The adoption of a more personalised approach to developing, nurturing, managing and compensating key workers can boost total shareholder return by up to two thirds over a five-year period, a report has revealed.

 
But the study among senior HR professionals at 44 organisations and 110 individuals undertaken by talent management specialists Jackson Samuel also indicated that, in many cases today, there is a significant disconnect between what such employees really want from their employers and what employers perceive these needs to be.
 
Lesley Uren, Jackson Samuel’s co-founder and director of consulting, said: “Great talent management is all about differentiation and this research clearly showed what a positive bottom-line impact a segmented approach to talent management can have.”
 
To get this approach right, organisations first of all needed to identify all of the talent that gave them a competitive advantage – and not just future leaders – in order to get to know such individuals better.
 
“Each person can then be placed within the talent interest group that best matches their skills, personality and ambitions. Only at this point is it possible to develop differentiated, personalised offers, which deliver the greatest benefit to the organisation and the individual,” Uren said.
 
As such, employees can be divided into six key categories – Brand Enthusiasts, Career Ladderists, Planners, The Nurtured, Opportunity Seekers and Connectors – based on their wants and needs, he believes.
 

• Brand Enthusiasts (‘Impress Me’) – will want to work in a company with a strong reputation or brand image. These individuals take an active role in seeking out opportunities to feel stretched and challenged, but also expect an established or prestigious brand to provide such opportunities as the default.
• Career Ladderists (‘Promote Me’) – want upward promotion and quickly. They are attracted to an organisation by its culture and values, which are likely to be based on a traditional corporate approach towards upward development and progression. These people value opportunities to develop, but believe their status should increase proportionately as such development takes place.
• Connectors (‘Support Me’) – enjoy the social aspect of work, appreciate a friendly working environment and tend to build close relationships with people. For them, development is about both having a range of opportunities, but also having the right collaboration and support in place to make the most of them. They tend to seek an employer with a more developmental and informal culture.
• The Nurtured (‘Guide Me’) – want employers to get to know them, respect them and play a big role in their development. They appreciate development that is tailored to their individual needs and are the least likely group to seek out their own opportunities as they believe that this should be owned and managed by the organisation.
• Opportunity Seekers (‘Challenge Me’) – value upward progression, but unlike Career Ladderists are driven less by status and more because they value opportunities to stretch and challenge them. They are driven by being able to broaden their knowledge and skills and want to gain as many experiences as possible, becoming disengaged if they cannot.
• Planners (‘Understand Me’) – value good relationships with their employers as they like to be understood and respected for their values and needs. They see their career as a kind of anchor that gives them a sense of stability and pathway through life. As a result, they value a clear career plan that does not necessarily imply upward progression or promotion but more sequential development.