In addition to managing these preferences, organizations will have to extend extra effort to meet the needs and demands of their current workforce. Recent studies by Towers Perrin, Spherion, and Monster.com show that an estimated 75 percent of the workforce of most companies is not fully engaged in the job in the United States, while the percentage and cost of disengaged employees are on the rise. Employees are less hesitant about switching employers to build the necessary experience for their careers.

However, HR should not focus its efforts on retaining the entirety of its disengaged workforce or attracting all the employees in the market. Attracting and retaining key talent will give organizations a competitive advantage against others because key talent represents the human capital that will support growth initiatives.

Skills Gap

According to IBM’s global study of CEO’s, 66 percent of executives believe that there is a skills gap in their organizations now, while 18 percent believe there will be a skills gap within 1 year. CEO’s identified the following as top drivers for the current and upcoming skills gap: new skills required for the changing organization (41%) and current skills do not match job requirements (26%). HR plays a critical role in addressing both of these skills gaps. They must identify, attract, and retain highly-skilled employees by strategically creating, matching, and re-defining roles that are suited for multiple skill and ability levels.

Meeting the Talent Management Challenge

The challenge is clear: companies will be competing against each other to find and keep the right talent in their organization to supp