Welcome to the 14th episode of the Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast!
Before I jump into this episode – I wanted to let you know about an extra special offer our sponsors Stratigens are offering to all our listeners.
If you go to Stratigens.com, book a demo, and enter the promotional code “TIC2021”, you’ll get a discount and a free proof of concept. How wonderful!
It’s been a while, but the group is finally back together. And we’ve all been pretty excited. Because in this episode, Alison, Toby, Nick and I were joined by a big hitter – Elke Manjet from SAP.
One of the most interesting articles that Toby saw this month was about women in the workforce. The Financial Times article quoted, “The biggest trend we will see over the coming years is women dominating and redefining much of the labour market.”
I found this piece really interesting. We have all just been through such a seismic shift. In our workplaces, flexible working and reduction in travel and notably the increase in men having to stay home and co-parent have levelled the playing field regarding our careers and future.
Alison Ettridge
If you look at the enrolment rates across the colleges, there is often a higher representation of females, but you see the drop off rate in the post-education. I think this will truly show the companies who are ready to embrace the future – they will be setting themselves up to capitalise on diversity as a competitive advantage.
Nick Brooks
It’s a cultural change that is allowing this shift to happen. And the ramifications of this shift are likely going to affect a lot of departments outside of Talent Intelligence. Workforce planning, for example.
On the topic of the workforce, there are ample pockets of people that historically, companies have been terrible at engaging with. With over 790 thousand people aged between 50 and 64 years either actively seeking work or are inactive but willing to work, this is undoubtedly a gap that companies shouldn’t be overlooking?
Ageism is still a colossal issue. We’re talking about a group filled with knowledge and expertise. It’s a real missed opportunity. And I find that most companies do try to hide behind the guise that the workforce is simply unable to keep up with digital transformation.
Toby Culshaw
When you look at your workforce, it shouldn’t be about bums on seats; it’s about the diversity of thought. And those grey hairs do count for something.
Alison Ettridge
However, digital transformation is ever-changing and with time out of the workplace, you can risk being left behind. So when looking at this gap as an opportunity, we also need to consider returnships. How do we re-introduce this workforce? How do we bring them up to speed?
Given the skill shortage, this part of the population is definitely not tackled enough. We should be looking at upskilling society. So at SAP, we’ve partnered with a company that offers digital upskilling regardless of their prerequisite.
Elke Manjet
Maybe you could tell, but as we were all quite eager to find out more about our fantastic guest, I figuratively passed the mic onto our hard-hitting resident interviewers extraordinaire, Alison and Nick.
Alison, in particular, was extremely excited to hear about Elke’s thoughts on the rise of Talent Intelligence. From someone who is not a leader in Talent Intelligence but has spent years within the tech transformation industry, working for one of the biggest global tech industries.
While before we gathered insights anecdotally, Talent Intelligence is the professionalisation of information gathering. The need for data has also grown as companies globalise and labour markets grow tighter, which has fuelled the demand for Talent Intelligence.
Elke Manjet
While Nick wanted to go back to a few things that Elke mentioned previously: bringing data to the higher levels and working closely with the CEO to make data-driven business decisions.
How do we go about shifting the conversation? And involving that level of seniority?
Talent Intelligence at SAP is a very new function, so when I took on the Global Talent Attraction lead role, we had a pretty noticeable gap. I started by building a business case, going to the CHRO, and highlighting how this missing piece was critical for the success of our function and, ultimately, the future of the company.
Elke Manjet
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