Human capital trends 2014Proceed with action, challenges ahead

Canada edition

TREND 1 Leadership

73% of Canadian business

and HR leaders believe leadership

development is their most important

challenge over the next 12-18 months

And 67% think they’re ready

or somewhat ready to do so

Organizations across Canada – in fact, around the

world – are struggling to keep up with the emerging

multi-generational, borderless, technology-savvy

workforce of the 21st-century.

The challenge Growing leaders at every level

The way forwardDevelop and nurture a leadership culture unique to your company and connected to your customer brand

• Ask your HR organization to build programs and tools to enable

leadership development at all levels of your business

• Engage top executives now to take accountability for the development

of your leaders for tomorrow

• Build a strong bench of leaders where your strategy matters

• Align leadership strategies and programs to business goals, refreshing

as the business evolves

TREND 2 Talent retention and engagement

55% of Canadian corporate

leaders agree this is a major challenge

74% feel ready or somewhat

ready to address it

21st-century employees, especially millennials, are

motivated by more than a paycheque – they want to

be inspired and to satisfy their professional, social and

personal goals.

What’s a company to do to recruit employees

these days?

The challenge Feeding the passion

The way forwardFocus on inspiring talent

• Align business and corporate objectives with the professional, personal and social goals of employees

• Don’t try to keep employees from leaving; try to inspire them to reach their goals with you

• Build a boomerang effect: when employees leave, stay in touch and bring them back with more experience

• Provide work that is meaningful and satisfying to the individual employee

• Challenge the performance management process: Is it timely enough? Does it provide actionable feedback? Are you developing and playing to employees’ strengths or investing in developmental weaknesses?

• Ask employees what matters to them, and ask them frequently

TREND 3 Workforce capability

50% of Canada’s corporate leaders

feel this is an important issue

73% are confident they are ready

or somewhat ready to address it

Organizations must now compete globally for

increasingly scarce specialized skills. Even finding

the talent is a challenge in itself: they’re unevenly

distributed around the world. Add to the mix that

these scarce skills are in demand over a broader

range of industries than in years past.

The challenge Minding the gaps in capability

The way forwardBuild, buy and rent a global workforce to compete in an open-talent economy

• Translate your business strategy into current and future skills needs

• Tap into new skills pools in new places

• Extend the global supply chain: develop talent centres in emerging markets, partner with educational institutes to build a talent pipeline, consider purchasing specialized firms and build from within

• Recognize you need multiple talent suppliers to meet your business demand

• Foster continuous skills development

TREND 4 Talent acquisition and access

45% of business and HR leaders

in Canada think this is a major concern

62% are confident they are ready

or somewhat ready to address it

The challenge The battlefield for talent is shifting radically

The rise of global talent networks, social media,

employment brands and changing views of careers is

compelling organizations to update and revamp their

talent sourcing strategies.

The way forwardUse new talent acquisition strategies that are fit for purpose

• Partner with corporate marketing to build an integrated branding and communications strategy that attracts customers, new business and future employees

• Leverage social media to build broader and deeper talent communities (beyond Facebook)

• Use big data tools, from vendors like LinkedIn and Facebook, to source qualified candidates around the world

• Extend the targets for recruiting: look for new talent pools to hire or borrow (e.g., freelancers) and search globally as well as across industries and functions

• Use your alumni employee base to access future talent

TREND 5 Learning and development

This will be a top issue over the

coming year for 42%

of Canadian corporate leaders

Here, too, leaders are confident in

their readiness to address it:

72% say they are ready

or somewhat ready

Nothing replaces personal business experience but the

new generation relies on technology to learn. Learning

content is now delivered via various online and mobile

platforms, massive online open courses, collaboration

tools, gamification and social media, feeding a training

model where employees choose how to develop their

skills and experts share knowledge freely.

The challenge Corporate learning looks a lot different these days

The way forwardCreate experience with technology-enabled, blended learning

• Build it into your performance goals by asking employees to think about on-the-job learning, job shadowing and experiential learning when preparing their performance objectives

• Redesign training programs: say yes to social and collaborative learning

• Standardize, simplify and integrate learning technology, and on a mobile-enabled learning platform

• Assess your learning culture: Do your managers help develop people or just drive the numbers? Is employee development truly important and valued in your organization?

Read the full reportHuman capital trends 2014: Proceed with action, challenges ahead

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