Small businesses constantly face the challenge of employing the right people for the job; even more so a company is growing rapidly and key personnel is needed. No matter how well the business is run and managed, business owners may find it difficult to set out a roadmap for achieving their goals – especially when it comes to hiring personnel. This is where proper talent management comes in.

Talent management is the process of tracking and managing your employees. This includes attracting and recruiting suitably qualified personnel to your company, awarding them competitive salaries that are monitored on performance, training opportunities for employees, retention programs and promotion and transitioning of employees. Talent management is also known as Human Capital Management (HCM) and is usually outlined as a set of practices.

Proper talent management can lead to your company having a reputation for being a positive place to work, which in turn will lead to employee satisfaction and loyalty. Prospective talent will also be more interested in working for your company as they believe the benefits will be worthwhile.

Costs are always a concern; and with proper talent management you won’t ever waste a dollar again. Hiring the best employee for the job will mean a higher productivity rate, which will lead to an increase in sales and repeat business. Customers get used to dealing with a specific person at a company, and when this person is enthusiastic about his or her work, providing only the best service to his or her customers, these customers would want to stay where they are – which means more sales to you on a regular basis – which is what any business is all about.

How to Properly Implement Talent Management

This can be done by either hiring a consultant to review your business needs and them implement a strategy; or you can skip that altogether and use a computerized system to track and manage your employee processes. There are many wonderful solutions available, including hosted (web-based) systems that will be very cost effective for your business.

In addition to basic payroll functions, these systems can help you:

• Get insight into recruitment processes such as hiring requirements and job descriptions;
• Developing and tracking incentive programs;
• Measure industry needs and current talent;
• Identify training and promotion opportunities for employees;
• Get access to real-time salary information and other raises.

Implementing a proper talent management program is essential to track your business growth, employee satisfaction level and to ensure that your company is spending money where it matters most. Whether you are managing this system in-house, or outsourcing to a consultant company, talent management has become a necessity in today’s rapidly evolving business world.