The pandemic created a workforce shortage that was long foreseen but quickly accelerated due to the drastic way that the rise of COVID-19 affected candidates. Many were (and still are) unable or unwilling to work due to many factors such as lack of flexibility, low wages, unsafe work conditions and more. Any company that was in a workforce program prior to COVID had to adapt as quickly as possible, and as a result, many companies are left dealing with a gap in their ability to find the talent they need to meet their business objectives.
Now more than ever, companies are being forced to re-evaluate their recruitment and retention approach while also re-evaluating their strategy and suppliers. Plus, they also have to create a path forward in a market that is more difficult to recruit in than in any previous shortages. But this isn’t all bad – this need for change has allowed the gaps in existing incomplete and immature talent strategies to come to light, be addressed, and updated as needed.
Essentially, it’s time for companies to re-evaluate their workforce needs and talent acquisition strategy to fit the new work environment that has emerged. This vital re-evaluation of talent acquisition programs and strategies can be challenging for some companies to handle on their own and many are not equipped to do so. This is where DZConneX’s (DZX’s) Advisory and Consulting services come in.
Clients can engage our talent expert’s Advisory Services to holistically analyze their talent acquisition program to see which components of their strategy are still working correctly, which components need to be eliminated or improved, and which components need to be added. Adhering to the exact same talent acquisition strategy that your company implemented pre-COVID will likely not lead to successful post-pandemic workforce management goals. By engaging our Advisory Services, we can provide a Total Talent Optimization Strategy to help your organization achieve their workforce goals in this evolving talent market.
Keep reading to uncover the three step re-evaluation approach that our experts take with our clients.
When a client chooses to engage in our Advisory Services division to create a Total Talent Optimization Strategy, the first step is to analyze the current state of their contingent workforce. The point of this in-depth analysis is to help us,
During the analysis phase, a series of stakeholder engagements will occur to ensure everyone’s needs are being considered for the new developing strategy.
Part of this holistic analysis will typically include an analysis of the supplier rate card and the supplier ecosystem. Some companies have been partnering with the same supplier for a long time, and they get too comfortable and don’t realize that there may be better suppliers out there in terms of price and capabilities. By analyzing and comparing supplier rate cards, we will be able to gain visibility into which suppliers the client should be partnering with to meet their unique needs. Without comparing available suppliers in your market, you’ll never know if your organization is getting the optimal supplier experience.
Another focus of this re-evaluation process should be on the technology the client is utilizing. With technology being such a useful talent acquisition tool, companies need to make sure they are using the right technology stack to their advantage.
The last engagement during the current state workforce analysis should focus on pay rates and the talent marketplace. Considering that the talent market has changed significantly since the start of the pandemic, it’s essential to analyze the new market and how it has both stayed the same and changed to fully understand what needs to be adapted. Analyzing the current job market will help companies determine a new strategy to attract the best talent, and understanding the current pay rate is crucial when it comes to retaining talent. DZX’s experts can perform all of the analyses mentioned above for your organization then discuss the current state of your workforce with you before deciding on a strategy moving forward.
Once the current state workforce analysis is complete and our experts and client feel they have adequate information to proceed, it’s time for our experts to recommend a customized Total Talent Optimization Strategy for the client. This implementation won’t be one quick change that immediately produces the desired results. This strategy will likely require a 3-5 year roadmap where the client will start to see results throughout it. The roadmap plan will include various parts of the strategy, from the implementation process to the intended goals and outcomes of the overall strategy with detailed components and best practices of the new talent acquisition program.
The new strategy will be derived directly from the insights gained during the re-evaluation that occurred during Step 1, the current state workforce analysis. For example, if our analysis of your current workforce reveals that your organization would benefit from hiring more contingent labor, then the strategy would detail a plan of action to attract this classification of workers.
Our expert recommendation will also include a cost control plan to ensure that we are staying within an agreed upon budget throughout the entirety of the partnership. By determining a cost control plan before implementation begins, there will be no surprises leading to dissatisfied clients paying more than they had ever intended to. It’s important to note that this implementation process won’t work unless all stakeholders are on board and approve of the plan. Without having the approval of all stakeholders, organizations will have a difficult time completing each part of the recommended roadmap.
After the client is on board with the strategy, it’s time to implement the plan based on an outline of the steps it will take to accomplish the shared goals. The initial implementation of this strategy is not where the partnership ends. Since the Total Talent Optimization Strategy will be completely unique to each company’s needs, it’s essential to continuously check in with the client to see how the strategy is working in real time. Having periodic checkpoints set into the roadmap is a great way to make sure a company is on the right path to meeting their goals.
We will also continuously check in to make sure we are adhering to the agreed upon budget initially set in the recommended cost control plan. Companies will continuously evolve internally during the 3-5 year period and the external market around them will simultaneously be evolving, so re-engagement is necessary to make sure the strategy still aligns with their environment.
This process can also include future benchmarking to ensure the strategy is on track to align with a company’s future goals as well; this partnership is meant to last even after the ground work is done. By choosing to engage in our Advisory Services, we will help your business grow and succeed with our customized Total Talent Optimization Strategy in place.
Learn more about our Advisory Services here.