Organizations May Be Missing a Strategic Opportunity When It Comes to Finding Talent

Ongoing labor shortages and continuously evolving views of work necessitate that companies become more strategic about how they recruit and manage their workers. Specifically, they must not only identify the right mix of talent they will need to reach future goals, but ensure those responsible for finding and hiring new workers are actively involved in the process, according to a new report from The Conference Board.

The report examines the ways that companies can integrate talent acquisition professionals into the strategic planning process and why doing so is beneficial for business.

“Companies can no longer afford to minimize the importance of strategic workforce planning and should ensure the talent acquisition function is closely integrated,” said Robin Erickson, PhD, Vice President of Human Capital at The Conference Board. “In a tight labor market, businesses must bring every asset to bear to ensure they have the right people in the right roles at the right times.”

The report is based on four working group sessions The Conference Board convened in the summer of 2023 with Human Capital Center members and knowledge partners Cielo, Eightfold.ai, Talent Tech Labs, and Visier. Key insights from the report include:

Talent acquisition’s in-depth labor market knowledge can greatly benefit the strategic workforce planning process.

• These specialists have access to both analytic and anecdotal data about the talent marketplace, making their insights extremely valuable for strategic workforce planning.
• Involving talent acquisition executives in the strategic planning process also helps them devise and execute better strategies for achieving organizational hiring goals.

There is no one-size solution for effectively integrating talent acquisition and strategic workforce planning.

• The best approach depends on the state of each function in a company.
• Solutions can range from simply providing the talent acquisition team with strategic workforce planning data all the way to charging talent acquisition with handling strategic workforce planning end-to-end.

Companies should avail themselves of the numerous available data sources and tools.

• Effectively performing strategic workforce planning requires access to accurate internal and external data.
• Planners must also have the capacity to translate that data into meaningful and actionable insights.
• An effective strategic workforce planning program ought to include at least three types of data: labor market intelligence, internal data about your current workforce, and data about your company’s current and future business strategy.

Companies should apply proven talent acquisition strategies to improve their strategic workforce planning outcomes.

• Use a hiring funnel tool, a simple depiction that shows the yield achieved by every step in the hiring process. Using one allows companies to correctly anticipate how many recruiters, what kind of sourcing, and how many applicants it needs.
• Use a role prioritization tool to focus resources on the highest-impact jobs, ensuring that they are yielding the maximum possible return.

CHROs play a key role in maximizing the benefits of a talent acquisition and strategic workforce planning partnership.

• CHROS can remove barriers to the structural integration of human capital analytics, strategic workforce planning, and talent acquisition.
• They can direct the talent acquisition and strategic workforce teams to share internal and external data sources.
• They can establish and implement a capacity management plan to increase the potential for a successful collaboration.

Download the report Talent Acquisition and Strategic Workforce Planning: A Powerful Partnership.

Media Contacts
KPuello@tcb.org

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what’s ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. The Conference Board Human Capital Center provides businesses with insights and expertise to attract, develop, and retain talent, as well as build strong cultures that empower employees and drive performance.

About Our Knowledge Partners
Learn more about Cielo, Eightfold AI, Talent Tech Labs, and Visier.