The accelerated pace of change today and the ongoing expectation for HR to do more with less are requiring people teams to operate lean, fast and cohesively—all without sacrificing the quality of the employee experience. For some organizations, combining talent acquisition and talent management functions is the answer.
That includes three panelists who spoke at this month’s IAMPHENOM Conference in Philadelphia, hosted by intelligent talent experience platform provider Phenom.
Uniting the two functions can help HR address long-standing impediments to the talent experience, the speakers agreed.
For instance, Tenneil Dutton, senior vice president of talent and diversity at Baylor Scott & White Health, said the TA and TM organizations at her company often functioned in silos, “not talking” to one another. Combining talent acquisition and talent management—an effort that began about a year and a half ago—allows HR to respond more quickly to business needs because of the more “holistic, outcomes-focused” approach to attracting and overseeing talent.
“We’re working more seamlessly,” said Dutton, who oversaw two previous integrations of TA and TM before joining Baylor. “This allows us to put talent at the center of all of our programs and processes, to design with them in mind.”
Childcare solutions provider Bright Horizons faced a similar challenge.
“There was a lack of a cohesive talent journey,” said Stephanie Worley, vice president of talent acquisition, noting both functions were operating in a more transactional, rather than strategic, nature because of the lack of symbiosis.
“We can represent a single voice to the business now,” added Ray Malouf, vice president of talent at Lowe’s. The retailer started its work of combining talent acquisition and talent management in late 2023. The effort has enabled HR to create more integrated solutions, reduce communication pain points—“we don’t have people going to four different meetings unnecessarily anymore,” he said—and drive talent mobility within HR.
Employees have moved from the learning function to TA, from HRBP roles to talent management. “We can think more holistically about our teams, and we’ve promoted people into roles they hadn’t thought about before—but now they’ve been able to contribute in so many different ways,” Malouf said.
Best practices for combining talent acquisition and talent management
Effectively combining talent acquisition and talent management requires talent professionals to “think about their roles bigger than what they’ve been,” Malouf said. That means those leading the effort need to be curious—understand what other organizations are doing to innovate in this space, do the research, drill down deep into how business and talent goals can more closely align through this project, he said.
That groundwork can help leaders garner buy-in from talent professionals for the change journey.
To sustain their investment, Dutton said, it’s important to “paint a picture” of the “north star”—why they’re coming together and what they can achieve for their functions and the organization.
“Starting small” can reduce resistance to what may seem like a major transformation, added Worley, whose organization is about three months into its integration work.
“Find ways to start to combine your teams on a smaller scale,” she said.
Then, when there is friction, get the right people at the table to build relationships, she said.
Tech leaders play critical role
HRIT professionals will be among the key stakeholders, panelists agreed, as integrating TA and TM tech will be both a significant challenge and opportunity for streamlining the talent experience—for both talent professionals and employees.
“This [HRIT] team knows where the friction points are, so make sure they have a seat to both correct what’s broken and plan for the tech ecosystem moving forward,” Dutton said.
Most importantly, she added, integration efforts need to be spearheaded by HR and business leaders who recognize the long-term value of the work.
“This is going to challenge leaders to think outside of their comfort zone. You need to make sure you have people at the table comfortable asking stupid questions, taking risks; it’s not for everyone,” she said. Ultimately, however, if leaders aren’t role-modeling the day-to-day work it takes to combine talent acquisition and talent management, the effort will become the talent leader’s burden to shoulder.
“You become the bottleneck,” she said, “because you’re the only one who can see across the function. If you’re not building that capability mindset everywhere, you’re going to run into problems. And when you leave, they’re going to replace you with two.”
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