Retaining top talent a key priority for HR leaders

The top priority for HR leaders, particularly those working for small- and medium-sized businesses, is retaining their top talent, and offering them the opportunities to upskill and reskill.

Specifically, 98% of organisations recognise the importance of upskilling and reskilling their workforce, with 58% indicating a skills gap at their organisation, according to the Power Moves: What 500 HR Leaders Are Doing Now, Next report by isolved.

With HR leaders identifying a lack of motivation among employees, reduced discretionary budgets, and concerns over economic instability as challenges in retaining talent, 37% of organisations are trying to increase motivation and engagement levels by implementing strict policies around responding after hours, and nearly half (46%) are providing flexible work arrangements, including remote work.

READ: What’s keeping HR leaders up at night?

To improve retention, 38% of respondents believe people analytics would better help them do their jobs by forecasting turnover, while 42% of HR leaders indicated they are spending four to 10 hours a day answering repetitive questions, thus limiting their strategic impact on organisational priorities. Respondents also plan to invest in human capital management (HCM) platforms, employee-survey technology, and outsource HR management tasks to reduce administrative workloads.

Amy Mosher, CPO at isolved, said, “Organisations always try to find the employees who are truly impacting the organisation positively or have the potential to with the right people and programmes. When the job market fluctuates between abundance and scarcity almost weekly, developing driven people is a necessity.”