"Fresh wind" instead of own talents

Medium-sized companies only fill a good half of their management positions with candidates from within their own company. The most important reason for preferring to recruit a manager from outside is the hoped-for "breath of fresh air.

In contrast, a lack of internal potential, both qualitative and quantitative, does not appear to be a decisive factor. This was the finding of the "Talent Management in SMEs" study by ROC, an international consulting firm for SAP Human Capital Management (HCM). For this study, 144 companies in the upper midmarket in Germany and Austria were surveyed.

However, a dilemma arises from this view:

"At the same time, as the survey also found, companies believe that internal career prospects are the key lever in motivating their own employees"

says Oliver Back, Managing Director of ROC Germany.

By contrast, SMEs feel that reasons such as retaining employees to prevent knowledge drain or minimizing miscasting are much less important.

Bonding and motivation

Companies have recognized that professional talent management has now become indispensable, even for SMEs. Identifying, developing, retaining and motivating internal talent is the top priority for up to 85 percent of companies. Attracting external talent is a distant second at 67 percent.

"This strong focus on the internal impact of talent management and the simultaneous high rate of externally recruited leaders is only seemingly a contradiction"

adds Prof. Daniela Eisele, the scientific supervisor.

"Rather, it clearly shows that talent management is still more of an incentive event than a strategic management tool in many companies."

According to ROC Managing Director Back, SMEs must therefore step up their game in the battle for and promotion of internal and external talent if they are to be able to fill all key positions correctly and in good time in the future.
Skepticism: HR Cloud

Almost half (47 percent - "yes"/"rather yes") of the respondents have reservations about cloud solutions in the HR area due to data security. One in three believes that cloud solutions from different providers are difficult to combine (38 percent), that there are insufficient customization options (35 percent) and that cloud solutions only appear cheaper at first glance (32 percent). 40 percent will therefore not outsource any HR applications to the cloud in the foreseeable future.