Modern business is full of risk. At a global level, demographic shifts, a refocus by many countries on inbound immigration, climate-related impacts and the pivot towards sustainability focuses are changing how we view work and how organisations fit into wider society.
Then, at an organisational level, rapid digital transformation including artificial intelligence, skills shortages and evolving employee expectations, are causing businesses to re-evaluate future strategy and build new capabilities.
Given this risk profile, it’s unsurprising that many businesses are closely monitoring their current – and future – talent requirements, with a view to future-proofing their organisation. In a world where an entire enterprise has the potential to be agile, whether working virtually or moving jurisdictions, talent agility allows business to better match the skills talent has with jobs that need to be done. It’s an evolution of global mobility, taking a wider, more flexible approach to utilising talent across borders.
However, doing so requires confronting gaps in digital infrastructure that prevent business leaders from truly embracing talent intelligence.
This is a key priority for c-suite leaders. A recent survey of more than 800 business leaders by Deloitte and Raconteur found that 87% believe that talent intelligence is important or very important to their future strategy.
Teji Susheela Vishwanath is a director in global employer services (GES) at Deloitte LLP. She addresses some of the reasons why talent agility is currently so important to businesses.
“The first is digitisation. More people are working virtually, but organisations are also having to tap into particular skillsets that may only reside in certain geographies. A second issue is climate-related, and the potential displacement of people,” says Susheela Vishawanath. “The question then is, how do organisations tap into available talent and better understand their responsibility to their employees?”
Susheela Vishawanath cites the Middle East as a region that has historically received skilled labour, but is now actively developing the kind of skilled economy that will require a global workforce.
Demographics are changing too. Many Western economies face the challenge of aging populations and low birth rates, whereas other geographies – such as in the global south – might have an expanding working population and a developing economy. To meet growth targets, organisations need to go where the labour is. This is why mobility programme design is so important to future success.
Creating talent intelligence ecosystems
Building a future talent strategy is no longer simply the remit of HR and talent departments, but of the wider business. Susheela Vishwanath believes that the first step towards harnessing talent intelligence is to make it fundamental to your overall business strategy.
“The proactive companies in this space are linking strategic workforce planning to their business and technology strategies. There is a tendency for leaders to look at technology and artificial intelligence and believe that it’s going to solve everything. What you really need is a very clear understanding of what you’re trying to do. How do you bring your talent, technology and business strategies together?” says Susheela Vishwanath.
Often, this is about understanding, evaluating and managing your existing talent capabilities. Creating a culture of innovation and using new technology to crunch data is a good starting point when building talent intelligence ecosystems.
Ensuring you have some fundamental processes in place is key to getting the right outcomes, agrees May Myat Thu, partner and global employer services (GES) leader, Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co.
If you don’t know the skills your organisation needs, you don’t have a strategic plan
Myat Thu has recently helped to implement a skills-based talent intelligence system within Deloitte’s Japanese tax and legal firm, with the motivation being upskilling existing employees and matching market needs to existing skillsets.
“If you don’t know the skills your organisation needs, you don’t have a strategic plan. We needed visibility over the skills our organisation had, alongside a way for employees to understand where they needed to upskill or reskill – and the ability to recommend someone do so,” she says.
Existing employees can log into the system and see what skillsets they are lacking, before tapping into training options. At the same time, management can see skills blind spots and build appropriate talent portfolios for their markets based on the skillsets they already have in real time.
Building a skills taxonomy for the firm was a challenge, but doing so has allowed Deloitte Japan to have a tangible way of measuring organisational skillsets and then tying learning to future outcomes.
“Clean data and culture are vital building blocks for talent intelligence. If you don’t have the correct data inputs and management set up, you can end up with skewed talent intelligence,” adds Myat Thu.
Despite the need for innovation, realising the potential of technological transformation in talent processes remains a work in progress for many other organisations. Less than half (40%) of respondents to Deloitte’s research said that talent, workforce and HR was a top three priority for digital transformation, with broadly the same number (41%) believing it should be. Somewhat surprisingly, those in the c-suite were more likely to view the digital transformation of HR as a priority than colleagues working in the HR division itself.
The impact of AI
One area many businesses are optimistic about is the potential for artificial intelligence to transform processes and productivity. And while implementation of artificial intelligence is still nascent, many organisations are using talent functions as a way of testing out use cases.
According to Deloitte’s research, the majority of respondents (45%) believe that their people data is ‘well-prepared’ to support AI-driven talent agility, with AI insights already widely used across talent functions. A further 15% are ‘very well-prepared’, with AI insights and real-time talent intelligence powering decision-making.
Data-driven talent planning and AI interventions will also have a significant impact on mobility, enabling organisations to build more streamlined, compliant mobility programmes that are driven by real-time insights and powered more efficiently.
“AI has the potential to fundamentally change how businesses attract, develop, retain and engage their people,” agrees Michelle Fertig, principal, Deloitte Tax LLP, global employer services (GES).
She cites how recruitment teams already use AI to source CVs, review profiles and automate screening as examples of common use cases, but says the technology has the ability to play a more strategic role in workforce planning by anticipating and filling skills gaps.
“Predictive analytics, forecasting attrition and identifying skills gaps – these are all ways talent teams can use AI to get ahead of the curve and make proactive recruiting decisions,” says Fertig.
Another area is through dynamic skills mapping and agile workforce deployment. Here, talent intelligence systems (like those created by Myat Thu in Japan) allow employees to upload skills profiles based on project work, training and performance data.
Organisations can then use artificial intelligence to match employees’ skillsets with relevant opportunities in different geographies or functions. Not only does this allow them to optimise their existing talent pool and create more flexible work schedules, but it also taps into employees’ desire for agility.
It also allows businesses to redesign their talent strategies more flexibly. In this world, businesses will start to be led by the projects that need to be done, rather than the employees they have.
There is another way that AI could help organisations with workforce planning – and that’s by directly making up for talent shortages where businesses struggle to recruit key skills.
Deloitte’s research suggests that almost two-thirds of leaders believe that AI will significantly reduce the need for traditional approaches to international talent mobility in the next five years (i.e., purely physical relocations to another country). Interestingly, this sentiment is much lower among HR leaders, where one in five strongly or very strongly disagree that AI will have such an impact.
However, while AI may reduce the need for some traditional mobility, it will at the same time create new demands for agility as new roles and skillsets are required – making internal cross-border mobility even more important.
“I want people to be excited and hopeful about AI, in terms of how it can enhance their experience and help employees be better engaged,” says Fertig.
“AI will see a greater demand for human-centred skills like empathy, critical thinking and building relationships. These human skills are just as important as technical and AI skills,” she adds.
Indeed, a 2023 survey from the OECD on the impact of AI on finance and manufacturing roles found that 64% and 71% respectively of employers in those industries upskilled existing workers as AI was rolled out, compared with 17% and 14% who reported redundancies.
Future talent agility
A world of constant digital, technological and geopolitical change means that traditional talent strategy playbooks are no longer foolproof. Talent agility is essential in meeting these ongoing challenges, allowing organisations to adapt to shifting demands and redeploy employees into future roles, geographies and functions. At the same time, workers expect flexibility and the ability to balance work-life commitments more manageably.
However, true talent agility is impossible without the correct intelligence and data behind it. The organisations that succeed in this era will have clean data, AI products that aid decision-making and an understanding of how technology is impacting their workforce. Above all, they will align technology, people and business strategies in the pursuit of future goals.
“The future of talent agility is about being flexible, predictive and resilient in how talent is sourced, developed and retained. It’s also about doing it at speed. As organisations look to make more predictions around the future skills they’ll need, a greater sophistication around data-driven decision-making will be required,” says Fertig.
“Finally, remember that technology and AI are just tools. How well you use them depends on how well you understand them. If you think they are going to do everything for you, you’re wrong.”
The modern business world is characterised by rapid change, technological revolution and shifting demographics. Talent agility benefits both employees and employers, allowing skills to be deployed where most needed. However, making the most of talent agility requires developing processes, structures and a culture where true flexibility is embraced.
To find out more about talent intelligence and the future of work, please visit Deloitte
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Modern business is full of risk. At a global level, demographic shifts, a refocus by many countries on inbound immigration, climate-related impacts and the pivot towards sustainability focuses are changing how we view work and how organisations fit into wider society.
Then, at an organisational level, rapid digital transformation including artificial intelligence, skills shortages and evolving employee expectations, are causing businesses to re-evaluate future strategy and build new capabilities.
Given this risk profile, it’s unsurprising that many businesses are closely monitoring their current - and future - talent requirements, with a view to future-proofing their organisation. In a world where an entire enterprise has the potential to be agile, whether working virtually or moving jurisdictions, talent agility allows business to better match the skills talent has with jobs that need to be done. It’s an evolution of global mobility, taking a wider, more flexible approach to utilising talent across borders.
