Organisations are struggling to deliver on talent needs – and employee and organisational performance are suffering as a result, says Gartner.
A June 2024 Gartner survey of 190 HR leaders revealed that 41% agree their workforce lacks required skills; 50% agree their organisation does not effectively leverage skills; and 62% agree that uncertainty around future skills poses a significant risk.
“When an organisation’s talent is not consistently ready to meet changing business needs, overall employee performance decreases by 26 percentage points,” says Dion Love, vice-president in the Gartner HR practice. “To win at talent management, employers must embrace talent fluidity.”
According to Gartner, organisations with more fluid talent can more efficiently build and buy business-critical skills, redeploy talent to where it has the greatest impact on the business, and respond quickly and appropriately to changing business conditions.
Three common barriers that inhibit organisations’ ability to implement talent fluidity:
- Uncertainty about skills needs and assets – only 8% of organisations have reliable data on the skills the workforce currently possess and those that have the greatest impact on business success.
- Employees and managers impede mobility – fewer than 20% of organisations move talent effectively to fill skill gaps.
- Difficulty balancing current and future skills needs – just 23% of organisations effectively develop skills of the future.
To overcome these barriers and create targeted talent fluidity, HR must do three things, the research group says:
- Prioritise skills intelligence investments.
- Reduce personal risks and downsides that impede mobility.
- Focus on the core skills of today.
“Organisations that successfully embrace fluid talent can increase their talent readiness by up to 60%,” says Love. “However, only 10% of organisations are taking a targeted fluidity approach.”
Prioritising skills insight
While new GenAI technology shows early promise in bringing more precision to organisations understanding of their skills needs and assets, HR leaders are finding that these efforts are proving burdensome – without providing results in the short-term.
The solution is to prioritise investments in skills intelligence for the roles that have a greater impact on the business and then further refine the focus to those roles that are also highly dynamic – those that are subject to the rapid and ongoing evolution in market forces today.
Maximising mobility
Organisations are increasingly relying on internal talent to close skill gaps. Yet, fewer than one in five leaders from the June Gartner survey agreed that their organisation can effectively move talent based on business need. A May 2024 Gartner survey of 3 375 employees found that one in three employees feel they could have a bigger impact in another role in their organisation.
“Many organisations have invested in building the case for internal mobility yet it’s not coming together the way it should,” says Love. “To achieve internal mobility, employers must address the real costs associated with mobility – namely, the risks felt by employees and the compulsion of managers to hoard their best talent.”
Focusing on today’s skills first
The skills mandate spans two time horizons: Employees need the skills that are essential to their performance today; and they need those that are going to support their future performance. These two parts are challenging in equal measure.
The June Gartner survey revealed that HR leaders ranked skills gaps as the number one risk for their organisations – they reported addressing unclear future skill needs as the number two risk.
Gartner’s research identified that HR should prioritise proficiency in today’s core skills over learning future skills. In fact, focusing on today’s skills have a five times greater impact on sustained performance than the skills of tomorrow.