A recent global survey
by McKinsey & Co. shows that CEO’s and other C-suite business leaders
worldwide are more engaged in digital projects.
While that may not be surprising, what is noteworthy is that employee
engagement is among the top five digital goals executives have on their radar.
Management also cited “difficulty finding functional talent”
as one of the major impediments to achieving business objectives when it comes
to digital programs.
The survey found that 65% of CEOs plan to pursue more
digital projects in the coming year, suggesting that Human Resources needs to
step up its game when it comes to recruiting, employing and retaining technical
talent from developers and IT specialists to digital marketing and recruiting
professionals. Yet only one-third believe they are spending enough on digital,
and worry that they are under-investing.
The message for HR is very clear. In order to help your organization
achieve its objectives, you need to get out in front of the need for digital
talent and invest in the tools it will take to engage and measure the
performance of your workforce. In a strange way, those two goals play off one
another.
By investing in the systems that will help you engage your
employees, you will also be more effective in attracting the kind of digital
talent you seek. The digerati are, by definition, very discerning when it comes
to technology. If your corporate careers Web site isn’t up to snuff, or you
have no mobile site (or the one you have is less than optimal), or your
application process makes the DMV look like fun in comparison, you won’t be
very appealing to the very people you need.
Don’t know where to start? Begin by making it a priority,
and then go to events such as the HR
Tech conference coming up in two weeks in Las Vegas. Digital is no longer
an option, or a way of doing business – it is how business gets done in today’s
world.