Skip to main content

It might seem like a lifetime ago, but we are still dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and how we are adjusting to the post-Covid world. In the post-Covid workspace, the act of assimilating to the new digital reality and fourth industrial revolution also requires a change in how you source for and manage the talent that will facilitate this newfound reality and work culture. Once you understand this, you need to ask yourself, has your talent strategy evolved to accommodate the post-Covid-19 reality?

Your talent strategy is a practical plan for talent management that aligns with organisational goals and defines actionable and measurable initiatives to achieve specific talent objectives. At a strategic level, a talent strategy ensures that the talent you hire today will also be the talent you need to get you to tomorrow, acknowledging that your organisational goals will be achieved through the people you choose to include in your ecosystem. Therefore, the way you source, manage and grow talent as a roadmap for talent management in post-Covid times differs significantly from how it was done in the pre-Covid era.

The first step in developing a solid talent strategy is sourcing compatible and suitable talent to contribute to the company’s goals and objectives. A considerable part of sourcing this talent is being considered an “attractive employer” in the market. This means you need to have a competitive advantage in how you are perceived over your competitors.

This can only be achieved if your sourcing style has evolved and considers the needs and wants of the talent in the market today. These efforts are achieved through accurately positioning your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) in the market and attention-grabbing talent branding.

The market has evolved in a post-Covid world, and everyone has become more technologically advanced. Therefore, your EVP and talent branding cannot be mechanical, traditional, and stuck in the pre-Covid era to attract these individuals.

A primitive and out-of-touch EVP may be modernised by changing the Talent strategy, workplace policies and work culture to be more conducive to post-Covid workplace structures. These offerings could include hybrid and remote working structures that will play into the talent’s technological savviness and promote a work-life balance, flexible work schedules that will afford employees the necessary autonomy and the freedom to capitalise on the hours they are most productive, and learning and development opportunities that will allow employees to grow their skillset and performance levels.

The second step to developing a solid and modernised talent strategy is nurturing the talent employed in your company. This calls for a transformed style of management and leadership – preferably a style that moves away from the pre-Covid methods and approaches to talent management.

Workplace leadership will need to embrace the fact that Covid-19 prompted employees to work independently and develop a working style conducive to independence. Therefore, it is imperative for management to afford employees autonomy and break away from the controlled management style that was implemented before. This includes providing employees with sufficient resources, training, and support to perform their roles well and with a certain level of freedom conducive to their job duties.

Companies and managers are encouraged to deeply understand the new talent that comes into their company and endorse the growth and creativity of such talent. What was once a culture fit and suitable for a role may not necessarily be a fit in the post-Covid era. Therefore, managers are forced to reconsider job requirements for the roles they wish to fill to cater to emerging talent and ensure that the role and new working styles align. By considering competencies and personality traits upon recruiting, hiring managers will note that they achieve a better culture fit hire and lower turnover rates throughout their business.

The final step in developing a solid and yet evolving talent strategy is to grow, upskill and develop the talent you employ. A company stuck in the pre-Covid way of talent management will struggle to upskill post-Covid talent. For the talent in your employ to grow and remain engaged, the company needs to be open to new ways of growing the knowledge and skills of the typical modern-day employee and the more established and experienced employee. This may mean tapping into the digital space and seeing how to incorporate the technology brought into work practice by the fourth industrial revolution. Embracing Artificial Intelligence in the workplace and introducing systems and processes conducive to a work-from-home structure are just a few examples.

Continuously evolving your talent strategy to align with modern-day employment needs and having the best talent in your employ will assist you in staying competitive and achieving your business goals.

Companies are advised to partner with talent acquisition specialists and talent architects to define what post-Covid talent looks like for them and how such talent can be nurtured in the workplace. Such partnerships can relieve a stretched human resource function and allow room for the company to craft relevant and up-to-date workplace policies. They allow companies and leaders to benefit from an all-around service beyond recruiting that includes the development of a talent strategy which aligns with both the talent in the market and your business strategy, talent brand positioning, competency-based sourcing, role profiling and forward-looking recruitment advisory services.