Federal Talent Management – Seeing Beyond Recruitment

As Federal agencies grapple with multiple challenges, from finding top talent in the face of rising competition from the private sector, to the retirement tsunami and budget challenges, an emphasis is typically, and not unexpectedly, placed on talent acquisition. The challenges in this process are not trivial, and without coming to grips with improving this function of HR, chances for success in acquiring top or even adequate talent are severely minimized.

At the same time, it is still imperative for HR to move beyond this initial “first phase” of the talent management spectrum and carry the mission through to ensuring that great talent found remains engaged, valuable and in a partnership that both employer and employee find rewarding. At the crux of this challenge is employee performance management, and ensuring attention to this element of talent management will help ensure investments made in talent acquisition are not wasted due to poor follow-up.

An automated system can maximize the benefits of forward-thinking business processes designed to better engage employees and ensure both sides of the manager-employee relationship are on the same page. A thoughtful performance management system can also help your organization quickly identify top performers, allowing for better-informed decisions about employee performance, as well as succession planning. In addition, as Federal agencies face another hurdle in hiring and retaining millennials, performance management systems can help HR better engage this important demographic.

While having top talent acquisition and performance management systems in place can help elevate your entire talent management environment, further economies and efficiencies can be realized with a common and integrated platform that encompasses each of these categories. Time-saving capabilities such as single sign-on and common user interfaces across multiple systems help HR professionals, managerial staff, employees and candidates-turned employees function better and more efficiently in the talent management ecosystem. It can help foster the mindset of bringing the various pieces together and forming an ongoing commitment to serving the organization’s talent management needs.

Is your agency handling the recruitment and performance management processes separately or as an integrated solution?