We are in the midst of what could be considered the great reset, a reset in employee expectations, their values and beliefs. A part of this reshuffle can be attributed to the pandemic and the resulting changes in work arrangements that led employees to re-evaluate their priorities and expectations from their jobs.

However, this shift has been in the works for a while. Employees have become accustomed to sophisticated interactions with brands in their consumer lives (think smart assistants, predictive texts, instant deliveries and more) and this has accelerated over the last two years and transformed their approach to jobs.

Now, as organizations look to build on the economic momentum of the past few months, they are dealing with a whole new set of challenges. Fortunately, enterprise technology has evolved to provide HR leaders with the data and tools they need to support their employees’ journey.  

How Talent Insights Power the Employee Journey in 2022

With the powerful combination of people science and technology, HR leaders now have the ability to match consumer-grade expectations, create more personalized and inclusive workplace experiences. Using talent insights from employee and enterprise data, organizations have begun diagnosing and managing inefficiencies in their talent management strategies.

A recent survey found that 90% of HR leaders believe having more relevant talent insights could transform their talent management approach. As the world of work continues to evolve, talent insights will be critical for leaders to design bespoke experiences for their employees and drive continuous improvement. 

For employees, a job is much more than a way to make money. It is about the culture, fulfillment and career growth. Forward-thinking talent leaders understand that they need to measure data that support these expectations and offer insights into employees’ individual journeys within the organization.

Many organizations already have these processes in place for measuring this type of information on their people, but a common challenge is connecting this data to business strategy. Talent leaders must have clarity on what they want to achieve. 

Talent insights shed light on how new talent policies and existing processes impact employee motivations and performance. They also reveal how human connections and networks operate in the organizational context to build resilience, agility and adaptability, all crucial concepts to thriving in the current environment. 

To understand how talent insights influence the employee journey, let’s look at how organizations typically deliver their talent strategy.

Understanding Talent Architecture and Key Touch Points

Organizations need talent architecture to define the structures, frameworks, systems and processes that support employee journeys. Talent architecture operates on three levels:

Define at Organizational Level Define at Job-role Level Define at Process Level
Values Job Families Promotion Processes
Structure Critical Roles Hiring Criteria
Competencies Career Pathways Talent Mobility Processes
Culture Role Profiles Learning and Development (L&D) Processes
Employer Brand Pay and Reward Structures Solutions that Power these Processes

Solutions like SeekOut help HR leaders gather talent insights to create relevant interventions across these factors that make up an organization’s talent architecture and impact employee journeys. 

Talent strategies connect to many other organizational processes and need a unifying foundation, which in this case, is provided by talent insights, common systems and analytics. 

Some of the key sources for talent intelligence include:

    • Employer branding activities
    • Talent acquisition
    • L&D
    • Succession planning
    • Internal mobility
    • Retention initiatives

Talent insights also reveal the importance of the cultural, value-driven measures that can determine job-fit, employees’ likely career path and success within the organization.

The Future of Talent Insights and the Employee Journey

As more HR leaders discover the potential of talent insights and their impact on employee journeys, they will be able to establish relationships between factors like personality and motivation, and identify areas of analytics that will enable them to understand their people and performance drivers better.

Talent insights are also foundational to enabling leaders to predict future talent needs rather than just focusing on the current state of affairs, leading to a more data-driven strategy and a seat at the table.

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Matt Ekstrom

Matt Ekstrom is a long-time veteran of the HR and TA tech space. A former co-founder of several companies including HiringSolved, he's an in-house expert for effective branding and growth strategies in the industry. Wanna talk shop? Drop him a note. Matt's always game to talk about the recruiting and HR tech space or creative marketing campaigns.