Why now is the perfect time to conduct a talent audit
Conducting an in-depth talent audit now can help your business lay the foundations for a new way of operating that helps attract and retain the top talent even during an economic downturn.
.png)
According to the British Chamber of Commerce, over 76% of businesses are struggling to recruit the right talent for their businesses. This, combined with the tough economic times currently facing the UK, highlight the importance of effective talent management. Making sure that the right person is in the right role and that businesses are able to keep their top talent is going to be crucial to a firm’s ability to not only survive the recession, but also bounce-back quickly.
At BOOSTA, we think time like this call for a talent audit.
What is a Talent Audit?
A talent audit is a process that involves evaluating the skills, knowledge, and experience of an organisation's employees. The audit is designed to identify gaps in the workforce's talent pool, determine areas where training or development may be needed, and identify employees with high potential for future leadership positions.
Why is a Talent Audit so Important?
There are several reasons why conducting a talent audit is critical, particularly during an economic downturn:
Identify Skills and Experience Gaps
A talent audit can help identify areas where skills and experience gaps exist in the workforce, allowing companies to focus on training and development in these areas. By doing so, businesses can better prepare for future growth and reduce the risk of being left behind by competitors.
Retain Top Talent
During an economic downturn, many employees may be concerned about job security and may begin looking for other opportunities. A talent audit can help businesses identify their top performers and develop strategies to retain them. This may involve providing additional training or development opportunities or offering competitive compensation packages.
Reduce Recruitment Costs
Recruiting new employees can be costly, particularly during an economic downturn when businesses are looking to reduce costs. A talent audit can help identify employees who have the potential to take on new roles or responsibilities within the business. By providing training and development opportunities to these employees, businesses can reduce the need to recruit new talent and ultimately save money.
Improve Productivity
A talent audit can also help improve overall productivity within the company. By identifying areas where skills and experience gaps exist, businesses can provide training and development opportunities to fill those gaps. This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity, as employees are better equipped to perform their roles and take on new responsibilities.
How to Conduct a Talent Audit
Conducting a talent audit involves several steps, including:
Define the Purpose
Before conducting a talent audit, it's important to define the purpose and objectives of the audit. This will help ensure that the audit is focused and targeted towards achieving specific goals.
Identify Key Roles and Competencies
Once the purpose has been defined, it's important to identify the key roles and competencies required to achieve the objectives of the audit. This may involve reviewing job descriptions, identifying skills and experience gaps, and determining the competencies required for success in each role.
Evaluate Employees
The next step is to evaluate employees based on the key roles and competencies identified in step two. This may involve reviewing performance evaluations, conducting interviews, and administering assessments.
Identify Gaps and Develop Strategies
Once the evaluation is complete, it's important to identify any gaps in the workforce's talent pool. This may involve identifying areas where additional training or development is needed or identifying employees with high potential for future leadership positions. Once gaps have been identified, strategies can be developed to address them.
Implement Strategies
The final step is to implement the strategies developed in step four. This may involve providing training and development opportunities, offering competitive compensation packages to retain top talent, or promoting employees with high potential into leadership positions.
How BOOSTA can help you with a talent audit
When you embed a BOOSTA team into your business to help with your recruitment, we work with you to look at the different challenges you’re trying to solve. After a collaborative Discovery Meeting will plot a strategy for your success. Our in-depth expertise and insights in our extensive network of the most innovative tech businesses enable us to assess your talent function, reviewing its efficiency and strategic capability to hire the best talent.
Whether you need to hire a new team, build a diverse pipeline or break into new markets—we assemble the very best team for whatever project you brief us on at short notice. If that team needs to evolve or adapt, we can easily adjust using our flexible business model until you have the perfect setup for whatever challenges you face.
If you’d like to conduct a talent audit for your talent function and would like some expert guidance, get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help.