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Features

Published April 2008

Learning’s Impact on Talent Flow

  

  Dr. Robert Rodriguez and Gerry Hudson-Martin

Bureau of Labor Statistics research indicates that employees will work for approximately nine companies during their professional careers. With the flow of talent between organizations on the rise, more enterprises will turn to their learning functions to help retain the best people.

The next time you are engaged in a discussion about your organization’s top performers and high potentials, you should ask yourself, “I wonder when these employees will leave our company?”

Sound like a silly question to ask? If so, it’s not as silly as you think. Given the trend of people moving from one employer to another much more often than in the past, the question becomes not if an employee will leave your company, but more likely when they will leave.

This perspective is important because of the concept of “talent flow.” This refers to the flow of employees in and out of organizations. The flow of talent throughout various enterprises has increased because the employment contract between companies and employees has changed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that, today, employees will work for approximately nine companies during their professional careers. Employee loyalty to a firm is dramatically reduced in an environment in which the idea of lifetime loyalty to an employee has diminished.

Part of this employee churn is due to corporate layoffs resulting from restructurings or mergers, but it’s primarily a case of the “free agent” mentality prevalent in the workforce today. The stigma of “job hopping” has been reduced, making it more acceptable for someone to work for several organizations without being tagged with the label. Employees, no longer feeling like they have to stick it out with a company when they are not growing, now find it easier to leave for better job opportunities.

The result of this changing employment contract is shorter employee tenure with a single company. The Department of Labor reports that, on average, employees are staying with their employers for approximately 3.6 years before moving on. This average tenure is at an all-time low and has dropped from an average tenure of 9.2 years in 1983. 

Learning executives now have to manage this “talent flow” as employees come into their organizations and eventually leave at a much higher rate than in the past. The phenomenon has three main components: talent acquisition, talent management and talent retention. Each can be greatly influenced in a positive way by chief learning officers.  

Talent Acquisition
Companies realize that if they can attract and hire top talent, they will have a competitive advantage. In essence, companies are competing on the basis of their intellectual capital. Their ability to acquire top employees is critical due to the “war for talent,” in which organizations are always looking to lure the “best and the brightest.”

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