The concept of total talent management (TTM) has taken on legendary proportions in a few fleeting years. It’s an elusive phenomenon lauded by industry think tanks and research gurus as a disruptive, but essential, part of the evolution of talent acquisition. But if that’s the case, why are so few companies joining the blended-talent-model parade?
The reason may be simple. Defining and establishing a total talent program has become a massive, bewildering circus a la 2017’s breakout musical film The Greatest Showman. The movie follows the rags-to-riches story of P.T. Barnum, founder of the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and his convoy of starlets who pirouette on tightropes and leap through hoops emblazoned with fire. In our bustling corporate world, workforce management specialists are modern day ingénues, churning out countless white papers and promising to perform sensational feats in the name of TTM. Watching the performance are baffled corporate executives, who – despite the glamorous display – are more confused than ever. They ask: “Why is TTM important for my company?” “Who does it benefit most?” “What’s the best and most cost-effective way to achieve it and, quite frankly, why is now the time to care?”
First Things First: What is Total Talent Management?
Simply put, TTM is the management of permanent and temporary employees under one umbrella with the support of a single provider. For those seeking a more strait-laced definition, TTM is a strategic holistic approach to an organization’s workforce fulfillment needs that integrates a singular model inclusive of multiple worker types, classifications, and outsourced resources. What’s not so simple is understanding the plethora of temporary employees encompassed under the TTM canopy.
It’s become a spectacle within itself to understand the diverse (and ever-growing) slate of workers— contingent, permanent, gig workers, freelancers, offshore workers, volunteers, consultants, and robots (yes, robots!). Not only could this list go on for millennia, but it is also constantly changing to meet the needs of an increasingly complex and global marketplace.
Where Does Total Talent Begin?
The nice thing is there is no prescriptive approach to making this work. Rather, here are some options to consider when dipping your toes into managing multiple talent streams.
- If you have an MSP provider that is managing your contingent workforce, step one may be as simple as allowing this team to create an interface on your career site that brings visibility to all the temporary jobs inside the organization, giving the thousands of candidates that visit your career site monthly the ability to choose. As with any choice, the MSP team transforms and becomes a talent acquisition team for temporary talent, harmonizing jobs, managing the process, and directly recruiting temporary talent in partnership with staffing suppliers.
- For those in manufacturing, plant-level talent is another place to start. Here is where talent acquisition may take the lead to create an employment marketing strategy that communicates the various work opportunities that exist inside the plant, and execute on hiring events. Working collectively with the right partner’s talent acquisition teams, you will be able to mobilize the right talent channels to bring people in. Plant leaders loves this since it reduces vacancies and allows teams to deliver products to the market on time.
- Finally, there are instances when a “three-legged” candidate is considered for full-time employment, but the hiring manager doesn’t believe the third leg is fully developed. Simply giving the hiring manager an option to try before they buy may bring great untapped talent into your organization.
Why Now?
Because you have everything to gain. One of the ultimate goals of TTM is tapping into talent streams that are either completely overlooked or underutilized. In an interview with HRO Today, Peter Carvalho, AllSTEM Connections President, said companies may juggle up to 14 distinct talent streams which can result in reduced transparency for stakeholders and a decentralized management strategy. An air-tight TTM business model seamlessly integrates these siloed talent pools into one functional talent category. TTM also addresses skills shortages, which are reaching near epidemic proportions in the U.S. and around the world. While jobless claims are at their lowest since 1967, a report released earlier this year by ADP and Moody’s Analytics sheds light on a challenge many employers combat daily: companies are struggling to fill a whopping 6.7 million job openings in the U.S. alone.
Companies may juggle up to 14 distinct talent streams. - Peter Carvalho, AllSTEM President
Let’s keep things crystal clear – creating a cohesive TTM strategy for so many talent streams may take some time in the trenches, even with the assistance of an experienced service provider. It also demands a significant shift in corporate culture from procurement and HR. Procurement, which has traditionally focused on acquiring contingent resources, and HR, whose role has been focused on permanent staff, must become a unified front. Individual business units also come into play here, as they often take ownership of SOW and other project-specific activities.
Process changes take time. Bottom line – the sooner you start this process, the better.
But, are you ready?
Possibly. There may be aspects of your company structure that already use a blend of full-time and temporary talent, where collaborative work efforts can be “beta tested” to create the movement needed for change inside the organization. If you’re unsure, consider AgileOne’s proprietary maturity assessment model below. This framework allows executives to evaluate their company’s existing processes and benchmark them against best practices gleaned from AgileOne’s industry experience. For their clients, this means an opportunity to more successfully predict and fulfill business commitments. Where does your organization sit within this model? Are you in the early stage with separate or non-existent processes for each resource type? Or are you in the advanced “workforce and evolution” phase with more focused goals and fewer management silos? If your company fits best in the chart’s early phases, you’ve likely got more planning to do.
It’s also possible you’re not ready if:
- You don’t have buy-in from senior leaders as well as adopters and internal champions at every stakeholder level across your organization to drive conversations about TTM.
- You have limited insight into basic factoids about your company’s internal operations, such as how many contingent workers are under management. Consider exploring the genetic makeup of your organization and how people move from an external role to an internal role inside the business.
- Your company doesn’t have clearly defined objectives.
Avoid being a bandwagoner simply because TTM is in fashion. Instead, be intentional and envision a TTM utopia where every facet of your workforce management program works in tandem and harmony. Case in point: your workforce management specialist can only do so much if you don’t have short and long-term goals.
Now what? No matter how you answered the questions in this article, the move to TTM starts with choosing the right partner. Seek out the services provider most aligned to your overarching goals and culture. Vet them thoroughly, ask a ton of questions, call their references, and be sure they have a proven track record of success in building TTM programs. You’ll also want to assess any technologies they bring to the table and recommend including their analytics capabilities and breadth of reporting options.
Most importantly, the best company will understand your overall, enterprise goals and will help you create strategies to move you from where you are to where you want to be. This will include wiping out operational silos, realigning your troops, and mapping out a solution that is unique to challenges your company faces. A solid provider will have a history of agnosticism, inclusion, and integrity in workforce solution design. It’s appallingly clichéd, but the real secret to TTM is to allow the experts to help you help yourself. Save the circus for the kids.
About AgileOne
From leading technologies to award-winning services, AgileOne provides true total talent management. Good vendors can provide cost savings, risk mitigation, vendor management, and talent acquisition; a great partner supports business goals and navigates the legislation, regulations, and trends that will shape the future. Going beyond traditional workforce programs with a single consultative partnership engagement that supports where you want to go, and how you can get there, is our strength. With operations in 22 countries around the globe, AgileOne is certified minority/woman-owned.