Understanding Talent Hoarding: How it Impacts Post-Pandemic Workforce

Employees are less likely to stay at organizations that do not allow them to grow in the post-pandemic era. One of the primary reasons why organizations struggle to retain their employees is talent hoarding. Talent hoarding frequently begins with the best of intentions, and many managers are unaware that they are displaying signs of the same. So, what exactly is “talent hoarding”?

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Understanding Talent Hoarding

Managers are said to be hoarding talent when they intentionally or unintentionally retain their best employees to meet their short-term goals. As a result, they end up undermining their employees’ personal development.

Employees are led to believe that their immediate managers’ need for their contribution surpasses the desire for their growth when they are not motivated to broaden their skill set, given exposure affiliated with their interests, or given the kind of experience they crave. This eventually leads them to consider leaving the organization and joining another in search of what they truly desire.

Gallup’s 2017 report on the State of the American Workplace, one of the most cited studies, revealed that nearly half of all employees surveyed were either actively looking for or considering new opportunities elsewhere.

New-age workers appear to be actively looking for other job opportunities in order to pursue their hearts’ desires and develop themselves.

Based on a new Deloitte report, 47% of Gen Z and 54% of Millennial employees will leave their companies within a year if they don’t feel heard at work.

According to a Gallup report, a significant 52 percent of those would have decided to stay with their organizations if they had been offered the right incentives.

Clearly, it is up to companies to collaborate with their leaders to find a solution to this problem and ensure that top talent is retained.

Why is Talent Hoarding Risky?

Individual and company-wide risks are posed by talent hoarding. Some of them are listed below.

Risks to managers

An effective manager not only gets excellent performance from their fellow employees but also mentors and prepares them for success in their future roles with the company and beyond. When a high-performing employee stays in a position for an extended period of time, it may indicate that the manager did not correctly coach the employee. And besides, what is the manager doing to aid an employee in improving their performance if they have been in a position for a long time and want to advance?

When a top employee decides to leave the company entirely due to a lack of opportunity, the manager is exposed to additional risk. In situations like this, the manager is frequently underequipped to fill the role.

Risks to employees

It is frequently assumed that once an employee has demonstrated a high level of competence in a role and maintained it for a period of time, the employee will be promoted to a more senior position with increased responsibility. As previously stated, if an employee cannot advance vertically or laterally within the organization, he or she may seek such opportunities elsewhere. This can have an impact not only on the staff who are being hoarded but also on those who would like to take over that employee’s position.

Since they were not given the opportunity to upskill, reskill, or train with other teams, hoarded talent may have less experience than their peers. And without acquiring new skills and knowledge, as well as the feeling of achievement that comes with it, an employee’s performance may suffer. Workers, after all, need to feel confident in their work and abilities; otherwise, they may become discouraged, disconnected from the company’s purpose, and disengaged from their job.

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Risks to the company

While it is a problem when a single manager hoards talent, when it occurs across your entire workforce, the negative consequences amplify. In all areas of the organization, engagement, and productivity can fall and remain low. You may face widespread retention issues, as well as difficulty attracting top talent to those openings, if company reviews on sites like Glassdoor show little chance for advancement, harming your employer brand.

There are additional risks to your company’s growth. After all, talent hoarding leads to the hoarding of those employees’ skills and ideas. As a result, other areas of your company will miss out on their knowledge and experience. Your business may suffer from a lack of new ideas and diversity of thought if there is no room for new talent to join the organization. And without broadening and diversifying your existing talent’s skill sets, your company may be vulnerable if employees leave or a reduction in force is required.

How can Human Resources Prevent or Stop Talent Hoarding?

Make internal career opportunities visible

Enable internal mobility by making roles available to employees first, outlining the requirements, and empowering staff to develop the skills required for the roles. It is more challenging for managers to hoard talent when there is transparency about opportunities within the company and internal hiring is encouraged. It also contributes to a strong pool of talent to draw from when a role is vacated due to top talent being promoted or moving to another area of the company.

Encourage and reward your managers

One reason managers may prevent top talent from leaving is concern that their team will endure without that employee. You can encourage inter- and intra-departmental training in addition to assisting and encouraging internal mobility in your organization. You can also help your managers by providing them with the resources and time necessary to cross-train employees.

Managers who help their teammates succeed by advancing their careers should be rewarded and recognized for improving the company’s skill set and engagement.

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Employees should be cross-trained

Encouragement of interdepartmental projects and cross-training with other divisions can benefit both managers and employees. Managers benefit from employees’ additional skills from other departments, and employees can learn from one another and from other managers. Based on the size of your company, you may be able to post project work on your internal job board and invite those who are interested to apply.

Upskill employees

Provide career development courses and workshops in a variety of subjects, either in person or online, so that employees can improve or learn new skills. Managers will have more talent to draw from if you increase the diversity of skills within your organization, reducing their need to hoard talent. Your employees will be more flexible and engaged, with more incentive to stay with you and advance their careers.

Employees and managers can benefit from career counseling

Employees can benefit from career coaching in a variety of ways. They can assist with goal setting and strategy development, in addition to assessing skills and opportunities. When a manager does not know how to mentor employees, providing career development from external mentors can help.

Managers can benefit from career coaching by learning how to offer feedback, establish and manage relationships, mentor, and more.

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]