Traditional perspectives on employee potential creating 'exclusionary practices,' report warns
Employee potential has long been played a central role in many people practices across organisations, but a new report suggests that traditional perspective on the concept can no longer help for future success.
A new white paper from SAP ANZ revealed that traditional definitions of potential have been "vague," which introduces subjectivity and bias into how employee potential is evaluated.
Traditional definitions are also too narrow, which may no longer be relevant to all employees.
"Both of these challenges create exclusionary practices in which only certain segments of the workforce can realise their potential within the organisation," the report said.
Redefining employee potential
SAP ANZ's white paper interviewed 57 HR leaders and surveyed 1,401 individual contributors to determine new definitions of employee potential. The responses they gathered fell into three different categories:
- Individual attributes
- Ability to take on a certain role in the future
- Current performance
SAP ANZ also developed a model of employee potential that they discussed with the HR leaders, which resulted in an evidence-based and expanded model that identifies various types and subtypes of potential that employees could have.
The white paper from SAP ANZ expounds on this, as well as offers insights on assessing and utilising potential to attain organisational success. Secure your own copy through this link.
