The War For Talent

The Organisation’s War for Talent

After running a few sessions for organisations last week I realised I keep getting very similar questions about talent, salaries and employment forms. I felt it was time to share a few of my thoughts on how these matters have shifted.

Covid times accelerated the change in organisational patterns and brought it to a point of no return where traditional models got to a point of “we are going to give this a go”. I can only say I saw this coming as my own vision of how things work and should work has always differed from the norm.

The Big Exodus of the Workforce

Countries like Germany, the USA, Canada and Australia have been built with the support of many immigrants. But, gone are the days where people had to move continents to find a job.

Even my own story is quite aligned to that, as my grandfather and father both migrated to find better opportunities. I, myself, migrated again in search of a better lifestyle and career opportunities first to Dubai and later on to Australia. And now, after so many decades of people migrating in search of a better life, a dramatic shift is happening.

A few years ago, I was running a workshop with public servants from local, state, and federal agencies. I still remember the look on their faces when I mentioned that councils are in fact competing with each other as their clients (aka citizens) can move if they prefer the Customer Experience of other councils or states. As a matter of fact, I had left Germany, as I preferred the “Customer Experience” that Australia was offering.

For the first time in ages, more people are rather moving out of big cities than moving into the cities to look for employment. I also mentioned that it wouldn’t be too long for people to be living location-independent. At the time, at best, people might have thought I was just a lunatic. Yet, less than 4 years later it is happening: the big exodus from cities and countries. Worldwide, cities like Milan, New York, Sydney or Melbourne are witnessing this big exodus of professionals moving to the countryside or even to other nations. And this, of course, shifts company culture and employment rules altogether.

The Rules of the Game Have Changed

In the past, the workforce had very clear functions, roles, and responsibilities. Even the division of functions in married couples was mostly clear, one partner focusing on the career and the other on taking care of the house and family, right?

After the industrial revolution, entire industries were built on values like status and career progression. The number of hours that would cost and what it would do to the work-life balance of employees was always secondary. If work got tougher and people complained then a big bonus or a pay rise would fix it. And when that didn’t do the trick anymore, employees would keep looking for other status symbols at the workplace: things such as the corner office, the paid company vacation, etc.

Well, nowadays, all these past rules are no longer applicable or at least they don’t work as well as they used to. Call me crazy but I see so many talented people on the job market that are literally bypassing the system by choosing different career paths and alternative forms of employment. They are challenging the playbook and I would even dare say they are playing a completely different game.

Want to learn more about the topic and how to attract talent nowadays? Then sit back and enjoy reading the full article of Domenico Pinto!

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