How Indian companies fare against G2000 companies

India Inc. should focus on inclusion, diversity and strengthening of core talent-management practices.

Companies which focus on leadership, diversity and responsive dialogue with employees are more likely to perform well on business and talent outcomes. According to research and advisory services firm, Bersin by Deloitte, 29 per cent of all the organisations surveyed globally have mature talent strategies and processes in place, compared to just 21 percent of surveyed organisations in India.

The research found that many Indian organisations have strong talent acquisition, performance management and formal skills-based learning activities for employees. Although these are important investments, the next steps to consider are building a culture of leadership and communicating the organisation’s talent strategy more aggressively.

Here is how the Indian companies — 269 Indian organisations with more than 100 employees — fare against 454 G2000 companies.

Have lower levels of overall maturity
Only three per cent of Indian organisations are at the lowest level of maturity, while a full 76 percent of them are at the second-lowest level of maturity.

This indicates that most Indian companies have evolved from the basic talent management practices and are now working on more sophisticated foundational talent processes, such as talent acquisition, performance management and formal learning opportunities.

Excel at establishing fair performance policies, processes and systems
In Indian companies, employees have higher perceptions of procedural fairness, and their organisations demonstrate higher levels of sophistication with their performance management practices as compared with G2000 organisations.

Communicate and integrate talent strategies more often
This involves having a clear talent strategy that is communicated throughout the organisation and integrated with relevant talent practices, and Indian companies are good at this.

Develop more prevalent systemic relationships with talent 
Indian companies understand that talent is a strategic asset that requires investment in the relationship to drive enhanced performance. These organisations know their key talent from a quantitative and qualitative perspective and have processes that enable them to respond to that information.

Maintain less integrated leadership development practices
Indian organisations tend to lack a systemic approach to leader growth that integrates leadership-development activities with other talent-management activities. For example, there may be little connection between succession-management processes and leadership-development opportunities.

Implement somewhat more integrated and strategic diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts. Organisations that are able to master these factors are able to see the greatest benefit in their talent and business outcomes. Embedded D&I involves integrating it with other individual-focussed talent activities, such as learning and performance management. Strategic D&I encompasses the intentional design of policies and practices that align and reinforce D&I initiatives.

Scope of improvement

Strengthen core talent management practices, such as performance management 
Many Indian companies need to leverage strengths in areas, such as performance appraisal processes and goal setting to help improve accountability for overall employee development, and set the stage for a culture of learning.

Develop and communicate a talent strategy
Companies in India need to ensure that the talent strategy is widely understood and communicated to employees, especially by middle managers.

Focus on diversity and inclusion throughout all talent practices
For example, expand the investment in diversity and inclusion in the organisation; clearly connect this effort to leadership development, succession, learning, performance, and other complementary talent processes.