On a recent HR Happy Hour episode, an interesting statement was made about companies owning talent (versus managers.) It got me thinking…who “owns” talent in a company: is it the organization or the manager?
Or maybe it’s neither.
Could it be that the individual employee “owns” their own talent?
Organizations merely rent or lease the talent of their employees. They do that via compensation and benefits. Employees bring their talents and, in exchange, they get paid and receive benefits. Since the employee’s talent is the driver…the employee “owns” what the company wants.
Here’s another way to think of it. As soon as an employee makes the decision to leave (either genuinely or just mentally), the organization ceases to have that talent. The challenge for companies is to make sure that employees bring all of their talents to work every day. Because the last thing a company wants is to pay for talent they aren’t getting.
Enter the department manager. Managers are supposed to help employees recognize their talents, direct the use of their talents, and encourage employees to develop existing talents and/or seek additional talents. The idea being that managers create the environment for employees to do what Maslow calls self-actualizing. I call it doing the things that make you want to get up and go to work each day.
This is the essence of employee engagement. Employees who understand how their talents fit into the overall goals of the organization and are able to self-actualize are more likely to bring all of their talents to work and strive to have greater talents…which, hopefully, the company can use to make itself better (read: more profitable).
Let me know your thoughts on this. I still can’t help but think the first step in this logic is talent. Which means the employee “owns” talent, not the company and not the manager. And how, when and to what extent talent is used is based upon the way an employee interacts with their manager and the company.
Karla Porter says
I say that employees lease their talent to companies.. There is a theory that one day “employees” will all be independent contractors.. I’m very much in favor of that. I think the current system is rife with issues, is archaic and a weak evolution of feudalism. I understand this is radical thinking but Sharlyn you asked =)
hr bartender says
@Karla – thanks, as always, for sharing your thoughts. I can totally see a solopreneur economy. We’ve been heading in that direction and the recent economic challenges have accelerated that movement. I’ve been saying for years that HR pros need to learn project management and vendor management to support it.
adowling says
I love this idea! I think it’s also up to us as leaders to help employees realize the talent they are leasing to us; diamond in the rough scenario.
hr bartender says
@adowling – Exactly! Developing a perspective on talent drives so many other decisions in our organizations. Thanks for commenting.
Kevin W. Grossman says
Absolutely. The employee owns their talent and talent development and the employer facilitates that development. I like Karla’s leasing statement.
Have you read the latest Workforce Management article titled “Tailor-Made Careers”? Fascinating concept called Mass Career Customization, allowing employees to dial up or down their responsibilities to extend beyond flex time to what Deloitte calls career/life fit.
Gonna put compensation models on their head, but that’s not a bad thing. The way we work, learn and live needs to evolve.
Charlie Judy says
This is a great twist and a valuable way for business leaders to think about their people. I’ve always said every employee is a “free agent” and there is no guarantee they are coming back tomorrow. And to take your analogy further, any leasehold improvement made by an employer in an employee (investment, education, training, etc) if often lost entirely when that employee exits. So here’s the trick…can we turn those leases into Capital Leases – ones which results in a life long relationship that is effectively ownership?!?! Great post!
Karla Porter says
I love covert operations and I smell one here – I suggest we band together and create a new solopreneur model that takes into account every aspect of what it would look like and publish it… BTW, I want people to be able to buy their health insurance like they do their car insurance – by shopping around nationally, not having to take what the company offers. This model would support that. Maybe while we’re at it we fix the health care fiasco.
hr bartender says
@Kevin – thanks for the comment. I haven’t read the Workforce article (subscription only), but please drop it in the comments if you can so we can all take a look. I think one of the reasons leasing isn’t far fetched is because people want that career/life fit and they’re trying to figure out how to make it happen.
@Charlie – Interesting idea about “capital leases”. I’d love to hear more. Will you be writing a post about it?
@Karla – count me in. What about the rest of you?
Nathaniel says
I like the way that Karla stated it, employees lease their talents. My talents are mine, I agreed to use them for the benefit of the organization for an agreed upon sum. The amount of money and time a company puts into developing someone talents benefits both employee and employer.
Taleo Business Edition says
Employees own their talent and lease it to their employers. But in most cases employees sign statements at hiring that all their work belongs to the company, so the employer owns the product of employees’ talents. In a world of all independent contractors, intellectual property rights could become pretty messy. Very interesting!
Matt Charney says
Great post, Sharlyn! Completely agree with everyone on the fact that talent are “free agents” (which for us recruiters, is probably a good thing). I think for A List talent to grow and develop in an organization long term, legislation needs to eliminate “At Will” employment as the norm.
Recruiters always have to stipulate that when extending an offer, so the messaging during on boarding must, by law, be flavored by at-will status. Changing this would allow employers to make long-term, binding commitments to employees rather than rhetoric and empty promises, and I’m pretty sure employees would reciprocate, too. Great dialogue on an important subject.
Leanne Chase - @LeanneCLC says
I find this post fascinating…because I’ve always understood that I “own” my talent as an employee. And I don’t think I’m alone. The fact that this seems like a new concept in HR shows just how out of touch HR is with talent. And I think the Conference Board’s job satisfaction numbers back this up. Seriously, 2 decades of decline in satisfaction – both boom and bust times. Clearly somebody doesn’t get it…
Bottom line – treat people like people. Stop treating them like they owe the company something. They don’t. It’s a business arrangement. If your employees feel like the company isn’t living up to their end of it (cost of living raises for the masses while CEO bonuses & stock prices rise; more work but no promotions/recogonition; then when bad times hit an “we’re all in this together” attitude that asks employees to cut benefits) then why on earth would they. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
fran melmed says
my husband and i used to work together at the same firm (we didn’t meet there, but we did meet on the job at another shared company). he always touted that he was a free agent while i considered myself devoted to the organization. now, of course, that organization’s mine, as i’m the one who left when the game rules changed and he’s the one who stayed.
the real challenge is identifying how to fully apply a person’s talent–and, therefore, the person–even when the current job doesn’t require more than 1/4 of what they’ve got. that is *definitely* what the best managers do.
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hr bartender says
@Nathaniel – thanks for adding to the convo. Your point about professional development is spot-on. It’s a win-win.
@Matt – thanks for the comment. I’m not sure how many employers are ready to eliminate employment-at-will. I wonder if the idea of at-will could actually keep companies on their toes because employees are able to leave at any moment. Your thoughts?
@Leanne – It does seem elementary, doesn’t it?! But social norms die hard and the idea of employment being a series of projects or gigs is, as Karla mentioned, a radical idea. I can’t help but think we’re seeing the calm before the storm where job satisfaction is concerned. Once employees see a window to make change, oh my…the workplace will get very interesting. Thanks for the comment!
@fran – You’re absolutely right. Managers have to understand how to evaluate and leverage talent. It’s the only way organizations will succeed. Appreciate your thoughts!
Steve Levy says
Consider first, the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery – not that Andrew Carnegie really believed it when he sent in Pinkerton guards to squash unionization attempts…
If employees lease their talents to companies, then companies lease the space, the culture, the pens, and the toilet paper in the bathrooms to the employees. The problem with the leasing model is that no one is minding the gap: HR has proven to be woefully inept at managing the middle for the company and I can assure you that most employees wouldn’t stick their big toe into that quick-sandy cesspool.
So who should bridge this gap? Karla, your idea sounds quite a bit like mass unionization – throw the power back to the people. Alas, so many would still be lemmings – followers only – because that is what most people in the middle do. The companies? Look at the concept of employment loyalty – it’s been a gone from a green trail to a double diamond slope over the past decades.
What if both sides simply focused on minding their Ps and Qs and stopped worrying about ownership piece? You mean HR would function as integrators?
Oh my…
Bonita says
I agree 100% that the employee owns their own talent, thus their career. I’ve always felt this way and demonstrated this in my career, but sharing this message with employees (HR to employee) so that they take ownership and control over their development and future has been very difficult. I really do not think that most employees feel that they own their own career. How do you communicate that no one is going to help you if you do not help yourself?
Eva says
Love it! The notion that we own our own talent isn’t groundbreaking — obviously we own (and thus can develop) our athletic, artistic, or musical talents. But to put it this way in terms of our employment has the potential to get workers to seriously consider developing and taking an interest in their own professional development.
Kevin W. Grossman says
The Workforce Management article is in the latest print edition, but not online yet (that I can find).
Jonathan Hyland says
I never really thought of employment in this way – but it really is true! You do need to take the reigns and own (and know) what you are and what you can do. When you’re working for an organization, I think it’s up to both the employee AND the organization to find the best relationship so that the talent is maximized.
However, as several other commentators have indicated, that process often breaks down, either due to lack of employee commitment to his/her own destiny, or the organization not providing the right opportunities and guidance. The best relationships happen when both parties are interested in each other.
Thanks for sharing!
hr bartender says
Oh my gosh, so many awesome comments! This is great.
@Steve – I agree we need to give people the tools to evaluate and develop their own talents. That way people aren’t seeking loyalty. Thanks for commenting.
@Bonita – Excellent point. Education and corporations need to help individuals understand how to take charge of their own career. Then, companies have to communicate with employees as a part of the interviewing, on-boarding, expectation setting conversations happening within the organization.
@Eva – Thanks for the comment. I believe our economic situation has forced people to look at their own professional development. But we need to kick it up a notch.
@Kevin – Drats! If you want to scan and send to me…I’ll post in comments.
@Taleo – Very interesting angle for intellectual capital. Thanks for tossing the aspect into the mix.
@Jonathan – Thanks for commenting. If candidates approached interviews from this angle, wow! I’d love to sit in a few of those interviews.
Andrew says
Excellent article, I absolutely agree. In this day and age, employees with talent are able to take themselves and their talent to whatever employer values that them and their talent the most. Instead of the “master/servant” relationship of the 19th century, the contemporary employer/employee relationship is more and more a relationship between equals.
Blissex says
«Managers are supposed to help employees recognize their talents, direct the use of their talents, and encourage employees to develop existing talents and/or seek additional talents.»
That’s how I have done it, but mostly out of a humane concern and the practical realization that it is a small world and one day I may be hired by one of my ex-employees at another place.
But for most companies (or more precisely their bonus-driven executives) “talent” is just a cost, and the main responsibility of a manager is to make the numbers, one way or another, and if that takes making the most of the leverage that the company has versus its employees, fine.
«I’m not sure how many employers are ready to eliminate employment-at-will.»
That has already been eliminated for the “talentful” like executives, who have lengthy, ironclad contracts where they have enormous notice periods and where such contracts can only be terminated for a very narrow set of reasons. These contracts tend to be rather stronger than the strongest union contracts of old.
Employment at-will is only for the bottomost 90-95% of employees, the “bulk headcount” that have no differentiating talents and no negotiating leverage (“there is queue of people like you outside”).
«employees with talent are able to take themselves and their talent to whatever employer values that them and their talent the most.»
This has always been true for employees who are directly responsible for generating revenue. It is simply a question of leverage. The “master/servant” relationship is continuing to be very popular for the “bulk headcount” who don’t have leverage.
«get workers to seriously consider developing and taking an interest in their own professional development.»
The problem with that is many employers want to hire mostly least-qualified, docile workers who have no leverage. Deskilling the “bulk headcount” is a very popular strategy and many HR departments are evaluated on how well they support it.
Professional development can result in becoming unemployable, especially for more experienced workers.
Also, many hiring managers and existing employees feel threatened by the hiring of professionally developed potential rivals.
Marsha Keeffer says
Bingo, Sharlyn…companies like to think they ‘own’ employees’ talents. That went out with the Dodo! It requires a hugely talented manager to work with people and help them ‘self actualize’ – to their advantage and the company’s advantage.
Julie Johnson says
I work with talent on a daily basis and my motto is, “the company owns talent management and you own your career management”.
It’s as simple as that!
hr bartender says
Hi Julie. Thanks for the comment. I’ve always been of the mindset that talent management and career management were the responsibility of both the employee and the employer.
Sonali Raizada says
I agree with you that the role of the company is to shape employees career and their talent in the right direction in order to achieve organization goals.As every employee has their own talent and goals,organization should use their talent according to various scopes in the organization.
hr bartender says
Thanks for commenting Sonali. I like the way you’ve encapsulated the employee and employer relationship.
HR Cindy says
Sharlyn, this is a great post and one that both employees and employers need to hear and take to heart. In this economy many employers believe they have the upper hand on their talent and that their employees are just grateful to have a job, but what many fail to realize is that top talent can always find a job – even in a down economy. To retain top talent in any economy, but especially in one like this, employers need to be mindful of their employee engagement and talent management strategy, otherwise they may hear a giant sucking sound in the near future. I wrote a recent blog post on a relevant talent management subject you may be interested in: check it out at http://bit.ly/ctxa5H.
hr bartender says
Thanks for jumping into the conversation Cindy! And, sharing the link – it’s a nice read. I’ve always found if people think they have the upper hand, it usually means they don’t.