“You can certainly look at a global workforce, but you cannot place all your bets there. You need to build on what you can source locally for talent. And the other way around isn’t possible either, because there are specific skills and capabilities required that you may not be able to get locally. So just like the supply chain folk work now, you need to hedge your options between thinking locally and globally, and trying to balance that depending upon your purpose and strategy.”
The talent management challenges facing Besix
HR can learn some valuable lessons from supply chain in ensuring organisational talent pipelines are strong and resilient in the face of ongoing labour market challenges, according to Geert Aelbrecht, Chief People Officer and Group Sustainability & ESG Officer for Besix, a Belgian-based multinational that specialises in construction, infrastructure and marine works, often in contracts with a high level of complexity. With about 12,000 employees working across about 27 countries (predominantly Europe, the Middle East and Australia), Mr Aelbrecht said Besix is facing three major talent management challenges off the back of the past three-plus years of global economic and market turmoil.
The first main challenge is sourcing and hiring individuals with the right technical backgrounds. “We need a lot of technical staff with experience in engineering, construction, electrical engineering or air conditioning units, for example,” said Mr Aelbrecht, who observed a significant decline in the availability of technical specialists, especially in the European market. “This is our major market and where most of our people are sourced from, and there has even been a decline in the number of students that are undertaking technical studies. So we have a talent pool that is shrinking over time, and it’s shrinking really fast.”
This shortage of technical talent has impacted the business operations of Besix, which needs technical talent to not only meet the operational demands of completing projects, but also to help the firm stay on top of increasingly complex technology trends. “With a stronger focus on sustainability for our projects, for example, new technology is being introduced in our industry, and that requires different types of skills. So the big hurdle is to find these technology skills for the different projects,” said Mr Aelbrecht.
This approach is going to become more important in the future, according to Professor Anseel, who explained talent management should be proactive and anticipatory, just like supply chain management. “This means that organisations should proactively identify and develop the talent they need, rather than simply reacting to talent shortages as they occur,” he said.
“To this end, they probably need to develop more data-driven forecasting approaches to predict what skills and talent they’ll be needing in the future instead of just going out to hire when they need it. Many businesses have learned through covid that just-in-time delivery is incredibly risky if supply chains are fragile. The same goes for talent management. Don’t do just-in-time delivery.”
Balancing onsite, remote and hybrid work arrangements
An issue related to global mobility is the shift to digital, remote and hybrid working arrangements, which have presented both opportunities and challenges for organisations in their talent strategies. While such arrangements have opened the door to a broader geographic pool of talent, this talent is potentially more transient and can also be less committed to an employer.
“People feel less loyal because they have emotional and relational attachments to their employers if they’re working from home (that’s why many managers want their people back in the office full-time),” said Professor Anseel.
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