Organizational Strategies in the Battle for Top Talent

Gen X & Gen Y moving in, Traditionalists & Baby Boomers moving on

As time goes on and more and more members of the Traditionalist and Baby Boomer generations retire, organizations will need to find competent, skilled and knowledgeable employees to fill a variety of different roles. There are not enough Generation Xers to fill the labour gap left by Baby Boomers as there are over 1/3 fewer Gen Xers than Baby Boomers. This means that the negotiation position of strength is shifting from the employer to the employee.

Today, organizations are forced to compete to attract and retain the best and brightest Gen Xers and Gen Ys. Organizations are also looking for ways to attract and engage older workers who wish to continue to work on a part-time basis post retirement.

If an organization does not have enough of the “right” employees, its competitive survival could be at risk.

In order to attract and retain desirable employees, organizations strive to become best-in-class employers, appealing to the motivations, expectations and work approaches of all four generations. Developing an integrated people performance strategy is the key to winning the battle for top talent.

Organizations Competing for Talent

The shrinking labour pool has a number of consequences on attracting top talent:

1. Increasing competition between organizations for the ‘right’ employees;
2. Increasing tension between the public and private sectors, as each tries to convince high school students to select the post-secondary education that will lead to employment in its sector;
3. Increasing need for organizations to understand employee strengths and weaknesses from an HR standpoint, in order to create a work environment and career opportunities that will attract the top talent.

For experienced workers (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers), the key is to find ways to match their skill sets to your organization needs, while offering the employment relationship that experienced employees desire. This can mean offering part-time work, job-sharing or flex-time.

For younger workers, (Gen Xers and Gen Ys) attracting top talent means being able to paint a picture of a career in your organization that is clear and one that aligns closely with the career goals and expectations of these generations.

While different tactics may appeal to different generations, the key for organizations is to develop one integrated strategy that bonds employees into high-performing multigenerational teams.

Organizations that have the foresight to strategize and implement plans to be best-in-class now will be ahead of the competition when the battle for talent is at its height.