HONG KONG, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- In times where the economic prospects are bleak, HR managers are often under pressure to keep an eye on budgets and are expected to do more with less. No doubt HR managers are always faced with challenges, but as research shows, the most pressing challenges to HR all relate to talent. Good measurement through talent audit is increasingly recognised as a critical component for driving organisational performance and success. SHL, the global leader in talent measurement solutions, recommends Hong Kong corporations to overcome these talent challenges by using assessments as a powerful solution.
“Organisations that understand the potential of their people achieve outstanding results, and their performance drives organisational success. A lot of organisations are good at understanding this concept. I think that’s important in terms of not just understanding the talent you have within your organisation, but actually being able to measure that talent in an effective way,” says Mr. Stuart Hedley, Managing Director, SHL Hong Kong Ltd.
It is important that you know what talent looks like in your organisation as it is linked to everything we do in the HR lifecycle. The most critical challenge facing HR is and always will be talent, so how to measure and manage talent is the first priority. Talent audit and measurement would be of good help. Commenting on the concept of talent audit, Mr. Hedley says, “I would say talent audit is a methodology. Chief executives in business often say that people are their most important asset. Finances and revenues are often deemed to be important and are audited. So as we say people are important asset, then, people also need to be audited. That’s why SHL named this methodology as talent audit.”
He further explains, “Talent audit is a snapshot of your talent or talent pipeline at a specific point in time in relation to an organisational objective. It is like taking a picture of an organisation’s talent pipeline at a specific point in time. It allows you to understand what your talent looks like, so that you could find out who your future leaders are and know if you’ve got the right people to execute your strategy.”
Talent audit is a good tool to help uncover talent in organizations and identify where any gaps exist, it allows organizations to be very objective in assessing talent’s ability to perform successfully in a given role. Conducting a gap analysis will allow them to pinpoint where the gaps are and how they can be bridged, so that they will know if they have the talent who they can invest in to upskill them for future leadership roles.
Talent audit also improves the level of employee engagement. “Organisations may be focusing on external recruitment because they may not think they have the right talent in the organisation. However, when budgets are tight and HR needs to do more activity with less resource, ultimately what they have to do is to streamline their acquisition processes. With the help of talent audit, organisations can turn to internal recruitment and grow the succession pipeline. If employees see opportunities in career progression, they will be more engaged and will potentially have a longer lifetime within the organisation,” Mr. Hedley adds.
Mr. Hedley believes that: “to achieve success in this climate, organizations need to align HR with their business strategy and ensure they have a robust talent management strategy in place to demonstrate their value to the organisations.“ He also suggests HR managers looking at how they measure their talent, it is because sooner or later the chief executives will start asking the question: what does my talent pool look like? How can I drive market advantage? So, it’s time to measure the talent and it’s never too late to start!
More information on SHL Talent Audit can be found at http://www.shl.com/uk/solutions/talent-mobility/talent-audit.
About SHL
SHL is the leader in talent measurement solutions, driving better business results for clients through superior people intelligence and decisions - from hiring and recruiting, to employee development and succession planning. With a presence in over 50 countries, SHL delivers more than 25 million assessments annually in over 30 languages - allowing over 10,000 business customers to benefit from both global expertise and local insight. Along with its world-class consulting practices and 24-hour support centre, SHL clients can access over 1,000 assessments through an easy-to-use technology platform. Headquartered in London, UK, the company has offices in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. For more information, please visit www.shl.com.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Karen Wong: karen.wong@shl.com
Tel: +852 2837 3907
