Reshaping Talent Management to current realities

Amanda Cini, HR senior manager at AlterDomus, a fully integrated fund and corporate services provider, explains the fierce war for talent in Malta, the current challenges and how we can reshape talent management

It is no secret that there is a fierce war for talent within the Maltese employment market. Malta enjoys one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe and in certain industries, including the financial services industry, the demand for talent exceeds the supply, ultimately making it harder to attract and retain talented individuals.

The current situation presents challenges for Human Resource (HR) professionals who have to attract, identify and recruit talent on a regular basis, especially when working for rapidly growing companies. This challenge extends to the retention of these same talents, as they are normally the profiles courted by other players within the same industry.

Besides dealing with the current situation, HR professionals also need to consider the generational change within the workforce. Millennials are expected to make up 35% of the global workforce by 2020, a change that makes it necessary to reshape the way we look at talent management in such an aggressive and competitive market.

If we were to generalise and look for common ground in all of the research conducted on millennials, it could be said that on the one hand, they come across as being laid back but on the other hand they are also passionate, strongly opinionated and creative.

Research has shown that a happy and motivated millennial employee expects instant feedback, recognition, work life balance and the opportunity to learn and to expand their skillset.

Keeping these employees engaged by meeting all their expectations is a challenge most employers are currently facing. Failure to meet all their expectations will mean that these same individuals will consider moving on to the next job, even if they have only been engaged in their current job for just a few months. The current scenario highlights the importance of talent management.

‘Talent management’ is no longer a buzz phrase, shared around in internal meetings to impress employees. Specific and tailored talent management programmes are essential to keep millennials motivated and engaged to ultimately improve retention. It is exactly for this purpose, that Alter Domus have just recently introduced a revamped Mentoring Programme.

The Alter Domus Malta office has grown to employ 135 individuals, thus giving them the opportunity to develop a solid and innovative mentoring programme, with three key targets:

- To increase their employees' value

- To keep their employees highly motivated and 

- To foster their employees' development, to become future AlterDomus leaders

Millennials are hungry for meaningful relationships and guidance. As leaders, they want to make a positive contribution to the business they work in whilst at the same time having fun and working with like-minded people.

At Alter Domus they want to see their junior employees grow and eventually develop into key individuals, so as to be the ones driving strategy in the years to come.

Alter Domus is lucky enough to have a management team of excellent mentors, through their vast experience and knowledge base, but more importantly their commitment and belief in this programme.

Besides contributing to the employees’ development, their mentors also help them network and connect with other individuals that can eventually support them throughout their career.

At Alter Domus they appreciate the individual characteristics of each employee. Everyone has different ‘wants’, styles of working, goals and circumstances and you cannot have a one size fits all approach, even if this is easier and simpler, it just won’t work!

As HR professionals, they have the responsibility to build a relationship with their employees that is deeper than the regular professional relationship.

It is crucial to learn more about who their employees are and what they want to achieve. This is why they strongly believe that any successful company must have a culture which is employee-centric.

A culture that is focused on supporting the continuous development of its workforce.

To further promote personal development, Alter Domus also covers the costs for educational courses that employees are interested in attending in order to expand their knowledge and skillset. They have created a culture which supports and drives initiative. This approach also has a positive influence on other employees as they will themselves evidence the fact that taking the initiative pays off in personal development and growth.

Millennials are definitely ‘Tech Savy’ and they embrace and use technology as a method to improve their own work-life balance. Therefore, they have recently launched a fully digital employee experience, incorporating a talent management portal that enables employees to be in control of their own HR processes and have continuous managerial feedback. Their Talent Management portal is yet another tool aimed at individually addressing the requirements of employees and their development.

The key takeaway from this is that the millennial generation know what they want and they want it ‘now’. As employers, we need to meet their expectations whilst at the same time continue to drive their development to also ensure the company’s growth.

As HR professionals we can choose to let the current challenges and changes within the employment market pull us down, or we can pull up our sleeves, and with the support of our respective companies, change our mind set to adapt to the ever changing needs.

A concrete, tailored and innovative talent management programme is definitely a step in this direction. The only way to attract the best talent is to reshape the way we think. Developing an employee focused culture is what makes a difference in the current reality and this is what they are doing at Alter Domus, both at a group and also at a local level.

 

Want to find out more? Check out AlterDomus here