Jobs: Staff exodus threatens business growth

That’s the view of talent management platform the Taleo Corporation which says staff turnover could threaten business growth this year.

Taleo has conducted a survey of 500 decision makers and nearly 25 per cent expect to see an increase in voluntary staff churn this year.

While many of the factors that encourage people to leave are things like more money and better opportunities, Taleo reckons companies are missing a trick by failing to enthuse talented workers by moving them aroundwithin their organisation.

Taleo’s research vice-president, Alice Snell, said: “The value of a talent mobility strategy is clearly recognised among the HR profession. However, it is currently being thwarted by a number of factors, most notably easily corrected system and data shortcomings.

“While the use of technology to support mobility is currently limited, evidence suggests that there are notable business benefits associated with a more sophisticated level of technology usage.”

These benefits could include increasing leadership and being better able to drive change and business growth.

She added“The companies that will be best placed to meet future challenges as we return to economic growth will be those that have the processes, systems and culture in place to support a truly holistic approach to talent mobility.”

She added that employees may take advantage of career openings when confidence in the jobs market returns.

Alice Snell added: “Introducing an effective talent mobility strategy, which allows companies to mobilise people internally in response to business needs can not only make great business sense, but can prove an excellent retention tool, offering employees internal opportunities to develop their career with their current employer.”

A low level of technology for identifying where to move people has been identified as abarrier for the majority of organisations, limiting the ability of HR professionals and senior management to identify where the opportunities and gaps within their organisation lie and matching these with existing, internal skill sets.

The majority of companies reported they were still ‘making do’ with company intranets to facilitate internal mobility, and in 30 per cent of cases, companies wererelying solely on email to make mobility happen.