Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #207

2024 talent acquisition trends, strategic workforce planning, external contributors of a firm's workforce, 2023 CHRO trend report, and skills needed to work effectively with AI.

Author

Brian Heger
November 05, 2023

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Here’s a glance at this week’s content. A deep dive is in the section that follows.

Also, check out the 2023 job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer hire of the week.

Let’s dive in.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

This 10th annual report by Korn Ferry highlights six key trends in talent acquisition for 2024. One of these trends is the intersection of AI and recruiters, with AI streamlining time-consuming recruiting tasks, such as assessments and scheduling. This practice enables recruiters to prioritize the candidate experience, relationship management, and innovative talent sourcing. Another trend is AI’s role in helping candidates, matching them with suitable job postings and enhancing their resumes. Concerns about candidates potentially embellishing resumes persist, but AI is not exacerbating this issue compared to non-AI tools. Additionally, early career hiring is gaining momentum as employers expand their recruitment sources to include state colleges, vocational schools, high schools, and non-traditional higher education institutions, diversifying the candidate pool. The shift towards hiring for skills over credentials continues, with job postings increasingly emphasizing specific skills rather than the candidate's educational background. Recent LinkedIn data show that recruiters on the platform search for candidates by their skills five times more frequently than by their degrees, and the share of LinkedIn job postings not requiring a degree increased by 36% in the past year. As recruiters continue to find ways to spot talent in less obvious places, I'm also resharing the Harvard Business School and Accenture report, 'Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent.'

Many organizations are evolving from traditional operational workforce planning to strategic workforce planning (SWP). As highlighted in this Deloitte paper, operational workforce planning focuses on current and near-term workforce supply and demand, whereas SWP explores "what if" scenarios, taking into account new strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, organizational design, and location strategy, among others. In other words, strategic workforce planning utilizes operational baseline data and considers long-term business demands to model workforce needs for various potential scenarios the organization may encounter. The paper suggests ways to use operational workforce planning as a stepping stone towards SWP. Given the pivotal role of scenario planning in SWP, I'm sharing four resources on this subject: 1) A one-page editable PDF by Xplane that helps organizations identify four “what-if” scenarios they may face in the future. 2) Gartner’s Scenario Implication Diagnostic, which provides over 60 diagnostic questions to help understand the implications of internal and external factors that can inform different scenarios, 3) Deloitte’s framework (page 6) of four scenarios related to inflation; although focused on inflation, the approach and examples can be applied to various scenario types, and 4) Gartner’s Guide to Scenario Planning for Functional Leaders, which helps address seven questions about scenario planning.

Organizations increasingly rely on external talent, such as gig workers, contractors, consultants, and freelancers, to supplement their internal workforce. While there are several reasons for this trend, one is that many organizations report a shortage of internal talent to support the transformation efforts that their businesses have underway. According to a recent survey by RGP of over 1,000 large global companies with a minimum of $1 billion in revenue (averaging $8.3 billion), these organizations are reporting an average of 20 transformation efforts (strategic initiatives costing at least $1 million) in 2023, with many anticipating more by 2026. However, 42% of respondents report a shortage of internal talent to support these initiatives. As a result, many organizations are shifting their workforce strategy to encompass a strategic blend of internal and external talent—with many adopting a 50-50 split between full-time employees and external talent to create a "Dynamic Workforce." This report provides ideas on how organizations can effectively manage this shift. One point emphasized is the importance of establishing a culture that treats internal and external talent equally. To cultivate such a culture, some organizations are investing in more comprehensive onboarding for external contributors, concentrating not only on project details and tools but also on company values, beliefs, and behaviors. What changes will your organization need to make to its talent practices as it seamlessly integrates external workers into its workforce?

The 2023 CHRO Trends report from The Talent Strategy Group shares 10 trends in the roles of Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) and Chief People Officers (CPOs) in Fortune 200 companies. Two of the trends include: 1) CEO Transitions Impact CHRO turnover. Within 12 months of a CEO transition, 33% of newly appointed CEOs replaced their CHROs, and within 24 months, 54% made such changes. This trend is particularly noteworthy in light of the recent Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. CEO Turnover Report, which reported 164 CEO changes at US companies in Q3 2023, bringing the annual total to 1,425 and signifying a 47% increase in CEO resignations compared to the previous year. These data points raise questions about strategies to enhance CHRO retention during CEO transitions to sustain momentum in talent initiatives. 2) Another trend focuses on the reemergence of internal successors to the CHRO role, with 57% of Fortune 200 CHRO/CPO appointments in 2022 being internal promotions, compared to 41% in the previous year. The HR Business Partner role continues to be a primary path to the CHRO role. Other topics are covered, such as CHRO diversity and educational background. In case you missed it, here is my PDF highlighting 12 CHROs who were hired or promoted into the role over the past 90 days.

This article underscores the importance of focusing on two categories of skills necessary for AI to complement human abilities rather than replace them: 1) Effective interpersonal skills encompassing communication, conflict resolution, and team cooperation, and 2) Domain expertise, which involves preserving and developing specialized knowledge. The authors present three key reasons why these two skill sets will be vital for organizations seeking to integrate AI into their operations and achieve business success. 1) The output of AI is replicable (can be copied). 2) AI relies on historical data that may not apply in a rapidly changing global business environment. 3) AI is vulnerable to “hallucination” and "drift," resulting in either fabricated or inaccurate output. Consequently, organizations will need individuals with the ability to interpret AI findings, place them in the organization's unique context, and communicate information that aligns with the business context and priorities. As a bonus, here is another new HBR article, "It’s Time for Boards to Take AI Seriously," which underscores the responsibility of boards of directors to understand AI and its implications for their companies and shareholders.

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Okay, let’s dive back in!

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

Shares tactics for enabling effective 1×1 discussions between managers and their direct reports. You can also view this post on LinkedIn and join the conversation and/or share it with your LinkedIn network!

2023 JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few firms that announced job cuts this past week include:

  • Charles Schwab. (NYSE: SCHW). Has laid off about 5% to 6% of its employees, amounting to roughly 2,000 people, as it looks to cut costs.

  • Informatica (NYSE: INFA). The provider of cloud data management software announced a 10% staff reduction and unveiled a new $200 million stock repurchase plan.

  • Panera Bread. Is laying off about 17% of its 1,800 corporate employees, or about 306 staff members, ahead of its planned initial public offer. The move is part of the company’s strategy to streamline its operations and improve efficiency.

Click here or the image below to access all listed announcements from 2023.

Partial view of the tracker

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

This past week, there have been 18 new announcements posted on CHROs on the Go—a subscription-based platform that tracks hires, promotions, and resignations in the Chief HR Officer role. This week’s hire of this week is:

  • Westinghouse Electric Company (CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA)—the world's leading supplier of safe and innovative nuclear technology—announced the appointment of Ann Miller as Chief Human Resources Officer. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President and CHRO of CoolSys, LLC. Her previous leadership roles include positions of increasing responsibility at Voyant Beauty, Optimas OE Solutions, Dover Corporation, and General Electric.

Ann Miller

  • If you want access to over +3000 (and growing) detailed announcements of CHROs hired, promoted, and resigning, join CHROs on the Go.

  • If you are already a subscriber to CHROs on the Go, log in here.

FROM X (AKA TWITTER)

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

Addresses three main barriers that discourage employees from applying internally and offers suggestions for how firms can enable internal mobility.

THE BEST OF OCTOBER

Did you miss the “Best of October” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #206, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from October. 

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OUR RESOURCE LINEUP

​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,000 curated articles, research reports, podcasts, and more that help practitioners drive better business results through strategic human resources and talent management.

CHROS on the Go is a subscription that provides the easiest and most convenient way to stay informed about Chief Human Resources Officer hires, promotions, and resignations in organizations of all sizes and industries.

​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6 PM EST.

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