The ongoing pandemic ushered in a number of talent and culture related challenges for virtually all organizations. Hybrid and fully remote work environments over the past couple of years have changed the dynamics of how people work, the opportunities they seek, and flexibility demands by employees.
Insights from Talent Acquisition Leader
Mark Beasley, Professor and Director of the ERM Initiative, interviews Paula Herman, Director of Human Resources at Mecklenburg County Government, based in Charlotte, NC. Paula oversees the talent acquisition and retention efforts for the county that serves over 1 million citizens in the community and that includes over 6,000 employees. Paula shares insights about her views of the kinds of big-picture risks concerns for most organizations.
Risk Resiliency Teams
Paula also shares about how she created “Risk Resiliency Teams” to help do a deep dive about root causes of some of the talent and culture related risks and current risk responses. She highlights how she selected individuals to serve, and what they did to help better understand some of the root cause issues and how the County is managing them. She also describes the kinds of information the team summarized to provide County leadership a deep dive understanding of Talent and Culture risks.
She also highlights how the ERM process ongoing at the County have helped her in her role as Director of HR.
Here are a few realities all organizations are considering.
Risks in Attracting and Retaining Talent
Many individuals are realizing they no longer are bound to work in the locale where they live. Professional opportunities in other states and time zones can be pursued without having to pack belongings or uproot personal lives.
Others have grown frustrated with the disruptions triggered by the “new normal” of the shifting business environment. The hassles of constant change and the creep of work into all hours of the day have caused some to leave the workforce.
Labor Costs Rising
These changes are creating incredible challenges for most organizations as they seek to retain the great talent they have and attract new talent as needs arise. Competition for talent is high, driving labor costs upward for most organizations.
Impact on Organizational Culture
Organizational cultures have also been impacted as employees have been physically disconnected from one another. Maintaining the positive aspects of an organization’s culture has been made more difficult by all these developments. And, given new hires often begin working remotely, it is hard to help them see, develop, and embrace the desired culture for the organization.
