multinational organisations across EMEA – 200 in Europe and 90 in the Middle East/Africa.
Asked about the economic outlook, across both geographies, more than half indicated that their organisation has emerged or is now emerging from the recession. Almost half (45%) of respondents in the Middle East and 24% of respondents in Europe said they were never out of growth mode. Responding to better growth prospects, the majority of companies are now planning changes to their talent programmes.
Dagmar Wilbs, a senior partner in Mercer’s human capital business and EMEA leader of talent management consulting, said: The downturn forced organisations to make fairly dramatic changes to their workforces and talent programmes. There is more optimism now, so more revisions are planned to catch the upswing.
Asked what their top talent management priorities would be over the next three to five years, leadership succession plans emerged as the clear priority (40% in Europe and 35.6% in the Middle East). The training and development of leadership was the second most important priority (34%) in Europe and employee engagement (34%) in the Middle East. The third most important priority for organisations is identifying and retaining key talent / high potentials in Europe, and leadership development in the Middle East.
Talent management is set to grow in importance: 80% of respondents in both regions viewed it as a top priority over the next three to five years. Nearly half (49% in Europe and 47% in the Middle East/Africa) rated it as an immediate priority. Almost all respondents (93% in Europe and 95% in the Middle East/Africa) also anticipate an increase in competition over the next three to five years to recruit the key talent to underpin their organisation’s success.
However, confidence in their ability to fulfil most talent management goals varied. In Europe, respondents felt most confident (50%) linking employee performance to business goals but were least confident (37%) in the ability to use quantitative analytics to make and measure talent investments. The picture was similar in the Middle East, where 47% felt confident linking employee performance to business goals and 38% cited a lack of confidence in the ability to use quantitative analytics to make and measure talent investments.
Companies were not optimistic about the measurement of talent management decisions and investments. Just 7% of European respondents and 9% from the Middle East/Africa believe that their organisation is very effective in measuring the impact of talent decisions and investments; more than half (57% and 59%, respectively) said their organisations are somewhat effective, while 37% and 32%, respectively, said their organisations are not at all effective.
Lacking a strong quantitative measurement, many organisations tend to focus on programme execution (asking ‘Is it done well?’) rather than programme outcomes/results (asking ‘Does it have the desired result?’). Again, the focus varies by talent programme. Respondents in Europe tend to focus most on programme execution for their mobility and training/development programmes and more on outcomes/results for their performance management programmes. Respondents from the Middle East/Africa tend to focus more on programme execution for their mobility, recruiting and retention programmes and more on outcomes/results for their performance management programmes.
Wilbs added: Organisations historically have chased best practices or the newest big idea as a substitute for solid talent strategies and measurement techniques. But that’s no longer enough – you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Leading organisations have shown to be more effective at tailoring talent management practices to fit their own business models, then taking a more quantitative, fact-based measurement approach and steadily driving improvements year after year.
