Leveraging AI to Boost Talent Engagement and Internal Mobility

In this article we discuss:

• Meeting Evolving People Needs With Explainable AI
• Transforming the End-to-End Talent Experience
• Building the Future: Clear Pathways Forward for Engaged Talent

Internal mobility is a well-known approach to closing the skills gap. It's also a key driver of employee engagement, development, growth, and satisfaction. As a result, internal mobility has become a business imperative for companies aiming to retain and grow their talent.

According to data in the "Workday Global Workforce Report: Restoring Trust Before Your Top People Leave," 75% of the industries we track report increased turnover among high-potential employees. To address employee attrition, companies are finding that the most effective source for hires comes from internal mobility and referrals: 67% of respondents say internal mobility has had a positive impact on their organization within the past 12 months, and the large majority-72% of respondents-expect employee interest in internal mobility within their organization to increase within the next 12 months.

However, think about this: Internal talent marketplaces play a crucial role in facilitating effective internal mobility strategies. They provide valuable insights into how employees' skills align with various career advancement opportunities within the organization, such as new roles, transfers, and short-term projects. But if employees do not actively participate in their organization's internal talent marketplace, hiring managers may find themselves drawing from a limited talent pool. As a result, qualified candidates already within the company are often overlooked.

That's where organizations tend to fall short in their internal mobility strategy: effectively matching talent to business needs in a way that drives employee engagement.

Organizations can benefit from a more comprehensive and proactive mobility strategy that actively engages employees with internal growth opportunities-and this is made possible through AI-powered talent orchestration.

Meeting Evolving People Needs With Explainable AI

The term "talent orchestration" is relatively new to some of those in HR and talent management. It represents a shift in focus from simply managing talent to a more strategic and agile approach that aligns talent with business goals and needs, such as optimizing workforce deployment or fostering a culture of continuous learning and development. Technology serves as a critical enabler of talent orchestration, uniting key insights and driving timely actions to effectively manage and deploy talent in alignment with organizational goals.

When it comes to internal mobility, talent orchestration aligns workforce skills with career opportunities within an organization. However, a more capable talent orchestration solution would go beyond this to address other needs of internal mobility, such as driving employee engagement.

That's exactly what the Workday AI-powered talent orchestration solution is designed to do. HiredScore AI for Talent Mobility leverages Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) and talent data-such as experience, interests, skills, time-in-role, and performance-to offer personalized recommendations within the employee's existing flow of work. For example, an employee whose skillset, experience, and interests align with a new opportunity could receive alerts via email or Microsoft Teams. With internal talent pools deepened due to data-driven insights, the odds of recruitment wins go up.

It's like welcoming a perceptive coach who is helping to supercharge internal mobility. That was the case for a Fortune 500 professional services firm that saw a 30% increase in internal application rates via AI-driven notifications along with an increase in better-quality internal candidates compared to external applicants. As a result, the firm had a 19% increase in internal employees hired or in the process of being hired, and a 5% improvement in retention for employees who applied to jobs.

Given the lack of visibility into skills within the workforce that meet the changing needs of the business, organizations can benefit from a more comprehensive and proactive mobility strategy that actively engages employees to match talent to internal opportunities.

Transforming the End-to-End Talent Experience

For both employees and hiring managers, the value to be gained through AI-enhanced talent orchestration is significant. Passive candidates can be engaged, and the overall internal mobility experience can be streamlined and upgraded. Think: expedited hiring processes through automated notifications, guided experiences, and recommended action items, all within an employee's existing flow of work.

All of that helps reduce time to hire for recruiters and hiring managers, increasing productivity and elevating their work experience. Plus, HiredScore's AI technology is designed and developed with explainability in mind. Our AI can be used responsibly to hire fairly, efficiently, and transparently, and to undergo rigorous testing and validation to ensure impartiality.

Viewed through a wider lens, AI-supported talent orchestration is a critical element of the lifecycle approach to talent that HR professionals are increasingly embracing to cultivate more fulfilled, longer-tenured workers. The ability to not just hire in the right talent, but also to support and develop employees within a dynamic talent ecosystem, is now a significant competitive differentiator.

Internal mobility directly supports talent attraction and retention, as well as business goals and agility. But it doesn't just happen: organizations need to remove common obstacles to internal mobility by providing a comprehensive and integrated internal mobility program. By making the right people aware of new possibilities, purpose-built AI solutions can do just that.

Responsible, explainable AI can augment talent management, leveraging data already in hand to efficiently encourage employees to pursue their own growth-while helping the business do the same.

Building the Future: Clear Pathways Forward for Engaged Talent

An internal mobility program offering meaningful career development opportunities is crucial-but building an internal talent marketplace doesn't go far enough. Without a proactive approach to engaging employees in their existing flow of work, many workers will never realize the growth possibilities that exist in their current workplace-and organizations will miss out on crucial skills within their own workforce.

To retain top talent, organizations need to create transparent career pathways so employees can plausibly imagine a dynamic career minus job-hopping. They need to signal that internal movement isn't just permissible but is actively encouraged. AI-supported talent orchestration can amplify this signal, driving real improvements in talent mobility. Responsible, explainable AI can augment talent management, leveraging data already in hand to efficiently encourage employees to pursue their own growth-while helping the business do the same.