Talent Management: Integration, Transition, and ending the Employee Life Cycle

Everything has been disrupted in favor of acceleration! New trades and knowhow are emerging, while others are doomed to disappear. Employees are more mobile, and careers are less linear. It is no longer a matter of just a short-term approach to effectively managing human capital and growing businesses and employees at the same time. Skills management and employee loyalty must integrate over the long-term. Honoring the life cycle; a concept of the future!

The economy and the financial sector has acquainted us with the concept of cycles. More recently, environmental policies have introduced us to the “life cycle” approach of products, teaching us to optimize the use of a property, not to perceive it as an ephemeral consumable but as a renewable and recyclable asset.

An employee is certainly not a product, but applying the concept of life cycles to career paths has the advantage of giving HR policies time, perspective, and significant ability to anticipate and adapt. The idea: to value the contribution of employees throughout their professional life and their successive engagements in the company, from hire to retire – even sometimes beyond.

Coping with transition

The rule is: depending on the career, the employee knows promotions and status changes. The company must effectively manage these developments, especially during these crucial steps:

• The “onboarding”, in other words the reception and integration of new employees, embarking on the company’s adventure;
• A change of position, promotion or transfer
• An employee’s departure (“Offboarding”), whether it be the result of resignation, a dismissal, retirement, or otherwise;
• Transitions related to an evolution of the company itself, such as a merger or acquisition

These transitions are normal in the lives of employees. They feed their experience and nurture their professional lives, but they are also of great importance to companies.

Technology at the hands of managerial innovation

Professional transitions are moments of truth for all stakeholders.

Whether it is recruitment, skills management and training, promotions, evaluation or compensation, HR needs digital tools to manage these transitions — that is, solutions that transcend the traditional administrative staff.

Cegid offers such solutions. The comprehensive Talent Management Suite aims to unify administrative management and talent management, by virtue of being people centric (oriented to each individual). It allows for proper integration, performance monitoring, talent detection and development and compensation management. In short, it properly manages an employee’s life cycle – putting the employees back into the heart of HR processes.

Successful transitions, a source of enhanced performance and savings

There is a classic contract between the so-called capture model and the stabilization regime. The latter being perceived as more sustainable, as it centers around deeper and lasting employee relationships. Remember, companies are committed to stabilizing the employer-employee relationship via the implementation of policies and access to information.

Dynamic transition management has proven to be useful through a long-term focus on talent management, stimulating employee performance and retention.

Alternatively, a poorly anticipated and managed transition can be a source of dissatisfaction for both parties; ultimately leading to a decline in employee performance and a financial burden for company by virtue of having to replace an employee.

Be proactive: Think Ahead, Plan Ahead.

When a company recruits a new employee, it seldom thinks of the end of the contract. However, it is not unproductive to consider the possibility that this employee may one day leave. Though it is not uncommon for some employees to return one day, it is also in good taste to implement operational procedures should this be the case.

After all, a manager’s imperative is to be ready to help their employees leave. As dismal as it sounds, it’s not a question of investing in resignations, but rather, helping them move on and conquer the next challenge.

In short, while it’s great to say “hello” to new talent, saying “goodbye” is not indicative of failure: former employees can remain allies and even, in some cases, brand ambassadors. The end of a cycle is no definite means to an end.

Find out more about how to better manage your workforce from hire to retire, with a modern Talent Management Suite designed to fit your industry best practices.