RPO Planning Adds Value to Workforce Planning

Recruitment bench strength is defined as an organization’s ability to assess and fill key positions externally by having a robust, ‘on demand,’ talent pool.

There are a number of reasons to pursue recruitment bench strength. It gives an organization the ability to:

1. Assess talent gaps and underperforming employees.
2. Fill open positions without loss of productivity.
3. Eliminate reactive hiring practices.
   
4. Build a pipeline of top talent.
   
5. Benchmark existing company talent to industry talent.

When embarking on a project to build recruitment bench strength, it is vital to follow the following best practices.

Step 1 – Align and preplan

Align with the business strategy. Building recruitment bench strength is not just an HR strategy issue; it is a fundamental business imperative that begins in the executive suite. Ensure the executive team owns the process. The commitment to identifying and developing top talent is essential for the successful implementation of a recruitment bench. Identify key roles and focus on those that add the most value to the organization. These are positions that are the hardest to replace and where losing talent has the highest business risk. Finally, organize your resources, guard against crisis and address any legal concerns before implementing any action plans. Establish program objectives including: existing workforce skills, experience and talent gaps and future workforce requirements and needs.

Step 2 – Define and evaluate talent demand

Identify responsibilities and leadership characteristics. Create a profile for each key role that includes specific behavioral criteria, skill sets, experiences, leadership characteristics and corporate culture attributes. Create a detailed duties and responsibilities check list that specifies high performance and can be measured by objective assessment.

Analyze future needs. Not having the right talent is often a growth-limiting factor in achieving business potential. Analyze your companies future talent pool needs and requirements. Know your competition and Leverage organization chart profiling to map industry competitive roles, skills, experiences, leadership characteristics and titles.

Identify internal and external talent supply at multiple levels to predetermine the depth of bench strength required. Establish an assessment process by utilizing a core set of competencies or behaviors of top performers to establish a standard of comparison for assessment. Use multiple data sources, including behavior-based methods that require skill demonstration. Include future requirements as well as existing performance metrics.

Make the “tough” choices to keep assessments objective and data reliant. Make choices objectively by identifying those who fit the success profile and those that do not. Utilize the competitive marketplace to benchmark internal workforce performance.

Step 3: Leverage recruitment bench strength to create a competitive edge

Integrate technology to develop a robust database of talent that matches your predefined success profile. Utilize Human Resources Management Software to house key information about industry talent.

Invest in building a recruitment bench. Many companies face 30 to 40 percent attrition of their employment base. Building a recruitment bench eliminates the risk of reactive hiring, losses in productivity and creates the potential for unlimited growth.

Finally, leverage the recruitment bench. A recruitment bench creates a benchmark for objective assessment of workforce performance. Following these best practices enables you to create a workforce of top performers.