A Pulse on
Talent Management
in the Year Ahead
U.S. Companies Leverage
Talent to Achieve Growth Under
Pressure
1818 Market Street, 33rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103-3614
www.right.com
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved.

A WORD FROM THE
HEAD OF TALENT MANAGEMENT
As we enter the Human Age, the spotlight is on
the Human Resources team. Why? Because these
are the people now responsible for creating and
sustaining their organization’s most important
competitive asset – its talent! HR is in the driver’s
seat for unleashing what is humanly possible. The
changing world of work is forcing HR leaders to
rethink work models, people practices and talent
sources. Never before has there been such an
important time to focus on talent.
Our latest body of research unveils trends related
to talent management practices anticipated in the
year ahead. We trust these findings provide a
barometer to compare recent trends to the
dynamics within your organizations, and to better understand the implications
and subsequent actions required to achieve growth in an increasingly
pressurized business environment.
New market complexities and client demands call for new solutions, grounded
in solid research and backed by proven expertise. We at Right Management
and ManpowerGroup are uniquely positioned to help you address these talent
challenges. We encourage you to read on to learn more from our fresh and
thought-provoking insights.
Michael Haid
Senior Vice President Talent Management
Right Management
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Managing Talent in the Human Age 4
About this Study 5
Key Findings and Implications
 Employers Worry About Scarcity of Talent and
Leader Readiness 6
 More Employers Find it Hard to Fill Key Jobs 9
 Few Employers See Staff Cutbacks 11
 Employers See Continued Slow Hiring 14
It Takes Talent to Win in 2012 16
About Right Management 17
 Contact for More Information 17
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 3

MANAGING TALENT IN THE HUMAN AGE
The world is experiencing an era of great transformation. Organizations are
racing to accelerate growth in the competitive and rapidly changing world of
work. These organizations face new risks… dated business models, traditional
organizational structures and uninspired people practices that are standing in
the way of successfully executing business strategies.
In this Human Age, talent is emerging as the key differentiator — the New It!
To drive your business forward, you need to unleash the potential of your
greatest asset — your people. Last decade’s rulebook, management
practices and tools no longer lead to success in 2012.
In the Human Age, the shift in strategic focus from capital to talent is putting
business performance results at the door of HR leaders. Success will be
measured by their ability to work with the business leadership to help unleash
the human potential in their organizations and to leverage talent as a
competitive advantage. Understanding individual motivations, the skill
complexity required to keep pace with your customer demands, and the
competitive forces fighting for the talent you need now and in the future, is
only the beginning of the race.
Today virtually every organization faces the same combination of business
challenges…competing in the face of a slow economic recovery, the
imperative for growth, and a workforce that is not as engaged as before. Our
latest study of trends in talent management looks at how employers are
focusing on their people and their skills and engagement.
What we found is that employers will almost certainly cut fewer employees in
the year ahead and may even boost hiring, at least to some degree. They will
also be challenged to identify, retain and engage their much needed best
performers to deliver on their organization’s growth targets.
For most management this all comes down to an agenda of growth under
pressure. Management by itself will not be able to generate the robust
recovery that is needed. HR leaders can support the business strategy by
focusing on the urgent talent management issues discussed in this paper.
Translating these trends and forces into an actionable workforce strategy is
what it will take to win. Right Management stands ready to help you.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 4

ABOUT THIS STUDY
Right Management surveyed 631 senior managers and human resource
professionals to learn more about the pressure points and issues they face
related to talent management practices in the year ahead. The online survey
was conducted between November and December 2011 throughout the
United States.
Responses by region:
 27% North Central
 26% East
 14% Florida/Caribbean
 11% Northeast
 8% West
 8% Great Lakes
 5% Gulf
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 5

KEY FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
Employers Worry about Scarcity of Talent and
Leader Readiness
What do you expect to be the most
pressing HR challenge faced by your
organization?
35%
31%
30%
Low engagement and
26%
lagging productivity
25%
23%
Shortage of talent at
20% 19% all levels
Loss of top talent to
15% other organizations
10% Lack of high-potential
leaders in the
organization
5%
0%
Lack of potential leaders is the most pressing human resource challenge
organizations expect to face in 2012. Thirty-one percent of respondents cited
their organization’s lack of high-potential leaders, while 23% indicated a
shortage of talent at all levels.
After three years of organizational contraction and less internal investment
companies are taking a hard look at their onboard talent and are challenged
with what they find.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 6

Lean times make it hard for organizations seeking to recruit, retain or develop
future leaders. And they are keenly aware of the tough competitive
environment they are in and the need to hold onto and build leadership bench
strength.
Employees are also feeling the pain. Recent Right Management research
found nearly all employees are burdened with heavier workloads, disengaged
from everyday responsibilities, anxious about job security and yet more open
to prospective opportunities elsewhere.
Retention of top talent is also a ranking concern of many employers. In fact,
for nearly one-in-five of our respondents it is the main worry, losing strong
performers to other companies which may be enticing to individuals who may
feel stifled with their present employer. This is the kind of concern that HR
leaders must bring to the forefront with senior leaders and create strategies
to address individual motivators and career plans to foster engagement and
retention. HR again has an opportunity to demonstrate how they can help
their organizations to win in the war for talent.
How are you able to fill critical roles in
your organization?
90%
77% We have an ample
80%
leadership pipeline
that will cover most
70%
of our needs.
60%
We rely on a
50% combination of
internal talent
40% development and
external hiring.
30%
We routinely look
19% externally before
20%
filling critical roles in
our organization
10% 4%
0%
Employers tend to have doubts about their management succession pipeline,
with as few as 4% able to confirm they have an ample leadership pipeline.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 7

They surely know their workforce is lean and internal development resources
have generally been limited for some time. But now organizations must
address how not to be caught short in terms of leadership and to minimize
loss of top performers to other companies. It’s time to rethink outdated work
models, people practices and talent sources to win in the changing world of
work.
Implications
Organizations with scarce talent management resources need a different
strategy to secure the right talent for key contributors and pivotal leadership
positions within the firm. Doing so will help the organization to retain top
performers who are often in pivotal roles which typically have greater scope
and influence over other positions within the firm.
With a well-constructed succession planning system in place for rapid
replacement of key roles, and more broadly, a well-aligned succession
management plan to ensure firm-wide talent progression, organizations will
be well-positioned to avoid the exposure and risks of underperformance and
further loss of talent.
Those organizations that can evaluate what drives workforce engagement –
and the lack of it – are in a much better position to mitigate the risks of top
talent flight to competitors. Simply understanding what the current workforce
engagement levels are is no longer a sufficient strategy to stem the tide of
potential attrition. Organizations that can identify what drives engagement in
actionable terms, so that those drivers can be leveraged in an overall
retention strategy, will be the winners of the emerging talent migrations.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 8

More Employers Find It Hard to Fill Key Jobs
With respect to the availability of top
talent what has been the experience of
your organization?
70%
61%
60%
We often find it hard
50% to fill key positions.
40% We occasionally find
it hard to fill key
30% 27% positions.
We seldom if ever
20% find it hard to fill key
13% positions.
10%
0%
Despite continued high unemployment nine out of 10 U.S. employers find it
difficult to fill key positions. Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported
difficulty filling certain jobs, and 61% indicated they have such difficulty on
occasion.
We found an uptick in employers who report difficulty filling key positions.
This year it is 27%, up from 23% last year. And there is a corresponding drop
among those who say they seldom face such a problem. Perhaps this is a sign
of a strengthening job market.
HR professionals know that it is usually a challenge to find and recruit people
whether in a weak or strong job market. And it varies by level, industry,
requisite skills and so on. Also, the findings suggest some shortfall among
internal candidates who might be qualified.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 9

Implications
HR leaders need to adapt and embrace what ManpowerGroup calls the human
dynamics at play that are resulting in a scarcity and abundance inversion.
In the Human Age, resources that were once plentiful are now limited, while
others that were limited are no longer so. Chastened by declining revenues,
companies have had to adjust their philosophies about the use of resources –
natural, financial and human. They’ve switched to smaller staffs and have
been exceedingly cautious about adding employees at greater expense or
without proof that additional talent would add benefits.
HR leaders can address the challenges associated with today’s talent
shortages by increasing supply – finding new sources of talent and
reinventing existing workers. This will enable a greater range of workers,
often marginalized from opportunities (such as young people, women, older
workers and people with disabilities) to join the workforce.
Demand for training, that will enable workers to develop broad and
specialized skills is growing exponentially due to demand. Comprehensive
solutions providers such as Right Management and ManpowerGroup are best
positioned to meet this surging demand. Yet, balancing the push and pull
management approach to employee development is a challenge, as
employees expect greater autonomy and employers struggle to forecast in-
demand skills needed in the future.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 10

Few Employers See Staff Cutbacks
With respect to restructurings and
cutbacks what do you anticipate for your
organization in 2012?
70% 65%
60%
50%
Significant staff
cutbacks
40%
32% Modest number of
staff cutbacks
30%
Practically no staff
cutbacks
20%
10%
3%
0%
Few U.S. employers predict significant staff cutbacks in the year ahead. Just
three percent of respondents anticipate significant cutbacks or restructurings,
and two- thirds expect almost none.
Layoffs had already begun to decline during 2011, a development most
employers saw coming a year ago and which was reflected in Right
Management’s 2010 trends survey. A year ago 52% of employers predicted
virtually no restructurings in 2011. Nevertheless, lean staffing is now the
norm at most organizations.
Asked about expected hiring in 2012, respondents were slightly optimistic. In
the latest findings one-in-five employers predict stepped-up hiring in order to
drive strategic growth. The majority, 58%, predicts just nominal hiring on an
as needed basis and 21% predict more hiring in order to fill existing gaps in
the organization.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 11

How would you describe the kind of hiring
your organization is likely to do in 2012?
70%
60% 58% Just nominal hiring on
an as needed basis
50%
40% More hiring than in
2011 in order to fill
existing gaps in the
30% organization
21% 21%
20% Stepped-up hiring to
drive strategic growth
10%
0%
Organizational staffing trends will mirror overall U.S. economic trends. We will
see employers push for growth, but with fewer resources, trying to make do
with what they have. This will continue to be a pressurized workplace, and
management has to take into account the stress all this creates.
Organizations will need to be effective with their talent strategies to nurture
employee engagement, productivity and performance with their streamlined
workforces.
Implications
Businesses across the board have successfully taken costs out of their
structure through a variety of methods. The opportunity now is to rebuild and
grow the business with the talent left after the wake of cost cutting efforts.
Engagement and motivation levels are not the only challenges firms face
when re-focusing the business on the future. The skill sets and abilities of the
remaining workforce may or may not be what is needed to take the business
forward. Organizations that evaluate what they need to achieve growth in
2012 – and how the mindsets, skills sets, motivations and abilities of the
workforce need to be developed, adapted and changed to meet the future –
dramatically increase their chances of winning in the changing world of work.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 12

Management in the Human Age will set the tone for organization’s to embrace
fresh thinking on recruiting, skills and career development, work
environments and the balance of full-, part-time employees, as well as
outside contributors connected by virtual networks. Human Age leaders will
understand the business’s obligation to nurture workers, leading more on the
pull side of push-pull management, asking more questions to understand
what their people need, instead of ruling by decree. This requires
organizations to engage people more personally to understand their needs.
Such an environment is what ManpowerGroup calls the recommendations for
a changed ecosystem – founded on an era that requires new ways of doing
business and creating fresh strategies, processes and approaches to
leadership.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 13

Employers See Continued Slow Hiring
A majority of U.S. employers expect corporate hiring to remain sluggish in the
year ahead. Fifty-five percent of respondents said the year ahead would be
similar to 2011 with both slow hiring and postponed HR initiatives. But one-
third predicts 2012 will be a year of growth and recovery.
From your perspective as an HR executive
what do you expect for 2012?
60%
It will be a year of
53% growth and recovery
50% marked by increased
hiring and new talent
development
40% initiatives.
36% It will be similar to
2011 with sluggish
30% hiring and postponed
HR initiatives.
20%
It will be a year of
11% stagnation with more
10% cutbacks and
restructurings.
0%
Implications
The talent pool is flooded with people looking for work, making external hiring
a process of finding precise skills they need a much more complex and
challenging task. Organizations that have a clear set of selection criteria and a
highly efficient selection process will reduce the risk that so many face in
spending too much time and resources on finding the wrong person. An
accurate high-speed talent identification process can take the best talent off
the market before other firms even see them. Development dollars will be
more wisely spent if time and resources are put against people who have the
ability, drive and mindset to be developed. HR can help by implementing a
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 14

proper and efficient way of identifying who, internally, is worth development
investment is necessary if talent resource allocation is to be optimized.
Employers must minimize their reliance on in-demand workers and shift their
focus to transferring their knowledge and skills to others – preserving and
advancing precious skill sets, and utilizing virtual work models such as swarm
work and hyerspecialization.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 15

IT TAKES TALENT TO WIN IN 2012
Growth and competitiveness are now so closely dependent on the strength
and commitment of an organization’s talent that our findings have bearing
well beyond the HR and talent management sectors. In the Human Age,
talent is the New It – the best source of competitive advantage.
The main findings of the study have noted a keen concern over the
availability of leadership talent, growing difficulty filling key positions, fewer
staff cutbacks and an uptick in hiring. Furthermore, the implications of the
findings are numerous, among them… talent will look elsewhere for new
opportunities as the job market improves, loss of key talent will become
increasingly common, and organizations will lack the very top performers and
leaders who are essential to achieve growth under pressure.
It’s time to think differently about your workforce. These challenges call for
the attention of senior management and HR leaders.
Leaders need to embrace diversity of workforces and create talent strategies
that account for diversities, varying expectations, motivations, training and
development, and cultural norms. Only in this way will organizations be able
to have the right talent in the right place at the right time and doing the right
things to insure the growth and competitiveness so crucial today. With a
human approach and with a solid understanding of the changing world of
work, leaders must quickly curate information, understand implications, and
adapt and share insight accordingly in order to empower and unleash human
potential.
Right Management has applied our knowledge and experience to be uniquely
positioned to help you to create strategies and solutions to deal with
succession planning, leadership development, identification of high potential
employees, specific and targeted recruitment and hiring processes and
selective retention efforts. This is how you can win in today’s complex work
ecosystem and succeed in the new era of the Human Age.
© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 16

ABOUT RIGHT MANAGEMENT
Right Management is a global leader in talent and career management
workforce solutions within ManpowerGroup. The company designs and
delivers solutions to align talent strategy with business strategy. Expertise
spans Talent Assessment, Leader Development, Organizational Effectiveness,
Employee Engagement, and Workforce Transition and Outplacement. With
offices in over 50 countries, Right Management partners with companies of all
sizes – including more than 80% of the Fortune 500 – to help grow and
engage their talent, increase productivity and optimize business performance.
©2012 Right Management. All Rights Reserved.
Contact for more information:
Jennifer L. Jones, Director of Marketing, Americas
Right Management, jennifer.jones@right.com
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© Right Management 2012. All Rights Reserved. 17