Winning the War for Talent in a Multi-Polar World

Download the presentation from the 2008 American Chemistry Council’s Annual Meeting [PDF, 214KB]

Chemical companies need to pursue the global sourcing of talent, develop new career paths and create distinctive “employer value propositions” that appeal to skilled talent in various global markets. Accenture provides insights into key actions that companies can take to win the evolving war for talent and high performance.

There are many factors that make talent management both more critical and more complicated. On the supply side, an aging workforce is creating a shortage of workers, with large numbers of skilled employees expected to retire in the next several years. Meanwhile, younger workers have different expectations about work—and often, little interest in the chemical industry. Labor demand is outstripping supply, making the struggle to attract and retain talent a key issue

This fundamental shift in the workforce is taking place against the backdrop of ongoing globalization—or more specifically, the emergence of a multi-polar world, in which the “centers” of business are not just in the developed economies. Indeed, they can be virtually anywhere. This change is adding complexity to the war for talent, demanding the ability to operate with multiple centers of expertise and management—and a workforce that has new skills and is more dispersed, more flexible and more mobile.