Strategic Talent Planning: How to Prepare for 2025 Success

We're gearing up for a new chapter with the inauguration of a new US government administration. Whether you agree with his picks or not, President-elect Trump is actively strategizing and assembling a team to achieve his objectives over the next four years. Is your company prepared for the upcoming changes? A fresh economic strategy aims to reduce inflation, cut taxes, and support businesses. Are you ready for a potential economic upturn? Do you have the superstars on your team to handle the surge in demand from eager consumers? How will your business adapt to all the change? If your company has been observing from the sidelines or waiting to gauge the nation's direction, now is the time to take action! Companies with effective talent planning and positive HR practices will flourish in the evolving economy. If you're feeling like you're lagging behind, fear not, my friend! There's still time to catch up.

The New Economy

While a new economic policy is difficult to implement, historical indicators of Trump's prior years in office suggest he will be able to return money to businesses. Returning working capital to organizations and consumers through tax cuts and more strategic government expenditures is a significant move. The result: companies will have a chance to reinvest in their strategic M&A activity and business transformation efforts. However, it's important to consider the individuals leading and executing those efforts. Organizations must have a strategy in place to ensure they can continue their reinvestment efforts while also maintaining their core operations (such as selling their usual products or offering their standard services). Indeed, employees will, once again, be asked to do more.

The Time is NOW! Here are 3 tips to get started

1. Retain Your Heroes

One effective approach to retain employees is by offering flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options or flexible hours. (insert yawn) These arrangements aren't new, yet some organizations are still struggling to find the right mix of flexibility and productivity. And, with the increase in demand placed on employees, new, or expanded opportunities to work anywhere will need to be considered to retain the best and brightest. Employers need to finally come around to the age of remote work. More can be done AND organizations can achieve higher employee satisfaction without the lengthy, unnecessary commute to the office. While some organizations have been busy taking the important step of defining and articulating their work-from-anywhere policies, a common error is failure in helping employees understand the priority of work products. All too often, remote employees have been left defining work priorities themselves, leaving the employer or bosses to point to failed policies, rather than the admission of ineffective management of remote employees. Employers should beef up their manager training to ensure managers can effectively manage remote employees, including understanding and defining which work gets prioritized during work hours. Remote work isn't going away... the winners have already adapted. Jump into the winner circle!

Another strategy includes conducting thorough reviews of the available smart tools to help employees not only work from anywhere, but work smarter. Chances are, your company and employees are already using the latest xxGPT tool. But the pitfalls of over-relying on these tools have started to emerge. Not only should employers identify the suite of tools to work smarter, but employees should be trained and coached on how to effectively USE these tools. For example, a quick request from AI sources may give you seemingly satisfactory content results, but often employees fall short when using these tools because the additional context and details needed to provide a quality response (that is, a response specific to the situation and not general nor generic) isn't provided by those sources. Employees should not rely on copy and paste methods of such content, but should be trained to "read between the lines" of the content, use their critical judgement to augment or enhance the content, then place the content in the context of the problem. Often times, employees lack these critical steps. A "slow down to move faster" approach is mandatory if organizations are going to be able to adopt smart tool usage and help their employees answer the call of the additional demand. Find the best tools, use the best tools, and train your employees on how to effectively use the best tools.

Providing opportunities for career development and growth within the company can also help retain employees, as they are more likely to stay if they are involved in meaningful work and see a clear path for advancement. Consider offering employees that are your best at providing your core products or services with opportunities to be involved in the next strategic M&A move. Providing new, exciting work for employees will help to retain your all-stars. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Those employees will need to understand all the nuances of deals and the demands that the new work may require of them (e.g., "the speed of deals"). Creating programs to help get them up to speed will be required for them to hit the ground running. In addition, talent planning will be required to back fill their current roles. Implementing a mentorship or rotational program is one way to accomplish rapid upskilling and onboarding. Mentorship and rotational programs also foster a sense of belonging and support among employees, leading to higher retention rates.

Finally, offering competitive compensation and benefits packages can make employees feel valued and appreciated, increasing their loyalty to the organization. Compensation in the form of equity is the recommended retention approach. Most compensation professionals that specialize in retention programs will tell you the right approach to retain high performing employees is a mix of cash (e.g., bonus) and equity. Developing the right mix can be tricky, and knowing how to create an equity incentive program is paramount to long-term retention. The right program will create a sense of ownership and responsibility for the performance of the company through stock incentives that enhance the overall compensation of the employee. Higher company performance results in more valuable incentives (i.e., stock units). As the company grows, so does the value of these assets. Employees that continue to accrue stock units over time can augment their salary in highly valuable ways.

2. Acquire the Stars

To acquire top talent, organizations can implement various strategies. Firstly, creating a strong employer brand that showcases the company culture, values, and opportunities for growth can attract top candidates. Utilizing multiple recruitment channels such as job boards, social media platforms, and employee referrals can help in reaching a diverse pool of talent. But check your employee feedback and social networks for what current and former employees are saying about your company. One thing is certain, candidates look at these sources (Glassdoor, LinkedIn, etc). Manage these channels and provide a response to disgruntled employees. Consider offering your own posts to provide a counter response to an irrational post. Tell your side of the story. Organizations need to get back to a sense of "wow, it would be cool if I could work there". Dispelling myths or rants about your company may help improve your employer brand.

Offering competitive compensation packages, benefits, and opportunities for professional development can also make the organization more appealing to top performers. Transparently convey on your social media or applicant sites how an employee can expect to grow their compensation over time. What can they expect at year 1, year 3, year 5, etc? What will they gain from development, too?

Additionally, conducting thorough interviews, assessments, and background checks can ensure that the candidates possess the skills and qualities needed for the job. Be sure to track your candidate experience and dropout points. Ensure dignity and respect ARE the process, not just a part of the process. Follow-up - don't leave a candidate hanging, and update your chat-bots to provide periodic updates on positions that seem to remain infinitely open. Providing a positive candidate experience throughout the recruitment process can leave a lasting impression and help in securing top talent for the organization. Imagine a candidate expressing "you know, I didn't get the job, but it was a great experience". This should be the goal of every organization.

3. Bridge the Talent Gap

When considering filling vacancies, utilizing contractors can be a strategic approach for businesses. Hiring contractors can provide flexibility in terms of project-based work or temporary assignments. This can be particularly beneficial when there is a specific skill set needed for a short-term project or to cover a gap in staffing. Contractors can bring fresh perspectives and expertise to the team, contributing to innovation and efficiency within the organization. Additionally, hiring contractors can help with workload fluctuations without the long-term commitment of hiring full-time employees.

When using contractors to fill vacancies, it is crucial to treat them with respect and dignity in order to potentially convert them to full-time employees. By fostering a positive and inclusive work environment for contractors, companies can showcase their values and culture, making the contractors more likely to consider a permanent position. Providing clear communication, offering training and development opportunities, and recognizing their contributions can help contractors feel valued and motivated to transition into full-time roles. Ultimately, showing appreciation and respect for contractors not only benefits the individuals themselves but also strengthens the employer's reputation as a desirable place to work.

There's So Much To Do... We Know You Need Help

The issue at hand is many organizations have been cutting back on staffing levels over the past 1-2 years (some longer). From September 2023 to September 2024, more than 238,000 employees were laid off across all non-farm sectors (1). Organizations have stripped down to bare bones staffing levels. But in 2025, already exhausted employees may be asked to do more. How will you retain your current employees? How will you accomplish your goaIs without burning out your current workforce? Is your organization set up for success in 2025? Do you have a talent plan in place? Are you actively working on addressing the talent needs to support your strategic goals for 2025 and beyond? Contact us. We can help.

(1) News Release - Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Released Tuesday, October 29, 2024. Job Openings and Labor Turnover, September 2024.