Talent Management Technologies and the Talent Managed

As HR departments across Canada and the United States have continued in their strict, waist-slimming regimen of doing more with smaller workforces, many have, predictably, begun to explore technologies and methodologies designed to manage employees to their fullest performance potential, finds an annual Towers Watson HR Service Delivery Study. For 42 percent of the more than 450 companies Towers Watson surveyed, talent management technologies (defined as "talent/performance systems" in the study) designed to improve employees' performance are among the top three HR service delivery issues for the balance of 2010, up 20 percent from 2009, when just 35 percent of companies surveyed placed this among their top three HR service delivery issues.

One factor that has, in 2010, fallen off the radar of top concerns is "cost" -- surprisingly, amid a recession. HR professionals report their technology budgets were not severely affected by the recession's many funding cuts. In 2009, only 36 percent of respondents reported a decreased budget for HR technology. For 2010, respondents report even more bullish outlooks, with fully 83 percent increasing or maintaining their technology budgets year over year (54 percent and 29 percent, respectively).

The trend begs the question: How do employees feel about being talent managed? How does it affect or have bearing on their performance? "The Talent Perspective: What Does It Feel Like To Be Talent Managed?," a study comprising survey responses from 302 senior employees at 11 U.K. companies of various sizes ranging across several industries, finds that 81 percent feel more engaged when they are enrolled in employer-run talent management programs. Conducted by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the findings further reveal that most senior managers recognize the benefits of talent management initiatives.