The Harvard Business Review along with McKinsey Consulting Group published a landmark study in 1997 that exposed the "war for talent" as a strategic business challenge and a critical driver of corporate performance. They surveyed 13,000 executives at more than 120 leading companies.  The authors discovered compelling evidence that better talent management leads to better performance.  On average, shareholders of companies who excelled at attracting, developing, and retaining highly talented managers, earned a 20% higher return.

 
The Old Way
The New Way
Talent Mindset HR is responsible for people management. All managers starting with the CEO are accountable for strengthening their talent pool.
Employee Value Propositiion We provide good pay and benefits. We shape our company, even our strategy, to appeal to talented people.
Recruiting Recruiting is like purchasing. Recruiting is like marketing.
Growing Leaders We thinks development happens in training programs. We fuel development through stretch jobs, coaching, and mentoring.
Differentiation We treat everyone the same, and like to think that everyone is equally capable. We affirm all our people, but invest differentially in our A, B, and C players.


Surveys conducted internationally with thousands of corporations estimate the cost of employee turnover to be 25 to 200 percent of annual compensation. These costs include customer disruption, morale and burnout among remaining employees, general continuity, corporate memory and replacement fees.

A recent study by The Corporate Leadership Council calculated that 50% of professionals at or above the Director level leave (voluntarily or forcefully) a company within the first 12 months. Companies are now turning to search firms to help them minimize these risks.


Due to the demographic trends, many baby boomers will be retiring in the coming years leaving a vacuum at the management level in many companies.  All levels, in particular strategic management-level assignements can expect the highest volume of exodus.


The Canadian market is poised for international growth with some economists projecting Canadian companies to be leading on the acquisition front after a decade of the opposite cycle. Canada is on a positive economic growth trajectory, fueled by demand for our commodities, strong local economy with an open market attitude. Solid consumer confidence, low unemployment, is leading to further empowerment of consumers. Economic growth, an aging population, human capital emigration, and a general talent shortage, has resulted in Canadian organizations requiring better and more creative recruitment solutions to attract executives in a competitive environment.