Welcome to Talent Edge Weekly!

Before we get started, a special shout-out to Melissa Huntley, VP Global Head of Talent Management for Visa, for referring new subscribers to Talent Edge Weekly. Thank you, Melissa, for your support of this newsletter!

Have a great week, and I look forward to sharing more ideas in next week’s Edge!

Brian 

Brian Heger is an internal human resources practitioner with a Fortune 150 organization and has responsibilities for Strategic Talent and Workforce Planning. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin, Twitter, and brianheger.com

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

Here is a glance at this week’s content.

• HR Operating Model Report 2023 | The Talent Strategy Group | A new report that shares insights into how companies structure and operationalize their HR functions.

• Compensation Strategies for an Era of High Inflation | Gartner | Shares three approaches for keeping up with rising inflation and meeting the heightened salary expectations of employees.

• 15 Talent Questions Across Five Areas |  Brian Heger | I share a PDF that includes 15 talent questions that organizations can begin to answer to shape aspects of their talent narrative.

• 5 Ways Companies Are Addressing Skills Gaps in Their Workforce | Harvard Business Review | Shares 5 tactics firms are using for skill development, ranging from digital apprenticeships to the democratization of coaching via online tech.

• Hidden Workers: Part-Time Potential Report | Harvard Business School and Accenture | A 20-page follow-up report to the “Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent” report. The new report focuses on attracting and retaining a segment of hidden workers: part-time workers.

And don't forget to check out the 2023 Job Cuts and Layoff Tracker, the Chief HR Officer Hire of the Week, and other resources from this issue!

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

Note: If copying and pasting any of this content for your own purposes (e.g., social media, website, etc.), please provide proper attribution to Talent Edge Weekly and link to this issue.

HR Operating Model Report 2023 | The Talent Strategy Group

This new report provides insights into how companies structure and operationalize their HR functions. Based on feedback collected between early and mid-2023 from over 200 companies of all sizes, a few findings include: 1) Reporting Relationships: a) CHRO Reporting: 86% of CHROs report directly to the CEO. The remaining CHROs report to the COO or other C-suite officers. b) HR COE Reporting: Among the various COEs, Total Rewards and Talent Management most frequently report to the CHRO, with 89% and 80% reporting directly to the CHRO, respectively. In cases where a COE doesn’t report to the Chief HR Officer, the most common destination for these COEs (e.g., L&D, Talent Acquisition) to report to is Talent Management. c) People Analytics Reporting: The People Analytics COE reports more frequently to Shared Services and other HR Functions than the CHRO. This finding suggests that this COE may be providing more reporting and less true analytics in many organizations. 2) Layers between CHRO and the First Level in HR: Companies with fewer than 25k employees have an average of 4.5 layers, while companies with more than 25k employees have an average of 5.6 layers. The report notes that having five layers is a good “rule of thumb” to ensure fast information flow and still allow for large promotional steps. 3) HR employees ratio to overall employees. The actual and estimated HR: total employee ratios were estimated and were quite close to the classic ratio of 1:100, at 1:99 and 1:95, respectively. The report provides several other insights. It is important to note that the information serves as directional insights, and practitioners should not draw definitive conclusions about what is correct or incorrect based solely on these findings. As a bonus, I am also resharing my playlist of 5 resources on HR operating models.

Compensation Strategies for an Era of High Inflation | Gartner

Despite the implementation of increased merit pay in 2023, employers are facing challenges in keeping up with rising inflation and meeting the heightened salary expectations of their employees. In the quest to attract and retain talent within this environment, total rewards leaders are exploring various strategies. This article presents three ideas and approaches to consider: 1) Utilizing alternate compensation vehicles, 2) Expanding the focus on the entire employee value proposition (EVP), and 3) Embracing pay transparency. When it comes to alternative forms of compensation (# 1), organizations commonly choose to increase pay without matching inflation (45%), or offer one-off bonuses (16%) (see Figure 1 below). Some companies have opted to raise salaries for specific hard-to-fill critical roles, while others have adjusted their strategies for demographics that have been severely impacted, such as millennials. According to several total rewards leaders, this generation is more conscious of cash and tends to respond more positively to immediate rewards like sign-on bonuses and tuition reimbursement, rather than long-term rewards like retirement savings. Regarding pay transparency (#3), organizations are implementing various strategies, such as sharing an organization's compensation philosophy (38%), communicating formulas for how salaries are determined (30%), and sharing salary ranges in all job postings (26%). As organizations evaluate pay transparency and equity strategies, I am resharing this 36-page ADP Research Institute report that examines the factors influencing workers' perceptions of pay equity.

15 Talent Questions Across Five Areas | Brian Heger

HR leaders and their teams continue to be called upon to communicate aspects of their workforce strategy and talent initiatives. And while there are various aspects of these areas, this PDF includes sample questions that can stimulate thinking and conversations that inform the narrative for a few of those areas, including: 1) Talent Strategy, 2) Recruiting, 3) Internal Mobility, 4) Employee Retention, and 5) Workforce and Talent Risks. Each slide in the PDF includes three starter questions for each of the five areas. A few examples include: Talent Strategy: What are the key components of our talent strategy over the next 2-3 years? Where are we "placing our bets?" Recruiting: What is the strength of our employment brand among prospective employees? Internal Mobility: Which lines of business or managers are the best developers of talent as evidenced by promotions, transfers, etc. out of their departments? Employee Retention: What are the main reasons for employee turnover? How does this vary by business unit or employee segment? The questions in this PDF are simply examples. Use them as a starting point for determining the questions most important for your organization. You can use the text box on each slide to formulate answers to these questions and begin to develop parts of your talent narrative. The last page includes a link to obtain a PDF with additional questions.