WESTON, Fla., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultimate Software (Nasdaq: ULTI), a leading provider of human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, today announced the results of a talent management survey of human resources professionals conducted at the IDC Human Resources Forum on Talent Management held in New York City yesterday. The survey results reflect the themes addressed by an Ultimate Software-sponsored panel and indicate that human resources executives are proactively seeking solutions for the talent management challenges that face businesses today.
The title of the panel was "A 360-Degree View of Talent Management," and included three Ultimate Software customers - Coach's Laura Booth, vice president of benefits, compensation, and HRIS; First Horizon National Corporation's Cindy Cleveland, vice president and manager of talent development and employee communications; and Janis Meyer, litigation partner and general counsel, Dewey Ballantine LLP - along with IDC's Lisa Rowan, program manager for human resources and talent management.
Topics that panel members discussed were the best-practice ideas on initiatives that HR departments can undertake to inspire company loyalty and retention, how to align talent management objectives with business strategies, the importance of succession planning, and ways to protect company secrets when top talent leaves.
IDC's Lisa Rowan defined talent management as an ongoing process that helps organizations attract, develop and reward the workforce. "Talent management is a cyclical process that includes integrated and related components such as recruitment of talent, contingent staffing, assessment and performance management, learning and development, compensation, succession planning, and competency management, which is, in a sense, at the core of the effective talent management cycle," according to Ms. Rowan.
A strategy that Laura Booth described as critical to Coach's track record as a high-performance organization is defining core competencies endorsed by the company and integrating those in all aspects of its talent management program. "In addition to finding people with very specific skill-sets and experience, we use a competency grid to help us identify people who will do well in our highly collaborative environment. We use the same set of competencies when making performance evaluations and providing development recommendations," said Ms. Booth. "Using the competency grid helps us to clarify expectations, and to set high standards and follow through with a consistent philosophy."
First Horizon's Cindy Cleveland talked about the importance of tightly interweaving talent management and business strategies. Ms. Cleveland stated, "Companies that can integrate processes to attract, develop, and retain top talent to their business strategies will create a competitive advantage. Our success has come, in part, from the alignment of these strategies and consensus built among our upper level management and leaders from all business lines on talent decisions and planning." Ms. Cleveland also discussed how First Horizon's nationally recognized employee-focused culture has been the cornerstone of their talent development practices.
As an employment law litigator, worldwide general counsel and partner at Dewey Ballantine LLP, Janis Meyer was able to offer advice on prudent hiring practices, fair employee evaluation processes, risk avoidance strategies, and legal mechanisms often used in talent management. Boiling down her guidance, Ms. Meyer said, "Employer caution needs to begin at the point of hire ─ finding a good fit for your organization's culture, reviewing resumes for red flags, doing appropriate background checks, establishing guidelines for interviewing, and always calling references to validate resume facts."
According to the HR professionals who attended the IDC Human Resources Forum and participated in the survey, only 4% ranked their organization's ability to recruit and retain talent as "excellent," with the majority describing their ability as "fair." At the same time, the number one challenge that responding executives said they would encounter over the next 12 months is "Retaining the right talent" and a close second was "Acquiring the right talent". For their teams, respondents said that "Finding time to focus on strategic talent retention" is the greatest issue. The one area that executives would most like to improve at their organizations is Performance Management, with Learning Management and Employee Development second, and Succession Planning third.
"As the war for the best talent escalates, employers across all industries express concern with putting effective strategies in place that will help them recruit and retain top performers," said Linda Miller, senior vice president of marketing at Ultimate Software. "We hope that by continuing to sponsor discussions around this critical issue, HR executives will have the opportunity to learn about talent management best practices and technologies from each other and better the contributions they can make to their organizations."
"HR leaders are becoming more visionary and less reactive," said Lisa Rowan. "By acknowledging that many data indictors point to a diminishing pool of talent over the next five to ten years, HR executives take the first step to planning and designing for the future. Attendee comments tell us that hearing the best practices of companies, like those represented on this panel, give them inspiration and ideas for strategic plans of their own."
To listen to Ultimate Software's archived webcast with these four panelists on talent management challenges, please, visit: http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/news_webcast.asp?rsite=701600000004fFL
About Ultimate Software
Ultimate Software, a leading provider of human resources, payroll, and workforce management solutions, markets award-winning UltiPro Workforce Management as licensed software and as a hosted service through Intersourcing. Employing approximately 550 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services, Ultimate Software was ranked third on the 2006 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America list by the Great Place to Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. Also in 2006, Ultimate Software's Customer Services team earned a first-place STAR award from the Service and Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and a first place in the Best Customer Service Organization category from the American Business Awards. Ultimate Software customers represent diverse industries and include such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, Major League Baseball, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and SkyWest Airlines. More information on Ultimate Software's products and services can be found at www.ultimatesoftware.com
UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.
For Sales Information:
Ultimate Software
Phone: (800) 432-1729
Web site: www.ultimatesoftware.com