Josh Bersin: “The company as a talent marketplace”

In his recent article: “The Company As A Talent Marketplace: Unilever and Schneider Electric Show The Way,” Josh Bersin explains how top enterprises foster internal talent networks that enable them to move fast and take on the business challenges of the near future of work.

Bersin explains that the kinds of ambitious people who gravitate towards the dynamic environment of the consumer goods businesses like Unilever, crave new opportunities, mobility, and project work to stay engaged and fulfilled at work. The same is true for those in the energy automation and management field, and many would argue, of all millennial knowledge workers today making up over half of the workforce.

At Unilever every employee creates their own purpose statement and using the Flex Experiences platform (InnerMobility) adds their desired skills and ambitions to their internal professional profile. Gloat then connects the individual employee to highly personalized career opportunities across the company whether it’s a part-time project, full-time job change, or mentorship.

The results is a digitally connected, AI-powered talent network across Unilever in which employees can find growth projects literally at the click of a button and begin working right away learning new skills and boosting their engagement on the job.

Bersin also highlights Schneider Electric’s success in creating an internal talent marketplace utilizing Gloat’s InnerMobility technology. 

Bersin calls Olivier Blum, Schneider Electric’s CHRO, “one of the savviest business leaders I’ve met, and he also sees internal work management as a key to the company’s future.” Andrew Saidy, Schneider’s VP Talent Digitization, told Bersin that almost 50% of their volunteer turnover was due to a perceived lack of internal mobility opportunities. This fueled their need to find a high powered internal mobility solution for their 140,000 employees.

Schneider has dubbed their InnerMobility solution – Open Talent Market, quite fittingly. Also focusing on personal goals for employees to grow and find career satisfaction internally, Schneider employees can connect to personalized career development opportunities on their Open Talent Market at the click of a button or a swipe of their finger on the mobile app. They have also had tremendous success empowering their employees to reach their full career potential internally.