Let’s go back to our childhood and imagine our closest friend. The one we couldn’t do without playing together, but also couldn’t play games without fighting when we got together! Let’s sit on both ends of the seesaw, with one of us holding “digitalization” in our lap, and the other holding “talent shortage.” Let’s call this seesaw the “employee experience.”
As digitalization intensifies, the talent shortage reaches its peak.
So, how are we going to balance these two children?
Digitalization is a necessity for competitive advantage and the survival of companies. Therefore, we are not lightening that side, nor do we want to. In this situation, expanding the talent pool becomes the focus of all companies. We want to fill this pool as if it were real. The pool remains filled in two ways: 1) the tap remains open, continuously pouring water in, or 2) the drain is closed, preventing the water inside from flowing out.
Let’s call this open tap our employer brand and the drain turnover. And let’s ask the biggest question every CEO asks HR. When will our pool be filled?
Ironically, when we open our employer brand tap, the drain of the rival company grows. When we close our drain, the tap of the rival company’s employer brand weakens. This is exactly where the foundations of talent shortage emerge. Consequently, the pools never seem to fill up, and when they do, they quickly empty.
This situation of the pools not filling up simultaneously is what we call talent shortage.
In 2023, global talent shortage reached its highest level in the past 17 years, at 77%. Turkey at 72%, the US at 75%, the UK at 80%, Singapore at 83%… (source: https://manpower.com.tr/blog/arastirmalar-ve-analizler/2023-yetenek-acigi-arastirmasi)
This report tells us that we only manage to fill 28 out of the required 100 positions willingly. We either cannot fill or compromise on the required competency level for the remaining 72 positions.
Additionally, can we find an answer to the question of whether digitalization inflates the need for talent in the report?
Let’s go back to the seesaw. Digitalization is heavy, and talent is scarce…
Now, let’s focus on employee experience projects, aiming to reduce turnover and enhance the employer brand. We have three key concepts in focus: turnover, employee experience, and employer brand. Isn’t it really difficult to explain all of these to top management and convince them of their value, and then secure the budget?
Yes, it is difficult because daily life and decision-making are data-driven, revolving around the profit, loss, and balance triangle. It is truly challenging to explain turnover, employer brand, and employee experience to executive boards and decision-making bodies that rely on mathematical decisions.
Time is short, the race is tough. Whoever gets ahead first will fill the cup sooner, and then the battle to keep it full will begin. Summer is coming, the weather is hot; I wonder if the hot weather will evaporate plenty of water from the cup 🙂
Understanding, explaining, and taking action on all of these concepts have been on my mind for a long time, and our most powerful weapon for this journey is Human Resources Analytics. Can we quantify and make understandable the abstract dimensions of HR, which are based on psychology and sociology, through HR analytics? That’s the question that has been on my mind for a while.
Wishing everyone abundant digitalization, talent pool, and data…
In the journey I believe will be won by those who don’t lose focus on the human aspect amidst the race for digitalization, I wish everyone success…
Mustafa İçer
Founder |Peopleoma