A Net Zero Approach To Talent

ManpowerGroup will play a leading role in ensuring workforces have the skills and talent needed for energy transition and a carbon-neutral world.

In the lead-up to COP26, the U.N. Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow in 2021, ManpowerGroup’s CEO Jonas Prising joined more than 90 other CEOs of large multinational organisations to sign an open letter to the world’s leaders. The letter committed leaders to accelerating the race to Net Zero emissions, and to doing more together to create a better world for people today and for generations to come.

This pledge is just one example of how businesses across the world are increasingly focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. ManpowerGroup will play a leading role in ensuring workforces have the skills and talent needed for energy transition and a carbon-neutral world. However, it is the S in ESG, Social, that is a critical focus of Talent Solutions. The employee experience and how people feel about their company, from their first touch to their last day, is key to driving talent sustainability. And data shows businesses aren’t doing enough to improve the experience of employees; for example, in the U.S., only 68% of workers are happy in their jobs. ManpowerGroup’s own ‘What Workers Want’ research shows that workers want to be proud of where they work, and eight in ten employees (81%) now expect training programs from employers to help keep skills up to date.An organisation’s people are its most valued resource. It is talent that sets them apart from the competition and drives innovation and performance. Leaders must strive for a Net Zero approach to talent, where the aim for talent is for there to be zero waste throughout the talent pipeline through effective career mobility and to build sustainable talent ecosystems. Yet many businesses are not using their most critical resource effectively. Organisations are constantly competing to recruit and retain top talent — a challenge being made more acute by the skills shortages affecting most sectors. New approaches are needed.The key to a sustainable approach to talent requires organisations to look holistically across their talent practices and to reimagine how they attract, hire, reskill and redeploy talent in order to optimise the skills of their people.

As organisations think about talent in more sustainable ways — and build cultures and communities based on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging — they can create self-sustaining talent ecosystems.

Many companies already recognise the need to state their goals for Net Zero carbon emissions. In doing so, they’re not claiming that they won’t emit carbon, but they pledge to ensure that the carbon they emit will be balanced with measures to create a Net Zero equation. It’s the same with talent. As organisations evolve, there will be skill shifts, restructuring and other changes in the business that affect its employees. But, if the right talent sustainability practices are in place, companies can have a renewable supply of the right talent at the right time to offset the other side of the equation, creating a Net Zero approach to talent.

A recent report by ManpowerGroup highlights how a mix of long-term trends and more immediate economic and social shocks have radically altered the outlook for the labour landscape.

From climate change to digitisation, organisations must adapt to constantly evolving demands, and leaders have been forced to reassess how they manage their workforces as a result.

The skills people need have shifted rapidly. Workers need new, often digital, skills and they need to gain proficiency faster than ever. Digitisation and automation mean people’s roles are changing, and workers have had to learn to do their jobs in new ways. This transformation was accelerated by the pandemic.

Practically overnight, there was a shift to remote work. For many workers, the changes brought about by the coronavirus have also led them to reassess their own career priorities. At the same time, a post-COVID skills shortage has increased the negotiating power of jobseekers as businesses compete to find talent.

Both workers and companies recognise the need for something new and different. Understanding their talent resources and using them effectively is crucial for organisations applying a Net Zero approach to talent.

The evolution of social and cultural attitudes is transforming the way people feel about where they work. People want to work at organisations that reflect their values. And progressive movements, most notably Black Lives Matter, have brought issues like diversity, equity and inclusion to the forefront of leaders’ minds. Fostering a culture of belonging is now a vital role for HR teams.

Leveraging A Talent Sustainability Framework

The Talent Sustainability Framework was designed to help businesses respond to the challenges facing their workforces and offers a flexible approach that takes into account the maturity of an organisation’s talent practices. The framework equips HR leaders with the insights and solutions they need so that they can develop a strategic plan for the sustainable management of their talent.

The Talent Sustainability Quotient (TSQ) provides organisations a way to benchmark their maturity for key talent practices in order to prioritise investment and effort in areas that will yield the highest value. As organisations navigate the new labour landscape, they often face the question of what talent priorities to focus on first. Unfortunately, this single-focused approach creates a perpetual reactive state — never allowing an organisation to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable strategy.The TSQ enables a holistic approach, so that HR Leaders can implement solutions that not only address the challenge on the surface, but also get to the core of the problem and identify the interventions needed to create a sustainable talent ecosystem.

Whether it’s your return-to-work strategy, diversity or recruitment, organisations must recognise that all these issues are interlinked. You’ve got to keep a pulse on the whole picture and look at your talent from a holistic, sustainable point of view. Businesses can’t afford to ignore any area.

Allison Kerska
Vice President, Global Client Consulting, ManpowerGroup Talent Solutionsne here…

The Three Domains of Talent Sustainability

To make the workforce sustainable, a company needs a complete picture of its talent and talent needs.To achieve this, the Talent Sustainability Framework tracks three domains, each with six dimensions that are critical enablers of building a sustainable, talent-centric organisation.

ACQUIRING & HIRING TALENT TO ACCELERATE TIME TO PRODUCTIVITYWith 69% of employers globally unable to access the talent they need, organisations need to ensure their brand and sourcing practices provide frictionless candidate experiences that enable them to stand out and engage employees from the first touch to their last day.

ENGAGING & EVOLVING TALENT TO CREATE A HIGHER-SKILLED WORKFORCEThe World Economic Forum estimates that one billion people will need to be upskilled by 2025. Organisations need to ensure that the investments they make in upskilling are focused on the right people who are engaged and want to stay. If they do, businesses can encourage good people to stay longer. Through active career development, organisations can help employees to be more effective and achieve more throughout their time with the company. Three in four workers (74%) who plan to stay for longer than two years have undergone career coaching.

IMPROVE CULTURE, RETENTION & BELONGING BY TRANSFORMING LEADERSLeaders set the culture for an organisation. ManpowerGroup’s own ‘What Workers Want’ research shows that people want to be proud of who they work for. Nearly nine out of ten (86%) of millennials would consider taking a pay cut to work at a company whose mission and values align with their own.