Description: 🎧 In this December Talent Report, we're spotlighting the freshest trends in the realm of talent. Uncover cutting-edge recruitment tactics, explore the surge in demand for emerging skills, and stay informed about the latest developments throughout the month of December. Tune in to stay one step ahead in the dynamic landscape of the competitive job market! 🌟

Resources:

Talent Report+ Webinar Series 

MRA Membership 

About MRA 

Let's Connect:

Guest Bio - Jim Morgan 

Guest LinkedIn Profile - Jim Morgan 

Host Bio - Sophie Boler 

Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 

Transcript:

Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.

00:00:03 :24 - 00:00:25 :03

Unknown

Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here.

00:00:25 :04 - 00:00:45 :07

Unknown

Now it's time to thrive. Hello, everybody, and welcome to this episode of 30 Minute THRIVE. It is time to go over this month's talent report, which is an up to the minute review of what's going on in the world of business with an emphasis on talent. With Jim Morgan, MRA's vice president of Workforce Strategies. So thanks for being here, Jim.

00:00:45 :09 - 00:01:09 :00

Unknown

Yeah, thanks for having me. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Well, this month you are looking at 2024, actually the year ahead. So talking about the opportunities that await and some of the challenges that might be on the horizon as companies prepare for this next year, 2024. So starting out with recruiting and retention innovation, Jim, you pulled some stats from MRA's recent comp trends report.

00:01:09 :02 - 00:01:32 :24

Unknown

What is really shown here? Well, what we were talking about from the comp trends report was basically miscellaneous perks. Where are companies trying to distinguish themselves for others? Where are they trying to stand out? Just try to get some creative ideas of what people might be up to. And chuckled during the talent report that the number one item is employee lunches.

00:01:33 :01 - 00:01:56 :05

Unknown

And any time I'm meeting with HR people, I always say food. You know, it doesn't make any difference how, where or when, why food is always a winner. But food also brings with it the side effects of chance for people to talk to each other and get to know each other better and help with the culture. But it's always something that you know, was relatively simple and is appreciated by people.

00:01:56 :07 - 00:02:33 :07

Unknown

But on a more serious side of things, tuition assistance and flexible scheduling were numbers two and three, with about 65% of the companies saying that and the tuition assistance. Two things I think are happening. We talked a little bit about it last month, I think. But companies are starting to include tuition reimbursement in there. And so those students that might have student loans as becoming a part of that and I think you've got more both younger and seasoned workers that are looking for the specific training, which may be in an educational institution of what are the skills I'm missing.

00:02:33 :07 - 00:02:57 :07

Unknown

So if we say to you, boy, you know, Sophie, you're an up and comer, emerging leader, but we need you to work on these two things. Maybe you should go get a certificate in this and go take a class in that as people are trying to build those career paths, I think it's starting to be singled out a little bit more that let's just identify what this person maybe is lacking right now and give them the opportunity to grow there.

00:02:57 :09 - 00:03:17 :05

Unknown

Then we have some other things for allowance, additional time off office technology, enhanced benefit packages. And all of this comes back to what we're seeing more and more and is added the better that I know my employees and the people who work for me, the better I can figure out what matters to them. And we use the word benefits.

00:03:17 :07 - 00:03:38 :16

Unknown

But I mean, it could be simple as knowing, you know, you like a triple latte shot of peppermint, soy milk, something or other drink whole class. Okay, good. And that just black coffee or not tea. And so I come to you with a 12 pack of coke. I bring you I shop at Starbucks and get you the fancy drink that you like.

00:03:38 :16 - 00:03:59 :11

Unknown

You know, the benefit there is really, boy, he's paying attention and he cares about what's going on. So I think a lot of companies are just trying to figure out who are people. And one of the little things we can do besides offering a401k in health care and time off, that might make a difference to them. So that I think is really becoming a bigger part of the retention strategy.

00:03:59 :13 - 00:04:25 :02

Unknown

Yeah, absolutely. Kind of going off of that recruiting and retention and moving into talent thinking, you highlighted succession planning in that it's really top of mind for companies. But before we dive into that, let's look at your quote of the month, which talks about succession planning. So why did you exactly pick this quote and you? Well, first you got to tell us what to call it.

00:04:25 :04 - 00:04:48 :03

Unknown

The one that I picked was on John Maxwell. And he's a he's an author and speaker. And the quote was, when all is said and done, your ability as a leader will be judged by how well your people and your organization did after you were gone. Your lasting value will be measured by succession. And I picked that one because of what we're going to talk about here in a second is succession planning is becoming a bigger deal.

00:04:48 :03 - 00:05:22 :19

Unknown

We've talked about that not only for the C-suite but for all of the key positions. Companies are trying to build a deeper bench, have a number two person. So whenever somebody leaves, we've got someone in the pipeline. We're not starting over every time, just good business decisions. But then we talked with the CEOs about it all of those things still apply, but they're looking at it almost holistically from a strategy point of view that says, well, if you take those things I just said, that adds stability to the organization, we all get thrown into turmoil when someone goes.

00:05:22 :21 - 00:05:46 :21

Unknown

That type of transparency puts our employees at ease. That they know. All right. Well, whether I like the person or don't like the person, it's the enemy I know versus the enemy. I don't know. And I'd like to know what's what's happening there. It certainly reduces costs. So we have to find someone. I would much rather have to find the number three position because number two, field number one.

00:05:46 :21 - 00:06:10 :10

Unknown

Number three, cell number two. And now I'm looking for the third person down the system rather than the top of it. And so if we built that, that's just better for that for the organization. And it's a chance for us to show value to employees. If, you know, if someone sits down with you and say, you know, Sophia in the marketing department, here's what our plans are for the department, Here's where we think you fill in, here's where we think you fit in.

00:06:10 :12 - 00:06:35 :06

Unknown

It gives you something to say, okay, I know what what they're thinking about for me. Then I can have discussions on maybe that's not where I want it to go, or that is where I want to go. But just organizationally, that succession planning makes a big difference. I think what that quote really points out is, you know, we can have an influence while we're here, but probably the biggest influence we can have is do we set the place up for success after we're done?

00:06:35 :08 - 00:07:01 :11

Unknown

And so the process that we put in place, the things that we do, are not people dependent. It's not over. When Jim leaves, all of this stops. It's Jim built this and so it's all going to continue and nobody else has to figure it out. And I think that's that's really the type of succession planning there they're looking for is how do we make this systemic so we don't have to go through this big deal every time somebody might retire or go somewhere else.

00:07:01 :13 - 00:07:22 :02

Unknown

Yeah, absolutely. And I guess you you kind of touched on it, but is there anything anything else that you wanted to add was talent thinking and succession planning in terms of why we're kind of touching on this now and any other information? Yeah, that's that's a good follow up. You know, I think we're touching on it now because of all these demographic things that we've been talking about.

00:07:22 :04 - 00:07:49 :21

Unknown

You know, we have 10,000 people turning 65 every day. That means a lot of folks are leaving the workplace more than ever before just because of the size of the baby boomers. So the numbers are d