Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #254

Talent review maturity model, re-recruiting former employees, quality of hire, board of directors and talent strategy, and ethical AI.

Author

Brian Heger
August 18, 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, you can read the full newsletter.

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

Let’s dive in! ⬇️

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

TALENT REVIEWS

A new paper on how executives, HR business partners, and talent management leaders can support talent reviews.

Many organizations conduct talent reviews to identify and develop employees with the potential to advance into larger, more complex roles. However, effective talent reviews require more than just the right tools and technology; they demand active engagement from key stakeholders. This white paper explores talent reviews through a case study of UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), a world-renowned healthcare provider, and introduces a Talent Review Maturity Model. This model focuses on three key stakeholders: executives, HR business partners, and talent management leaders, outlining their roles and responsibilities to ensure active engagement throughout the process. Page 10 provides key questions for each stakeholder group to assess where their organization stands on the Talent Review Maturity Model. For example: Are executives challenging each other with different perspectives on talent, or merely observing? Are HR business partners acting as engaged contributors or just silent notetakers? Is there a consistent, strategic process in place for talent management leaders to support discussions on individual performance and potential? The paper also offers several other practical ideas for enhancing the talent review process. As a bonus, I am resharing my one-page editable worksheet to help practitioners evaluate aspects of their talent reviews.

TALENT ACQUISITION

I share reasons why recruiting former employees, in some cases, can help organizations meet their talent needs. Includes my template to support this effort.

Many organizations seek ways to identify and recruit from untapped talent pools to gain a talent advantage. However, one talent segment that is often underutilized is former employees, sometimes referred to as ‘boomerang employees.’ While not all former employees should be re-recruited, some may desire to return to their previous organization, bringing with them in-demand skills. These individuals can also offer organizations a performance advantage upon rehire. A study published in the Academy of Management Journal revealed that former employees often outperform new hires, especially in roles requiring strong relational skills and internal coordination. And there may be an optimal timeframe for re-recruiting former employees. For example, a Visier analysis of 3 million employee records across 120 organizations over a four-year period discovered that the average time away for employees resigning from and returning to their previous employer is 13 months. The likelihood of a former employee returning sharply declines after being away for 16 months. These data points suggest that the critical time frame for rehiring former employees (in general) falls between 13 to 16 months. Does your organization have a strategy to identify and re-recruit former employees? Use my template to begin to identify employees you may want to target for re-recruitment.

TALENT ACQUISITION

I share a few observations for organizations to consider as they think through their QoH measures.

Talent acquisition teams use various metrics to assess the effectiveness of their organizations’ recruiting and hiring practices. While tactical metrics like time to hire, candidates per hire, and offer acceptance rate are commonly employed for their ease of measurement, strategic metrics, such as quality of hire (QoH), are harder to measure. According to the 2024 LinkedIn Future of Recruiting report, QoH is the top priority for recruiting professionals this year, continuing its prominence since 2020, when it showed the largest gap between importance and current capability among eight key recruiting metrics. The 2024 report suggests expanding QoH to include factors beyond performance, such as team fit, culture alignment, productivity, and retention, though some of these rely heavily on hiring managers' short-term perceptions. Given the evolving skills landscape and the increasing focus on long-term internal mobility, organizations should also consider longer-term QoH measures, like assessing an employee's potential for future roles and the development of skills important to the organization's future. This broader view of QoH requires moving beyond a hiring manager’s shorter-term perspective and incorporating diverse talent data throughout an employee’s tenure. Has your organization defined QoH? Has it identified the most valid and reliable data sources to measure it? Is QoH even a useful metric? This could be a good topic of discussion at your next team meeting.

TALENT STRATEGY AND BOARDS

Covers four areas in which boards are increasingly interested regarding talent and workplace matters.

Boards of Directors (BofD) are increasingly focused on human capital and capability issues, such as talent strategy. A new paper, based on a survey of over 150 U.S. public company directors across various industries, reveals that most boards now discuss workforce matters at least quarterly (58%), a significant increase from 40% in 2019. The paper summarizes feedback from BofD respondents on how they govern talent, the most impactful people oversight practices, and the barriers they face. It identifies four key opportunities for boards to champion: 1) employee experience, 2) reskilling in the context of AI, 3) diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and 4) talent governance and metrics. For each area, the paper outlines specific actions boards can take to enhance their support. For example, regarding employee experience, boards can engage more directly with employees to better understand their perspectives, as surveys and reports may not fully capture employee sentiment. The paper also includes nine questions for boards to consider, such as how the company’s talent strategy aligns with its broader long-term goals, how it positions itself as an employer of choice, and how training and development programs are reskilling the workforce to build necessary skills, particularly in the era of AI. Even for organizations without a BofD, these questions reflect the priorities of business leaders

AI IN THE WORKPLACE

Offers tactics to address the five key concerns employees have about AI, including its ethical use.

As organizations implement AI in the workplace, many strive to uphold the highest ethical standards, emphasizing individual rights, privacy, and non-discrimination. However, according to this Gartner article, more than three-quarters of employees doubt that their organization’s future use of AI will be ethical. This lack of trust stems from specific fears about how AI will be applied, including job displacement (AI might replace me or make my job harder, more complicated, or less interesting), reputational damage (my organization could use AI irresponsibly, harming our reputation), and data insecurity (AI solutions might put my personal data at risk). The article outlines ways to address 5 concerns employees have about AI. For example, IBM has mitigated reputational risk by expanding accountability beyond the executive team. IBM’s ethics and privacy team established a governance framework that used the company’s ethics principles to guide AI project owners and deputized AI ethics representatives within business units to oversee policy implementation. This formal policy has boosted employee trust in organizational accountability. As a bonus, I am resharing this HBR article that underscores the importance of a global AI ethics model that accounts for differences in cultural contexts. It points out that Western perspectives often dominate emerging global AI ethics standards, which can result in biases that inadequately represent diverse populations.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

SUCCESSION PLANNING

My consolidated one-page cheat sheet with questions and metrics that can help organizations shape their succession practices.

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:

  • Eventbrite Inc. (NYSE: EB). The ticketing-and-events platform announced it is laying off approximately 100 employees, representing about 11% of its workforce, as part of cost-reduction efforts following a decline in gross ticket sales.

  • LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: LZ). The online small business formation company announced a restructuring that includes a 15% reduction in its global workforce and a reduction in planned hiring efforts, aiming to achieve approximately $25 million in annualized savings.

  • Mastercard (NYSE: MA). The payments processor company plans to cut its global workforce by 3%, impacting around 1,000 people. Most of those impacted would be notified by the third quarter.

Click here to access all listed announcements.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

This past week, several new Chief HR Officer announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go, my subscription-based platform, where I track movement in and out of the CHRO role. This week’s CHRO hire of the week is:

  • McDonald's (CHICAGO, ILLINOIS)—the world’s leading global food service retailer—announced that Heidi Capozzi, EVP and Global Chief People Officer, is departing the company to become the Chief People Officer at CVS Health. Tiffanie Boyd, currently SVP and Chief People Officer for McDonald’s USA, has been promoted to assume Capozzi’s role, effective August 19. ​

Tiffanie Boyd

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FROM ME ON LINKEDIN

Catch up on some of what you missed from me on LinkedIn this week:

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FROM X

EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION

Provides real examples of how various organizations are implementing DEI practices.

This comprehensive 38-page report offers valuable insights. One section starting on page 9 covers seven case studies featuring organizations leading the way in DEI practices, such as HEINEKEN and PepsiCo.

THE BEST OF JULY 2024

Did you miss the “Best of July ” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #251, which includes 14 of the most popular resources from the month.

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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