Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #250

Employee retention risk, HR tech, succession planning, Chat GPT HR prompts, and leader priorities.

Author

Brian Heger
July 28, 2024

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Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly!

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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Below is a quick overview with links and brief descriptions of the topics covered in this issue. If you're interested in my deep dive, including bonus resources, continue reading the rest of the newsletter.

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

Let’s dive in! ⬇️

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

EMPLOYEE RETENTION

My new one-page template to think through aspects of employee retention risks and potential follow-up actions.

As the retention of top talent remains a concern for many leaders and managers, I am reminded of a quote from Leigh Branham's book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: “Employee turnover is not an event — it is a process of disengagement that can take days, weeks, months, or even years until the actual decision to leave occurs.” This quote perfectly captures the extended deliberation process that employees experience, from the initial thought of quitting to their final decision. To empower managers to proactively identify and mitigate critical retention risks before an employee decides to leave, I have developed a new one-page template. This tool prompts managers to consider essential questions about their team members: Is the person a high performer? A high potential? Do they hold a critical position? To what extent would their departure negatively impact the organization? In column one, enter the names of employees to be reviewed. The following columns allow managers to indicate with a check mark whether each team member meets the specified criteria, with the option to modify these criteria by editing the column headers. The final column is reserved for documenting follow-up actions on areas of concern. While templates are not necessary for identifying retention risks, simple tools like this can help managers proactively and intentionally address the most critical retention risks on their teams.

HR TECH

An excerpt from my recent book chapter highlights the importance of conducting pilot testing to evaluate HR tech before making purchasing decisions.

I authored a chapter titled, “Enabling Strategic Workforce Planning Through Skills, Artificial Intelligence, and Internal Talent Marketplace,” in the recently published Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Professional Practice Series book, Strategic Workforce Planning: Best Practices and Emerging Directions, edited by Marc Sokol and Beverly Tarulli. Over the next few weeks in Talent Edge Weekly, I will share insights and recommendations from my chapter. This week, I emphasize the importance of piloting a technology platform before making significant investment decisions. While vendor demos of their tech platforms are useful, they are often brief and controlled, using sample data that do not fully address implementation challenges. Instead, conducting pilots within a targeted group in the actual business environment, using real data and employees, allows organizations to better evaluate a platform’s integration, functionality, and impact. It is advisable to select pilot groups based on business needs (rather than a ‘volunteer’ approach) and strong leadership support, treating these pilots as strategic business initiatives rather than HR-led projects. Although successful pilots do not guarantee full-scale implementation success, they significantly enhance the likelihood of informed purchasing decisions that produce tangible business results. Next week, I’ll discuss the critical role of building a solid business case to secure leadership support for these initiatives.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

My one-page infographic containing 5 resources on various aspects of succession planning.

As I continue to receive several requests for resources on succession planning (SP), here is a one-page infographic containing links to five different resources on SP. A few of the resources include: a 20-minute discussion from CNBC’s WEC Summit with Christina Schelling, Verizon's SVP and Chief Talent and Diversity Officer, focusing on Verizon's strategic use of data science and talent intelligence over the past 12 months to revamp succession planning and executive development for its top 300 VP+ level executives; an article by Gartner providing ideas for building robust leadership pipelines amid disruption and continuous change, featuring a case study of Bridgestone's adaptable approaches to succession planning; and an MIT Sloan Management Review article that examined 185 executive-level job descriptions, finding that many are poorly designed, contributing to misalignment between jobs and successors. I’ve also included my templates on SP metrics and SP questions to help inform an organization’s SP practices. I hope you find this infographic helpful for easily accessing various resources on succession planning.

CHAT GPT FOR HR

My PDF includes 10 example Chat GPT prompts for HR and screenshots of the resulting output.

HR practitioners continue to utilize Chat GPT to redefine their work and unlock new capabilities. Here is my PDF that includes 10 examples of Chat GPT prompts you might use for HR. The prompts are related to topics such as internal mobility, talent reviews, workforce planning, and employee onboarding, to name a few. Each slide includes a prompt (what you are asking for) and a sample of the output. For example, a talent management prompt that centers on “creating a draft talent review agenda” might have the prompt: “I am conducting a talent review for my organization. Write an agenda for the talent review. It is important that we discuss employees’ potential, retention, and talent development, to name a few. Another prompt regarding employee onboarding might be: “Our company is a luxury retailer that needs to onboard new sales associates. Create a 6-week onboarding plan that includes key people to meet, core brands, store policies, and workplace safety, to name a few topics. Please note that this PDF is intended to spark ideas on how you might leverage Chat GPT in your role. Use it as a starting point and modify it as you see fit. I’ve included a page at the end for you to document additional prompts you may want to explore.

LEADERSHIP

Provides an overview of the concerns and priorities of 1,036 CEOs and 1,285 directors, highlighting the key issues they are currently focusing on.

This article shares survey results based on responses from 1,036 CEOs and 1,285 directors in Spencer Stuart’s network. Leaders represented all major industry sectors. Also, more than 1,200 employees in the U.S. and U.K. were surveyed, comparing their responses and leaders’ views. Among the findings is that company culture is the top priority of leaders, with 75% of CEOs and directors saying it is a priority they are actively working on in their organizations. However, just 51% of surveyed employees believe that leaders are prioritizing culture. Also at the top of the list of priorities for leaders (69%) is the changing workforce and access to talent. One topic mentioned is hybrid work, with 72% of leaders saying their companies have adopted hybrid work, 19% reporting that they have a policy that requires workers to be in the office, and 9% saying their companies are fully remote. “Nearly one-quarter (24%) of leaders were still undecided about whether they planned on changing their in-office policies, indicating at least some leaders are keeping options open.” Other ideas are discussed, including AI in the workplace, where only 40% of leaders call generative AI a priority they are already addressing; another 27% have plans to address it.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

TALENT MANAGEMENT

A new report answering 10 questions about high performers and high potentials.

This new report by the Talent Strategy Group offers insights from a survey of over 300 companies worldwide, focusing on ten key questions about high performers and high potentials (HiPOs). One finding is that while nearly 50% of HiPOs have development actions identified in talent reviews, 75% of companies state that less than half of their HiPOs have high-quality development plans.

JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Check out my tracker of announcements from a segment of organizations that have conducted job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

Partial view of tracker on brianheger.com

A few job cuts announced this past week:

  • Canon USA Inc. The company recently laid off between 100 and 150 workers at its Melville headquarters, representing 9% to 14% of its local workforce. The layoffs aim to streamline operations and drive efficiencies to achieve necessary performance levels and remain competitive.

  • Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK). The pharmaceutical company laid off around 75 to 80 people in its Early Research division. The layoffs, which span multiple groups and represent a small percentage of Merck’s overall workforce, are part of a routine re-evaluation of the company’s structure and resources, not financially motivated.

  • Nationwide. Announced plans for a 5% staff reduction over the next year. The cuts will come from its property and casualty insurance operations and technology teams. There will be no cuts in the company's financial services operations.

Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

Denny’s Inc. (SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA) [NASDAQ: DENN]—a family dining restaurant brand—announced the appointment of Monigo G. Saygbay-Hallie, Ph.D., as Chief People Officer, effective August 5th. Saygbay-Hallie joins Denny’s from Checkers & Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants, where she served as the company’s Chief People Officer since January 2022. ​

Monigo G. Saygbay-Hallie

If you want access to +3800 (and growing) detailed announcements of CHROs hired, promoted, and resigning, join my CHROs on the Go subscription—a one-stop-shop for knowing who is moving in and out of the Chief HR Officer role.

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FROM X

LABOR MARKET

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

AI AND CHIEF HR OFFICERS

This paper presents 35 questions that Chief HR Officers and their teams can consider while helping to establish guidelines for utilizing generative AI in their organizations

THE BEST OF JUNE 2024

Did you miss the “Best of June ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #246, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from the month.

The “Best of July” will be published on Wednesday, July 31st, so be on the lookout for it in your email inbox!

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RESOURCE LINEUP

​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,300 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. You can connect with Brian on Linkedin, X, and brianheger.com