How HR Can Think Outside the Talent Box | HRExecutive

Talent needs within organizations continue to shift as a result of the coronavirus. Some organizations have experienced a reduction in talent demand, whereas others have an increase in talent needs. One innovative solution that organizations are embracing as an agile talent strategy is an employee-sharing strategy (ESS). With an ESS, one employer “shares” workers– who would otherwise lose their jobs– with another employer who has a current talent need. In practice, a group of employers from multiple industries brings together companies laying off or furloughing people with those companies who have an urgent need for workers. As noted in this article, one challenge in this approach is how to operationalize such exchanges, which requires answering questions such as 1) How do we handle the benefits implications of such exchanges, particularly if they involve unionized workgroups? 2) How do we accurately match the skills of talent to the work being demanded, so we don’t have a lag in productivity when the borrowed talent is in place? 3) How do we protect against poaching of talent or addressing mismatches in the timeframes for each organization? In spite of these challenges, an ESS can have many benefits for organizations and workers and should be explored as a viable talent strategy during the pandemic and beyond.