Telkom's turnaround strategy: Time to develop a talent pipeline
Telkom's chief executive - Sipho Maseko - has opened up about its turnaround strategy and his aim of cutting costs at Telkom. According to Bizcommunity, this is a necessary step as the company's profitability has been drained for years. He hopes to save as much as R1 billion a year through cost cutting, a move that will most likely include layoffs. Unfortunately, Maseko's strategy could cause conflict between Telkom, unions and even the ANC, which is seeking to preserve and create new jobs. If you were in this situation, what would you do?
To keep the workforce productive and our companies' bottom lines healthy - says Lia Marus in her article The global workforce is changing - and bringing countless challenges with it - we need to attract staff members to our businesses and, more importantly, keep them. The more employees we have passing through our doors, the more we will have to spend on costs such as recruitment and training.
So, to minimise costs – and keep to Maseko's plan - Telkom may need to take action by cutting jobs now but it also needs to keep the future workforce in mind. Telkom can improve its future talent retention by developing its talent pipeline so that when employees leave, there are always others to replace them. It's always a great idea to have a safety net as the future workforce needs are uncertain.
Sage VIP says that one of the main responsibilities for any manager is to ensure a strong talent pipeline. They have to identify critical skills and competencies required for current and future business goals. In addition to this, the manager also has to identify critical positions and determine which individuals will be capable of taking up these key positions in future.
Sage VIP concluded saying that an analysis of their current talent can be based on discussions with individuals, the output from assessment tools and evaluating the performance of employees over the last few years.
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