Q1. Explain the importance of Talent Management Process. Describe the stages of Talent Management Process ?

Answer : Like human capital, talent management is gaining increased attention. Talentmanagement (TM)brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and managementinitiatives. Organisations that officially decide to manage their own talent carry outa strategic analysis of their current HR processes. This is to make sure that a co-ordinated, performance oriented approach isadopted.Many organisations are adopting a TM approach which focuses on co-ordinating andintegrating methods which are given as:oRecruitment:To ensuretheright people areattractedto theorganisation.oRetention: To develop andimplementpracticesthatrewardand support employees.oEmployeedevelopment:Toensurecontinuousinformalandformallearninganddevelopment.oLeadershipand"highpotentialemployee"development:Specificdevelopmentprograms for existing andfuture leaders.oPerformancemanagement:Specific processesthatnurture andsupportperformance, includingfeedback/measurement.oWorkforce planning: To planfor business and generalchanges,whichincludethe older workforceand current/future skills shortages.oCulture: Todevelopof apositive, progressive andhigh performance wayof operating.

Q2. Describe the top strategies adopted to improve employee retention ?as the term "competency", as it refers to personal factors that enable individualperformance, become too broad? Let's begin by asking the question, "What factors areNOT competencies?"First, we can eliminate the external factors. Those are"facilitators" of performance. (Theopposite would be "barriers" to performance justas the opposite of competencies wouldbe "weaknesses".) External factors (e.g. resources, processes, information, rewards, etc.)can have aclear impact on the ability and/or willingness of anindividual to perform, butthe term "competency" includes only thefactors that are elements of an individualperson's make-up. External facilitators of performance are not competencies.So what is a person madeof? And which of thoseelements affects the capacity toperform? Through my research and experience I have identified the following categories:AbilitiesPhysical (body or brain) traits that enable performance are calledabilities. If a taskrequires one to lift a certain weightwithout aid of an external resource thenthe"performer" must have the capacity tolift weight. This ability is comprised of the musclestrength required, as well as the appendages required, to lift. The brain must also beableto interpret the instructions. Therefore, intelligence sufficient to grasp and acton theinstructions is also an ability. However, intelligence, as a physical function of the brain, isnot the only mental trait that is critical. For example, judgmentis a competency that isbased on knowledge rather than intelligence. Data storage is different from intellectualhorsepower, but they are interdependent on one another when we need to leverage them.KnowledgeThe brain stores facts and generalizations aboutthe world around us. For example,someof the information that we store allows us tounderstand and speak alanguage.Information comes from our personal interpretation of each event that unfolds in our life.Experience itself is not a competency so much as the knowledge we have gained fromeach experience is. This is most clear when we find that someone has learned a lessonfrom an experience that is contrary to what we expected. Do you know anyone that hasgraduated from college or passeda specific certification test, but who is not as good at ajob as someone who learned from the "school of hard knocks" (general life experience onthe streets)? Performance requires us to collect data andconvert it into usable informationso knowledge is a competency.SkillsSkills are techniques that an individual haslearned and intentionally applies to a givensituation. The three most common academicskills are reading, writing, and arithmetic(computation). However, there are also gross motor skills such as riding a bicycle. Anexample of a combinationof both skills would be using aspecific software application(reading and typing). Many interpersonal traits are also learned skills (e.g. listening is askill, hearing is an ability). Once a personbecomes fluent at a skill they nolongerconsciously practice it. They just do it. When someone does not know how to dosomething that they never evenknew was possible, they are unconsciously incompetent.After they learn of the skill's existence they are consciously incompetent. As they learnthe skill they pass from being a novice to being proficient to beingan expert. At somepoint they may just begin to use theskill without even thinking about it. That levelofunconscious competence may be called a habit, but habits are also things that weunconsciously do in response to somestimulus as part of a regular routine. For example,Pavlov's dogs salivated when herang the bell because they associatedthe bell ringingwith being fed. Skills rely on knowledgeand ability because you must have memory ofprior experiences, if any, with the skill andthe ability to execute the skill in order touseor improve the skill.

Q3. Explain the key Compensation principles. What do you mean by Total rewards? Describe the elements of Total rewards.

Talentmanagement practicesandtechniqueshave evolvedovertimeinresponsetoachangingworkplace. The most effective talent management processes are organisation-specific and react to anorganisations distinctive business and human capital framework. Talent management includes a rangeof interdependent processes and procedures that need to be properly integrated. The organisation willnot achieve the desired level of human capital performance if talent management processes do notoperate as a unified group.Thekey elements of Talent Management Systemare explained as follows:Selection : Selection is the process of choosing a candidate amongst a number of probable candidates.Recruitment and Retention has become a big challenge for organisations due to the continuing globaltalent shortage, the changing worldview of work by new generation employees entering the workforce,and the ever increasing evidence that poor recruitment decisions have a direct impact on the bottom line.Recruitmentprocess that is not merit-based and has poor reliability and validity are a burden to anorganisation and can even expose the company to discrimination claims. Poor hiring choices can affecttheorganisationinadditionalrecruitmentcosts,trainingandorientationcosts,lossoftime,lostopportunity, lost revenue, loss of competitive advantage, tarnish image and reputation. It is aboutrecruiting the right people in the right place at the right time. Organisations need to filter their attraction,recruitment and selection approaches to ensure they have the right talent on board to enable them toremain competitive. A global view thatincludes a diverse workforce is critical.Inductionandtraining : Induction is the formal entry of the selected candidates into the organisationand Training is to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies by teaching with respect to theorganisational requirement. Employers should not assume that new hires can cover for themselves, andwill only need brief introductions and a chunk of corporate information to get them started. Althoughlost profits due to the training of a new hire has been estimated as 1.0 2.5% of total revenue, it is clearthatthisinductionperiodisvitalgiventhat6.3%ofpeopleleavewithintheFirst 6 months of starting in a new role, which is typically due to their induction experience. A properinduction program helps to reduce employeediscomfort, improve productivity and save money.After an effective, useful and timely training experience should be the progressing development chancesthat support the individual in the role, but also the organisation in achieving its broader objectives. Suchtraining, where possible and practical, should be in-time rather than in-case to provide trainingenvironments and materials that change to meet individual or small group demands precisely at the timewhen new skills are needed.

Capability development: Customised improvement opportunities for key talent are seen as an essentialcomponent for motivation and retention of these people. In the present scenario, developing the currentemployees is a more cost effective and efficient means of maintaining internal talent pools rather thanrecruiting new people and wasting vital resources on their training. Career growth also has a majorimpact on job satisfaction and commitment, to an organisation that relates directly to the retention ofdynamic employees.Both high potentials and core contributors should be given enough opportunities to develop by theinternal talent management in order to maintain operational effectiveness and output. Key performersand core contributors require different growth experiences that should be modified accordingly formaximum profit. Committed leaders are required to emphasise the idea on both groups given theircompeting business priorities.The Talent Development structure adopted by an organisation needs to support the talent capabilitiesrequired for the future and needs to be able to blend with ongoing changes. Good leadership quality in aglobal and increasingly diverse workplace is a highly sort after competence, and this must be embeddedinto any comprehensive development program. Other elements will be established by the businessstrategy.Performance: A performance management system increases the productivity and confidence in anorganisation, if planned and implemented effectively. An example of the problems in performancemanagementisthat,34%ofsurveyedAustralianorganisationsusingappraisalshadnoformalperformance management policy in place.The increasing number of new generation employees in the workforce adds thrust to the importance of atransparent,objectiveperformancemanagementprocessastheyperformbestinaculturethatencouragesfeedback.Performancemanagementsystemsshouldbevisiblyrelatedtotrainingordevelopment and recognition or compensation systems within the organisation in order to increaseproductivity and retention. Organisations can also defend themselves against legal action resulting fromdiscrimination or unfair claims through use of a legitimate and fair performance management system.Retention and succession: Retention is the measure taken to encourage the employees to remain in theorganisation for longer period of time. Succession helps an organisation to ensure that employees arehired andtrainedto filleach keyposition within theorganisation.Employee retentionis animportantissue for top leaders in organisations all over the world. In todays world an abundance of jobs areavailable in the market for a job seeker and therefore employers must compete to attract and retain thetalent they need to fulfil their organisational objectives. Talent retention is necessary to good quality,customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.Typically,companiesprefertoinduct85%oftheirleadersthroughinternalplacement.Forexample, Hewitts Top 10 Companies in the Asia Pacific develop 76% of their leaders internally while aglobal survey found a 30% failure ratewhen placing highly sought after external talent.Itisevidentthatorganisationswithhighqualitystrategicimprovementprogramsandsuccessionmanagement programs have greater business results. In addition, increasingly rigid labour markets makesuccession management a business necessity and force organisations to identify and accelerate thedevelopment of future leaders from within. The stable organisations under such pressure need to have aneffective succession management policy in place, with a particular focus on the continuity of keyspecialists and leaders.Other key elements of talent managementBesides the four above elements of talent management, some other elements are also available that helpto characterise the relationship between talent management and conventional recruiting. They include:Afocusonhighimpact positions:Atalentmanagementpolicy requires managersandHRtodetermine an organisations success by filling top talent in the appropriate jobs.Accountability:Talent management assigns accountability to the chief talent executive for managingthe talent pool, who is responsible for results, not effort.Rewardsandmetrics:Talentmanagementbuildssupportandrelationshipbetweenearlierindependent efforts through its common objectives, metrics and rewards. Thus, no independent effortcan be considered successful unless theoverall talent management effort is also successful.Balanced metrics:Talent management attracts managers attention by instituting a system of methodsand rewards that ensures every executive is acknowledged and rewarded for excellence in humanresource management. It simultaneously evaluates employee commitment to ensure that managers reachtheir productivity goals while using the appropriate organisation behaviours.Business approach:The talent management approach is not taken from an overhead or administrationmodel. It is created from and replicates other successful business process models, like supply chainmanagement, finance, and lean manufacturing.Recognition of the business cycle:The talent management strategy involves identifying the differenttypes of talent required with respect to changing business situations. Consequently, talent managementrequires the constant internal movement of talent in and out of jobs and business units based on currentbusiness needs and where the company is in its business cycle.Truly global:Talent managementencourages attracting,retaining, anddeveloping thebest talent nomatter where it is.Focus on service:Flawless service is the expectation of talent management. Customer satisfaction,process speed, quality, and commitment are continually measured.Anticipation:While conventional recruiting and retention tend to be reactive, talent management isforwardlooking.Itpredictsandalertsmanagersaboutupcomingproblemsandopportunities.Itindicates managers to act before theneed arises in talent management issues.The overall objective of this unit helps you to understand the Talent Management System and how it isimplementedinanorganisation.Italsoexplainsthecriticalsuccessfactorsusedtoensuretheorganisations have the right people in the right jobs. This unit provides a list of primary and applicablemerit principles to state the responsibility and role of an organisation and workforce productivity. Youalso came to know about the key elements which are required for an effective Talent Management System.

Q4. What are the responsibilities undertaken by an HR to ensure compliance to regulations? Explain the steps involved in ensuring safe work environments ?

Ans.An organisational assessment is the evaluation of organisational factors in the internalenvironment which affects the competitive situation. An organisational assessment is aprocess of taking steps to reflect and analysethe various functions within the organisation.It categorises the initial steps of a talent management process into:Identifying organisational anddepartmental trends.Reviewing strategy, challenges, andopportunities.Prioritising goals, work, and projects.Determining the factors affectingworkforce planning.Organisational effectiveness and employee development occurs whenthere is a firmalignment between individual interests and organisational needs. To set the environmentfor talent reviews, itis essential to first identify theorganisational requirements. The goalis to show anychanging requirements, skills, and knowledge needed by the organisation.An assessment of an organisation includes the following steps:1.Review of strategy and key challenges: Here, the constructive analysis aboutorganisational strengths, opportunities, and challenges is done. This discussion sets theorganisational framework for considering the workforce development.2.Environmental scan: In addition to the review of strategy and challenges,organisational departments can perform a moredetailed strategy review. Anenvironmental inspection reviews the current andchanging client requirements andrequests for services.Workforce analysis:It is a systematic process in which anorganisation identifies the critical jobs andcompetencies, needed for the current and future employees, and developsstrategiesto overcome any gaps.Its main priority is using information to obtain anoverview of the workforce andtargeting talent management initiatives which are givenas:a)Identifying critical job roles for analysis and planning.b)Reviewing knowledge/skills/attributes needed.c)Determining employee population for review.d)Gathering demographic information.After recognising organisational priorities, the next step focuses on the roles and skillsneeded for the department to be successful.Identification of critical roles:The management team determines the keyjob functionsand rolesthat will be the primary focus of the talent review discussions.Based on the requirement, a talent review committee focuses on any of these groups:a)All staff in a particular function or organisation unit.b)A specific group or job category of theemployee population.c)A specific level of leaders, managers, or supervisors.Inventory of skills and knowledge:Here, the leaders discuss on skills, knowledge, andperformance that adds to success for the identified job roles. This information serves as abasis for evaluating the performance and potential of a particular employee group. Thisprocess also includes an overall strength/gap analysis ofthe department thatencapsulates existing workforce capabilities and identifies gaps that isrequired to be metby external hiring orinternal development initiatives.Talent review:A Talent Review is a process to involve more senior business executives in sharing andanalysing talent information, mostly part of an overall succession management process.Compared to talent alignment sessions, talent reviews present a chance to discuss talentat a higher level of depth and focus.It provides an overview of howto encourage a discussion ofkey talent in the given ways to:a)Identify readiness and potential for future assignments or positions.b)Review possible succession plans.c)Determine strengths and development needs ofemployees.Having set the organisational goals, management teams can start with the process ofreviewing talent in the organisation. The type and significance of atalent review canvary based on the department's need.Talent review examples include:Talent Inventory which in turn involvesthe current performance and future capability of aselected employee group. The objective is to get a combined perspective of strengths,requirements and development opportunities for specific employees, andto identify theorganisation's "talent pool." Readiness for major assignments or future jobs is considered.Succession planning which recognises the potential successors for key roles. Inassociation with a general talent inventory, management teams can also focuson vital jobroles to assess current and future bench strength.Capability planning which focuses on the competence and availability of staff to providekey services. As asubstitute to evaluating prospective successors for particular job roles,the management team uses a similar method to review key jobs, efficiency, orcompetencies that need to be implemented in the organisation. Knowledge Transferfocuses on the supporting, developing, or transferring of skills andknowledge in theorganisation. Knowledge transfer begins with an account of proficiency in the department,and continues with a discussion about workforce learning. Knowledge transfer programsfacilitate managers to recognise internal "leaders" who can motivate and increaseknowledge of other team members through informal mentoring or peer teachingrelationships.Development planningDevelopment planning refers to the strategic quantifiable goals that a person,organisation or agency plans to achieve within acertain amount of time. It dealswith the implementing development activity inthe organisation after the talentreview.Given below are some of the developments ofplanning activities:a)Review development assignments for on-the-job learning.b)Identify appropriate training and educationprograms.c)Explore formal and informalmentoring initiatives.d)Plan and conduct development discussions.e)Hold follow-up sessions to review outcomes of development discussions,assignments, and learning plans.Talent Review discussions help managers to identify the development priorities for thedepartment. Consequently, managers or senior leaders arebetter prepared to have follow-up development discussions. These discussions have the advantage of helping managerstoinclude job experiences, development assignments, or training in the short-term that canhelp organise employees forfuture responsibilities.

Q5. Explain the key elements of a Talent Management System?Ans:Most of the organisations irrespective of fact whether theyare small, medium, or big scalecompanies have their own methods of hiring thecandidates for the required positions. Sometimes, thisprocess is dealt within the company itself orit is handled by some subcontractors or recruiting agencies.Following are some of the aspects of the recruiting process:Get the candidates resume/CV fromdifferent job portals.Classify the candidates based on different criteria like experience,technology, so on.Send automated mails to sorted candidates for theinterview.Schedule/reschedule the interviews.Manage many rounds of interviews for the candidate.Manage interviewers for different rounds of interview.Send automated mails and SMS alerts to keep the interviewers informed about the interviewschedule.Handle interviewers remark and rating for the interviews.Send alerts for the scheduled interviews,hold candidates, joining candidates, so on.Get the soft copy of documents like experience letter, relieving letter, resignation letter, soonfrom previous company once the selection process ends.Manage background check result for the candidates.Get feedback report for ex-employees, ex-employee documents like experience letters, pay slipsetc.Support different reports like hold candidates, selected candidates, candidate feedback reportso on.Candidate information management.Personal information of a candidate is collected from various sources like jobportals, employeereferrals so on. Personal information include full name, contact number, address,email ID,designation, so on. The resume or CV (curriculum vitae) of candidate is also managed, and thesoft copies of these resumes areuploaded in different formats

Q6. Explain the concept of Talent Acquisition .Explain the talent acquisition strategies ?Recruiting rarely is based on any sort of strategic plan. For most organizations, recruiting is a tactical operation a series of things that take place that result in qualified people getting hired. It is mostly reactive, and few recruiters have the time or charter to look forward more than a few weeks. To ensure that your organization has a chance at hiring the best people and to successfully operate in a global, competitive environment, organizations you will need a strategic plan coupled to appropriate resources and tactics. Heres a quick overview of the five essential first steps needed to put this plan together and to begin making it operational:The five key steps in strategic talent planningStep 1: Talent PlanWorkforce or talent planning is the first and hardest step. It means deeply understanding the organizations business goals and the competitive environment the organization functions in. It is a combination of understanding and predicating demand, while at the same time being educated and aware of the talent supply situation from all the sources that are available. This step needs to be far more than simply listing the jobs projected in the annual budgeting process and factoring in turnover. It is an evolving process, as opposed to an annual event, and is the most dynamic and critical stage of any strategic process.Step 2: Image and BrandIt is not true that if you build a great strategy or a great organization, people will necessarily flock to your doors. Getting people aware of your organization is a tough job. It requires having a consistent communication process as well as a plan to raise general awareness through advertisements, promotions, or by getting listed as a best place to work. You have to be able to answer questions like, What makes your company different or unique? or Why would I want to come work for you? Not only should you have answers to these questions, but you should also make sure your advertising, web presence (which is essential), and overall corporate advertising support this image. This has to be an organization-wide effort. It takes time and an accumulation of messages to be effective. One or two advertisements or a handful of posters wont do it.Step 3: Sourcing MethodsDevelop a multi-faceted sourcing strategy. Embrace active candidates who are responding to your brand and image-building messages, but maintain the capacity and skills to tap passive candidates. Decide based on past experience what works best for you in locating candidates, and then build those sourcing channels to the max. Make sure you are using referrals from current employees, your network of professionals, web-based search, your own web site and also develop methods to keep in touch with potential candidates that you have no current position for but might have at some later time.Step 4: Screening and Assessing CandidatesAre you going to invest heavily in educating managers in behavioral interviewing? Are the recruiters going to be the main screeners, or will you use testing and other tools? What role will the Internet play, if any? Are you going to look into using web-based tests? How much will you rely on candidates screening themselves out or in? What role does the hiring managers play in screening and assessing, and what are the differences between what you do and they do? This is an area where there can be great improvement with reasonable effort, but where things are still done mostly the way they have always been done. A focus on automating screening to some degree reduces the volume of candidates and actually raises candidate satisfaction.Step 5: Market and Communicate!Candidates want to be in the know about their status and prospects. They seek out feedback and information. Your organizations website is an invaluable tool, but you will also need to develop systems to communicate with candidates personally and to send out newsletters and emails. Probably all the people you need at one time or another sent a resume or expressed interest. They were most likely told that there were no current openings. Wouldnt it be wonderful if you could actually stay in touch with those people and let them know when there is an open position? Thats what CRM (candidate relationship management) systems can do. Unfortunately, they are not yet generally available or optimized for recruiting. But ask your ATS vendor what they doing about this and urge them to provide you the tools you need to effectively keep qualified candidates interested in you. Make sure that whatever systems you choose fit your strategy and make economic sense A few other things to keep in mind: Make sure all managers and recruiters have a simple system for deciding on a candidate. As you know, speed is the real differentiator today, and the recruiter/manager who moves the most quickly will usually get the candidate. Eliminate unnecessary approvals, and make sure your selection criteria are clear to avoid slowing down the process. If you are a decentralized firm, work out a system for who owns what. If you all agree together then the areas of dispute will be limited. The rule I use is that the central or corporate function should set standards and establish corporate-wide systems. Local offices should participate in that process and have great autonomy on the day-to-day stuff. They can supplement broad image and branding activities with local advertising within the bounds of an agreement you all make with one another.These initial steps and processes are what enable the back-end activities of scheduling, interviewing, making offers, and on-boarding.