The document discusses the importance of evaluating human capital value in organizations when making head-count reductions due to business changes. It highlights the need for effective measurement systems and retention policies to identify and keep the most valuable talent. The author, Ian Tomlin, emphasizes proactive planning and a governance ecosystem focused on optimizing individual contributions to enhance organizational outcomes.

1. Human Capital Value and Retention
Are You
Throwing
Out Baby?
How to judge
which talent really
matters
Ian Tomlin

2. Reductions in head-count are sometimes
unavoidable as changes to the business
environment place demands for changes to
organizational designs.
When leaders consider how best to right-size their
Human Capital to bring it in-tune with their
adapted business needs they need to know
which talent is contributing most to the enterprise
– and what the consequential loss of head-count
may be…
When the time comes will you be ‘throwing
out the baby with the bath water?’

3. Re-Shaping the Foot-Print
Why Organizations Right-Size Their Human Capital Profile
1. Shifts in enterprise strategy
2. Policy adaptation due to changes in compliance/risk profile
3. Improvements in technology/process innovation
4. Cost reduction programs
5. Globalization factors
When change occurs organizational leaders must decide which
talent is the most valuable and therefore should be retained
Picture by Damian Gadal

4. How are decisions on
head-count reduction
made today?
Not well. Studies suggest that few organizations have any effective
way of measuring Human Capital Value. The most prevalent methods
are based on understanding business unit contributions and personal
360 degree appraisals.

5. Taking action to judge the value of
worker contributions needs to happen
well before the time to review arrives…
A failure to plan ahead and install
measurement systems means that managers
have the unenviable task of basing head-count
reductions on the opinions of others – backed
up by little or no basis of evidence

6. Retention Planning
Organizations that seek to retain their most valued people…
That are essential to sustain the enterprise
That deliver the greatest results the enterprise cares about
That adapt norms of behavior our stakeholders care about
…require a Retention Policy that sets out how the contributions
made by human capital assets are valued by the enterprise

7. Human Capital Value Management
Macro (Ecosystem)
How the enterprise creates an
environment where the product of
the individual worker is optimized
Micro (The Individual)
How the individual worker optimizes their
contribution to the outcomes of the
enterprise
Human Capital Value Management establishes a reporting and governance ecosystem that places its focus on managing the
value of human capital, rather than the assets themselves. It places a higher currency on bottom-line outcomes – essential
when adapting or reducing head-count in a thoughtful way.

8. When It Comes To The
Decision…
Will You Be Ready?

9. Thank You.
Ian Tomlin is a management consultant and
author. He's written several books and
hundreds of white papers and articles on
the subject of customer science,
organizational growth, technology and the
evolution of the workplace.
Article Sponsors:
Workforce and Talent www.workspend.com
IT and Technology www.ustechsolutions.com
Books by Ian Tomlin:
Agilization – The regeneration of
competitiveness
Cloud Coffee House – The birth of cloud
social networking and death of the old
world corporation
SOS - Social Operation Systems