The document discusses how the talent market has become more active during the pandemic, as remote work has allowed employees more flexibility and access to opportunities globally. While employee retention rates may appear stable currently, talents that companies most want to retain are being pursued aggressively by other organizations. It warns that waiting for talents to announce an offer is too late, and advises companies to proactively adapt their talent strategies, check in with employees to understand changing needs, and involve top talents in helping shape the future direction of the organization through experimentation and development opportunities. Doing so can help engage talents and make the company an attractive employer during uncertain times.

1. 28 | HR World 06 | November 2021
COLUMN
Have you noticed that in
all HR research, in the last
five or more years, one of
the most important things
for employees is personal
development?
Of course, salary and benefits
always come first, but
training and development is
always close, along with the
possibility of advancement,
culture, flexibility and other
similar topics. It is clear that
people don’t take their jobs
for granted, and they are
interested in everything that
will enable them to do their
job better and at the same
time grow personally and
professionally.
We already know
that most large
companies are
actively dealing with
these topics. Budgets
were not greatly reduced
during the pandemic either,
and some of my clients even
Do You Have
What It Takes to
Keep Your Talents?
Nikola Jovanović, OD/HR/Digital Learning and
Transformation Advisor, Tuturutu Consulting
increased the training budget
to take advantage of the
pause in company growth,
to prepare people, digitalize
processes and overall get ready
for new market games when
the pandemic calms down.
BUT, IS THAT
ENOUGH?
In short, no.
But let me explain.
Due to the pandemic the
general fluctuation in most
large organizations has been
reduced. Employees take
less risk, they stay within
their comfort zones, which is
completely normal for these
crazy times. If you follow the
data of your HR dashboard
superficially, you may think
that you are safe.
Still, it seems to me that the
talent market, and by “talents”
I mean the ones you want
to keep in the company the
most, has never been more
active. The pandemic has
pushed the globalization of
the workforce, because work
from home (or from some
other remote location) is
now generally accepted, and
now companies from all over
Europe and North America
are looking for employees in
our region as well.
They don’t always throw
money at candidates,
because it is not money
that makes a difference, but
they offer true flexibility,
international environment,
new challenges, additional
funds for home office setup,
access to the global market
and similar “perks” that
most local employers cannot
offer. Such an offer can be
tempting to anyone who has
already considered a change,
is dissatisfied with their
current position or simply
does not feel the support
of their current employer
during the pandemic. Even a
simple “back to office” plan,
where employees don’t have
an option to choose their
preferred model, can trigger
dissatisfaction. Yeah, I know,
just when you thought that
handling GenZ employees is
hard enough, now you have
a whole new level of needs to
deal with.
WHAT TO DO THEN?
Prevention is the mother of
health, both personal and
organizational. Stick to your
goals, but adapt. Don’t wait
for talents to come to you and
say they got an offer, it’s too
late to react if that happens.
Adapt, and do it quickly. As
circumstances have changed,
you need to forget for a
moment everything you’ve
done with talents so far, and
revise all ideas, strategies,
and action plans if necessary.

2. November 2021 | HR World 06 | 29
You need to put aside all the
psychometric and other tools
you have used and talk to all
these people again, in order
to understand who they are
today, a year and a half since
the first lockdown.
I’m sure that you will be
surprised by how many people
think differently now. You
will see how some of them,
whom you considered as
super innovative and had big
plans for them, don’t know
how to cope with these rapid
changes, and how some others
fully understand and use the
situation to improve their
work, change their approach
and become hyper-efficient.
These people might even be a
little angry that your company
is changing and digitalizing
too slowly!
CARPE DIEM
Let's go back to the beginning
of this article and the research
I mentioned. The needs and
desires of employees do not
change, they only manifest
in a different way. Personal
development is still the topic
to act upon, it’s just that the
trainings that you planned 6
months or a year ago may no
longer be relevant. Or maybe
the topics you wanted to cover
are relevant, but the way you
planned delivery is not.
Same goes on an
organizational development
level because, like it or not,
your organization is changing
rapidly, so the strategy that
you may have developed and
adopted 2 years ago now
means nothing.
SO, ACT ON IT.
Take advantage of the
moment and the
chance that
is given to
you. Identify
who are the
employees,
in the new
circumstances, you don’t want
to lose, and involve them
in the development of the
organization, the new business
model, the new strategies, and
the action plans. Structure
the process, devise the best
way to make those big steps,
but allow them to connect
their personal development
with the development of the
organization, because there has
never been a better time for
that. We are all in one huge
worldwide experiment and
no one knows exactly how to
deal with all these changes. So
let them experiment, let them
make mistakes, allow them to
play and have crazy ideas even
when you don’t understand
what they want to achieve,
and trust them to do it the
way they think they should,
and when they feel the time
is right. Be with them as they
do so, support and push them,
don’t let them get back into
the comfort zone.
It's not easy, I know,
but if you dare to
take this approach,
not only will you not
have to worry about talent
fluctuations, but you will
become a magnet for talent
from other organizations.