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Are we talent hoarders? Should we be?

“We could use someone with their experience in the future”. Have you ever caught yourself saying this? Have you read a CV, or debriefed after an interview, with the idea bouncing around your head- ‘they have some useful skills and knowledge outside this particular job, we could use those, but not now’. Where, when, you’re not sure, but definitely maybe. Congratulations, you’re an HR hoarder. Welcome to the club.

Pros of hoarding

We will stick with the word hoarding, but while it’s thought provoking, it’s also negatively loaded (excessive, obsessive and irrational retention of unnecessary things), and could be better described as contingency planning, and/or diversifying your talent pool in anticipation of future needs.

A wide range of capability within the organisation beyond the specific and immediate labour needs does provide the organisation with greater flexibility and capacity to be reflexive to market changes. If your organisation’s strategy focuses on innovation, speed to market and capacity to differentiate, talent hoarding is a good thing.

Cons of hoarding

But almost by definition, if you don’t need it now, it’s potentially an unnecessary cost. This isn’t necessarily as extreme as a superfluous head, but more likely over-qualified employees, paid over the average for the role they are doing. There are various ways talent could be hoarded, but most business waste methodologies recognise under-utilisation of competency as a waste. If your organisation’s strategic focus is cost management, hoarding is less likely to be a good thing.

Green bananas and yellow bananas

Having a talent pipeline is a good idea for the future. Most people have some potential for higher future value, but most people aren’t ready now. Due to their knowledge, skills and natural abilities, some employees are yellow bananas- ready for new opportunities. Some employees will be, but not quite yet, so are green bananas. Some bananas are greener than others, some may never ripen. The trick for HR is to have a good stagger- some ready now, some ready in 1-2 years, others 3-4.

Talent in other areas

Competencies don’t need to be seen hierarchically either; it’s not just a question of a queue for promotion. For many people, their careers don’t progress in a linear manner, but they move across the organisation horizontally or diagonally.

HR is often the best placed to facilitate this- only you have read their CV and explored their background, and know where else they could work within the company. Likewise, not all growth opportunities are formally structured and advertised, but instead begin as an area of new work that needs to be done. As a talent hoarder, you know what other skills and experiences have, and where they could be of value other that they current role or function.

Hiring for a rainy day or a sunny day

Business will change; new markets will emerge, new products will take off, and what was the pathway to success will change. The competency requirements for future success may shift, and you may suddenly need to build capability in what had been a fringe area of the business.

Alternatively, things can take an unexpected turn, and changes may be necessary. The talent you will need in the future may be different. Intuitively, this means that you’re likely to need less talent, and this is true, but potentially you big roles may need to be downgraded. To give an example- sales may justify a high-spec production manager, but if things take a turn for the worse, your production supervisor may be all you need.

Are bargain sales worth it?

Hoarders and fire sales are dangerous combinations. Bargain sales in the labour market are rare, but do happen- such as a sudden economic downturn, the closure of a competitor, the an influx of highly skilled professionals to the country. They can work out, but my experience is that they don’t. People will slum it for a while, so they will work at levels below their perceived worth, but not for long. There’s a strong chance they will go, put in minimal effort or be disruptive as they seek to get back to where they ought to be.

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Are you a Talent Hoarder?