Talent Relationship Management (TRM) – The Emerging Critical Advantage

The future of the workforce requires a different way of looking at talent and managing talent relationships. More freelancers, a more mobile workforce, and continued scarcity of key skills will require employers to manage much more long-term strategic relationships with talent, and to not just think about talent as a supply that can be procured from the market at any time. Companies can think about this emerging capability as Talent Relationship Management (TRM) and learn a number of lessons from the established disciplines of both Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM).

TRM has similar goals to CRM and SRM. Talent Relationship Management can be described as “building and maintaining relationships with critical talent to ensure that talent can be leveraged when it is needed and where it is needed, providing a competitive advantage for the employer.” Employers have generally thought of talent as something that could be accessed from the market whenever it was needed. Certainly, supply and the price of that supply fluctuated, but companies could generally get away with this strategy. However, a range of factors are changing this equation and companies can no longer assume that talent will be available when they need it.

There are predictions that by 2020, close to 50% of the workforce will be made up of freelancers. These workers have taken control of their own careers, often with the desire to do more of the type of work that they want to do and to have more control over their workload. These freelancers look at opportunities very differently and are not simply trying to survive from job-to-job. Most have choices and employers will need to find ways to not only attract these workers for the short-term, but also to build loyalty to the employer so these freelancers will come back when the employer needs them. The best freelancers will be most in demand, and employers will vie for their work. Imagine auctions where proven talent sells their work to the highest bidder or companies that are essentially blacklisted by freelancers because of a bad work environment or slow payment terms. These types of websites already exist, and as freelancers become predominant, these real scenarios will be more commonplace.

Couple this competitive dynamic with the very low unemployment in many places and the intensity for this talent increases. Several states are at 2.6% or lower unemployment, and employers are feeling the pinch. This further shifts talent to a “seller’s market” and further pressures employers to build a talent pipeline for not just future executives, but all critical positions.

Employers will need to think of cultivating talent the same way they cultivate customers or suppliers. That means:

• Segmenting them by capabilities and criticality
• Maintaining a long-term relationship based on mutual value
• “Locking up” critical supply
• Treating your best talent (or customers or suppliers) as such, and rewarding them accordingly
• Finding more creative ways to engage talent and build long-term loyalty

Let’s look at an example: Marie has been a very successful project manager at the company, knowing how to navigate the waters and getting things done. She is about to retire. She is looking forward to more time with family, but at same time does not really want to retire entirely and is looking to keep doing some project work, maybe as a volunteer with local community groups or as a contractor, a freelancer. Her manager tells her:

Case 1: “It has been great working with you. We are going to miss you! If you want to keep doing some project, keep in touch, you know we always need some help.”

Case 2: “It has been great working with you. We are going to miss you! Have you already registered on the Company Freelance Site to receive info on projects that might interest you? Have you already set-up your private practice? Can we set up a master agreement to be able to hire you if you are available?

Different dynamics, different way of engaging (or not engaging) Marie.

Having a good understanding of what attracts and motivates freelancers to support your company is similar to understanding customer behaviors and retention. The more there is competition in hiring, the more your company can become one of the top destinations for talent and the place that everyone wants to work. What will differentiate you and make you attractive?

You need to understand:

• Your needs: define the work that fits or needs to be moved/offered to freelance
• Freelance population(s) that can support your company needs

Define:

• What your value proposition is:
  • Ex: Name recognition (Your company name increases their marketability), work supporting and improving skill set (practice), remuneration, convenience (easy access to work, remote access, easy login to servers or document repositories), fast onboarding, easy contracting and billing.
• Strategies to deliver on it, taking into account all the touchpoints the company has and can leverage to delighting a freelancer
  • Ex: Project forecast visibility, contracting process, onboarding, project debrief, project celebration, invoicing/billing and skills training.

Great CRM or SRM requires looking at your company from the customer or supplier perspective and understanding how easy and desirable it is to do business with you.  In the same regard, Talent Relationship Management requires focusing your company’s people processes on the available talent supply and building an appealing brand and unique offering that will attract the talent you need when you need it.