7 ways you can win the war for talent

By 2020, one third of ASEAN's workforce is expected to be between the ages of 20 and 39. And in order to appeal to this group of younger professionals, businesses will have to move away from strict hierarchical structures and be more innovative in their approach.

"Organisations need to reinvent their workplace, work practices and the management of talent to ensure they are ready to meet the future of work,"  Grace Yip, a managing director at Accenture Singapore, said.

Yip co-authored a study on uncovering key perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing ASEAN organisations, and found companies need to prepare for "a more competitive talent landscape and become expert at managing teams and workforces that are more diverse".

If companies are able to integrate talent and capability from a variety of sources and form larger networks, they will be able to gain complementary and specialised skills sets, and broaden their ability to spur business growth.

In the report, Accenture put together seven factors businesses need to embrace in order to tackle this war on talent:

1. Begin to develop new and differentiated talent management strategies that cater to employees’ diverse professional aspirations and priorities.
2. Recalibrate operating models so that they are as dynamic and flexible as possible and can be adapted to new ways of working.
3. Tap into the extended workforce available in the region, and leverage diverse pools of talent and networks to meet business goals.
4. Evolve the management mindset to focus less on command and control leadership and more on enabling decision-making as well as facilitating and integrating new ways of working.
5. Anticipate and align public sector investments to ensure talent is ready for the changing demands of industry.
6. Facilitate collaboration across business communities, public sector organisations and educational institutions; to make ASEAN and its member countries destinations of choice for business.
7. Build quality infrastructure to allow businesses to take advantage of technological advancements, leverage collaboration platforms and boost productivity.

"As disruptive trends take hold and the region prepares for ASEAN’s economic integration, companies and organisations must proactively adjust to the radically shifting world of work," Yip said.

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