Workforce and talent

management
ITIL® 4 Practice guide
AXELOS.com

1st
May
2020

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Contents
1 About this document 3
2 General Information 4
3 Value streams and processes 24
4 Organizations and people 32
5 Information and technology 38
6 Partners and suppliers 42
7 Important reminder 43
8 Acknowledgments 44

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1 About this document

This document provides practical guidance for the workforce and talent management practice. It is
split into five main sections, covering:

● general information about the practice

● the practice’s processes and activities and their roles in the service value chain
● the organizations and people involved in the practice
● the information and technology supporting the practice
● considerations for partners and suppliers for the practice.

ITIL® 4 QUALIFICATION SCHEME

Selected content from this document is examinable as a part of the following syllabus:

● ITIL Leader Digital and IT Strategy.

Please refer to the syllabus document for details.

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2 General Information
PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION
Key message

The purpose of the workforce and talent management practice is to ensure that the organization
has the right people, with the appropriate skills and knowledge, in the correct roles to support its
business objectives. This practice covers a broad set of activities focused on successfully engaging
with the organization’s employees and people resources, including: planning, recruitment,
onboarding, learning and development, performance measurement, and succession planning.

The workforce and talent management practice is focused on the effective management of the
organizations and the people dimension of service management within organizations. The scope,
form, and institutionalization of this practice might vary depending on multiple factors, including
the organization’s mission and the positioning, business and operating models, architecture,
competence model, and others.

People are the most valuable asset of every organization; therefore, the effective management of
the workforce is critical for an organization’s success. In a digital business environment,
competent and motivated teams are extremely important for the creation and continual
improvement of digital products. Formed around the organization’s products, these teams are
instrumental for the product development and success.

The workforce and talent management practice is often supported by specialized roles and
organizational structures; these can be positioned in various ways to support the IT and digital
teams:

● Most organizations have dedicated human resources (HR) management teams responsible for
effective workforce and talent management.
● HR teams may have different levels of expertise and focus to support IT teams:
● In some organizations, HR teams focus on core business units, with little resources dedicated
to IT workforce and talent management. In these organizations, IT managers take
responsibility for many aspects of IT workforce and talent management.
● In some organizations, HR professionals pay significant attention to IT workforce and talent
management, applying the organization’s workforce and talent management approach to IT
teams and employees, teams, competencies, and skills.
● In digital and IT-focused organizations, HR teams are primarily focused on IT workforce and
talent management.
Either way, it is important to ensure that IT leaders, managers, and teams share responsibilities
for effective workforce and talent management with the organization’s HR professionals; teams’
effectiveness, culture and competence, cannot be developed solely by HR professionals or IT
managers and the value which HR management brings to an organization, cannot be delivered: it
should be co-created by HR professionals, IT managers, and IT staff together.

In today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment, effective workforce
and talent management cannot be based on a fixed set of rules and procedures, rigid
organizational structures, and predefined sets of competencies. The workforce and talent
management practice should be based on the following premises to be effective:

● organizations are open systems, their relationships with other systems cannot be ignored
● an organization’s strategies continual evolve, so should the HR strategy
● digital technologies change the way organizations work and the skills that organizations need
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● decisions should be driven by principles, not rules

● organizations should recognize and embrace complexity and complexity-driven heuristics
● organizational agility, adaptability, and efficiency should be enabled by the organizational
structure and management practices
● workforce and talent management is the responsibility of every team, manager, and leader in
the organization, not only HR professionals.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS

2.2.1 Evolution of the role of the workforce and talent management

practice
The role of the workforce and talent management practice has been evolving for more than a
century, from a purely administrative role to a strategic HR management role. This evolution
conforms with the changing understanding of the importance of people for an organization’s
success (and the definition of that success). Organizations are moving from a focus on profitability
to the ‘triple bottom line’, an approach that covers financial, social, and environmental aspects,
as shown in Figure 2.1 (Bordoloi et al., 2018). The triple bottom line marks a shift from short-term
financial goals to long-term sustainability goals, which is an integrated business method.
Sustainable goals not only improve an organization’s brand and reputation, but drive stakeholder
value for customers, employees, and society in the form of better health, climate, and resource
utilization. Read more on the triple bottom line approach in ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value,
section 3.4.

Figure 2.1 Sustainability and the triple bottom line approach

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Value for employees is an important aspect of the triple bottom line approach. It reflects the well-
known premise that happy employees make happy customers.

“Focus on making employees happy, and in turn, they will make your customers happy. What’s
happening on the inside of the organization is felt on the outside by the customers.” 1

Figure 2.2 Employee experience as a key factor of service experience 2

A strategic focus on employees has changed an organizations’ approaches to the workforce and
talent management practice. This practice is recognized as important and necessary, and its effect
on an organization’s sustainable success is rarely disputed. Stakeholders expect organizations to
effectively manage their workforce and talent.

2.2.2 Holistic approach

The workforce and talent management practice cannot be limited to administrative tasks,
although these tasks are important. It is more than just recruiting, training, and reviewing
employees’ performances, although these are the most visible activities. The practice must be
holistic to contribute to value co-creation and the overall strategy of an organization. A well-
known and widely adopted human resources management model is the ‘7-S model’ offered by
Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman in their book In Search of Excellence 3 and known as the

1
Shep Hyken. How Happy Employees Make Happy Customers. Forbes. May 27, 2017.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2017/05/27/how-happy-employees-make-happy-
customers [accessed 16th March 2020].
2
Adapted from Smalley, M.P. (2020). Reflections on High-velocity IT: A guided tour by the lead
editor of ITIL® 4.
3
Peters, T.J. and Waterman Jr., R.H. (2006) In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-
Run Companies. New York: Harper Business. The research methods used by the authors were later
criticized as lacking validity; however, we find the 7-S model useful for structuring workforce and
talent management efforts.
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‘McKinsey 7S Framework. 4’ The model describes the following elements that need to be managed
and balanced for the organization to be successful:

● shared values (also known as superordinate goals in earlier versions)

● strategy
● structure
● system
● style
● staff
● skills.

These seven elements are equally important and should be aligned and balanced, as seen in Figure
2.3.

Figure 2.3 The 7-S model 5

The elements of the model should be supported by the organization’s workforce and talent
management practice , as outlined in Table 2.1.

4
Bryan, L. (2008) Enduring Ideas: The 7-S Framework. McKinsey Quarterly, [online] Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-
insights/enduring-ideas-the-7-s-framework# [Accessed 17th March 2020].
5
Peters, T. (2011) A Brief History of the 7-S ("McKinsey 7-S") Model. [blog] Tom Peters. Available
at: https://tompeters.com/2011/03/a-brief-history-of-the-7-s-mckinsey-7-s-model/ [Accessed
17th March 2020].

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Table 2.1 The elements of the 7-S model that are supported by the practice

Element of the 7-S model Role of the workforce and talent management practice

Shared values To ensure that everyone in the organization shares the same
goals, guiding principles, and values.

Strategy To ensure a common approach to workforce and talent

management, which is aligned with the organization’s overall
strategy.

Structure To establish and continually improve the organizational

structure that supports the organization’s strategy and
objectives.

System To adopt effective, efficient, reliable, and continually

optimized workflows and tools for the management of the
organization’s human resources.

Style To nurture a culture that effectively supports an

organization’s guiding principles, values, and objectives. This
includes the employees’ and leaders’ style, values, and
behaviour.

Staff To ensure that there are enough of the right employees

within the organization to be effective, and that their
performance and workload are adequate.

Skills To ensure that the people in the organization are qualified for
their jobs, have the right expertise and skillsets and are
competent enough to be able to support the organization’s
current and future needs.

Shared values and the organization’s overall strategy are usually inputs into the workforce and
talent management practice. They are articulated by the organization’s governing body and
executive management. The workforce and talent management practice is used to ensure that the
strategy is communicated and adopted across the organization and to external stakeholders.

The organizational structure, system of management, and culture (known as structure, system,
and style in the 7-S model) are defined, developed, and continually improved mostly through this
practice, in conjunction with other practices.

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2.2.3 Organizational structure forms

There are many organizational forms that are designed to optimize how human resources are
positioned and managed to ensure optimal performance and strategic alignment. These forms aim
to optimize solutions for the four universal problems of organizing: 6

● task division and allocation

● integrated coordination
● reward distribution
● information provision.

The fundamental types of organizations are hierarchies, markets, and communities.

Key message

Hierarchical organizations are focused on the authority structure. They are oriented towards the
owners’ objectives and the employees’ objectives and performance. Organizations tend to own the
resources that they use. Formal agreements are typically employment contracts.

Market-like organizations are based on service relationships between members (such as divisions,
partners, and employees). Members of an organization aim to achieve their own objectives;
whereas an entire organization aims to balance value for its members. Every organizational
member tends to own the resources that they use. Formal agreements are typically service
contracts.

Community-based organizations focus on shared values, rules, and objectives. Resources are
shared between organizational members. Entire organizations aim to balance the members’
contributions and value. Formal agreements are typically memberships.

The most established traditional organizational forms are hierarchical. These are increasingly
unsuited to the demands of the VUCA environments. Market and community forms (also known as
network, virtual, intelligent, boundaryless, self-managing, or centerless) offer greater flexibility,
efficiency, and a wider and quicker access to resources. However, these types are rarely seen in a
pure form. Real-life organizational forms are hybrids of two or three of these types. Some
examples of hybrid organizational forms are shown in Figure 2.4.

6
Kolbjørnsrud, V. (2018) Collaborative organizational forms: on communities, crowds, and new
hybrids. Journal of Organizational Design, [online] Volume 7(11). Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-018-0036-3[Accessed 17th March 2020].
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Figure 2.4 Examples of hybrid organizational forms 7

Definitions:
Functional hierarchy
A hierarchical structure, dividing the organization into departments based on its functions with
multiple levels of hierarchy. The authority is centralized.

Multi-divisional
A hierarchical structure, dividing the organization into divisions with significant levels of autonomy
and responsibilities for achieving its objectives. However, the objectives and policies are set by a
central authority. Divisions can be formed on a product, territory, market, or other basis.

Matrix
A combination of two hierarchies (functional and product, functional and project, or others), with
some authorities and responsibilities within every dimension of the matrix.

Clan organizational culture

A family-like or tribe-like organizational form that emphasizes the consensus and commonality of
objectives and values and is often combined with autocratic leadership.

Adhocracy
A non-hierarchical, flexible, adaptable, and informal form of organization with a minimum formal
structure. It usually includes several specialized multidisciplinary teams, for example a product or
service-focused team.

7
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Kolbjørnsrud, V. (2018) Collaborative organizational forms:
on communities, crowds, and new hybrids. Journal of Organizational Design, [online] Volume
7(11). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-018-0036-3 [Accessed 17th March 2020].
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Holacracy An organizational form in which authority and decision-making are distributed

throughout a system of self-organizing teams of very similar rights, authority, and
responsibilities.

Collaborative community A collaborative organizational form where independent members

participate in the whole problem-solving process, with the community commonly playing an
important integrating role.

Crowd contest A collaborative organizational form where independent members develop

potential solutions to standalone problems and typically do not participate in selecting the
winning contributions or integrating them into higher-level solutions.

Online labour market An organizational solution where organizations employ online labour
market technology to facilitate the brokering of micro-tasks among internal employees and/or
external service providers.

The adoption of a new organizational form requires large-scale transformation and cannot be
performed overnight. The workforce and talent management practice plays a significant role in the
organizational planning and implementation of a selected organizational form, in conjunction with
other practices (such as the organizational change management, relationship management,
strategy management, and project management practices, among others).

It is important that the organizational form is not the only consideration of organizational design,
and that the form or structure of an organization helps the overall organization improve how it
delivers products and services to consumers. It is important to consider the organization
holistically, as described in section 2.2.2.

2.2.4 Workforce management

The terminology of the workforce and talent management practice has evolved, adopting terms
such as labour, human resources, personnel, human capital, and workforce to describe the people
of an organization. ITIL uses the term workforce management to describe the practices that ensure
that organizations have enough people in the right places, to fulfil the jobs required for achieving
the organizations’ current and anticipated objectives. Organizations might use different
terminology to describe the same practices, according to their cultural, social, and industrial
context. For convenience, any member of a workforce is referred to as an employee in ITIL,
regardless of how they engage with the organization. This definition will become especially
important in understanding and managing the employee journey and employee satisfaction as
defined in the following sections.

Definition: Employee

Any individual engaged to work within an organization. This includes but is not limited to:
permanent members of staff, contractors, volunteers, and members of another organization’s staff
who are working under the organization’s authority. Also referred to as a ‘member of workforce’.

Workforce management is closely connected with organizational planning (see 2.2.3), talent
management (see 2.2.5), and other practices, such as the capacity and performance management,
organizational change management, and relationship management practices (see respective
practice guides). It is also important to consider the supplier management practice and the

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organization’s sourcing strategy, which is likely to impact on the organization’s attitude towards
workforce sourcing.

Workforce management includes:

● ensuring that the organization has enough people to fulfil its plans and accommodate all
necessary unplanned work
● ensuring a good balance between the cost of the workforce and the value enabled by the
workforce
● ensuring a positive employee experience.
To achieve these goals, organizations must identify, manage, and continually optimize the
employee journey for all people in the organization, whether they are permanent, temporary, or
part of a partner or supplier’s staff working within the organization.

Definitions:

Employee journey
The complete end-to-end experience that an employee has with the organization through
touchpoints, relationships, and interactions.

Employee experience
The total of the functional and emotional interactions with an organization as perceived by an
employee.

The employee journey can be mapped using the service relationship journey model described in
ITIL 4®: Drive Stakeholder Value and shown in Figure 2.5.

Figure 2.5 Service relationship journey model

Table 2.2 describes the basic content of the interactions between an employee and an
organization throughout the employee journey, either when applying for a new role within an
organization or in moving to a new role or team within the organization.

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Table 2.2 Employee journey steps

Employee journey step Employee’s and/or team’s activities Organization’s activities

Explore Understand the requirements and Understand requirements and

expectations from a job, role, or expectations from an employee or team
team
Look for candidates
Look for vacancies and opportunities
Publish a vacancy description
Publish a CV or resumé
Use internal and external
Use peer connections to collect recommendations to attract attention
information and attract attention and identify candidates

Engage Send a CV or resume to a selected Contact selected employees and/or

organization(s) teams

Attend an interview Conduct interviews

Discuss terms of work Discuss terms of work

Offer Discuss the offer(s) Make a job offer

Agree Sign work contract as needed Sign work contract as needed

Onboard Get familiar with the organization, Provide training and awareness,
attend onboarding training and other familiarize the newcomer(s) with the
activities, pass any required tests organization
and exams

Co-create Work at the organization according Work with the employee and/or team
to the contract or agreement and in according to the contract or agreement
line with the organization’s values and in line with the declared
and culture organization’s values and culture

Realize Provide feedback about the Measure and manage employee

employee experience performance

Discuss and demonstrate Process employee’s and/or team’s

performance feedback

Participate in personal, team- Discuss employee’s and/or team’s

specific, and organizational performance
development planning
Involve employees and teams in personal
Review and adjust the work contract and organizational development planning

Review and adjust work contracts and

agreements, organizational values, and
culture

Table 2.2 describes the basic activities involved in each step of the employee journey in a generic
way. The activities should be adjusted for different types of work relationships (permanent,

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temporary, volunteer, outsourced, and others) and for employee profiles, sometimes called
employee personas. These tailored descriptions can be used as models for managing the employee
journeys and improving the employee experience.

Definitions:

Employee persona
A fictional yet realistic description of a typical or target employee of an organization.

Employee journey model

A detailed description of the organization’s approach to the management of the employee
journey, tailored for a specific employee persona.

The employee journey models typically include:

● an employee persona description

● possible positions in the organization
● forms of employment
● sources of candidates
● the searching and recruiting approach
● work contract terms
● the negotiation approach
● the onboarding approach
● the performance management approach, including performance review and development
planning
● the training and development approach
● the exception handling approach
● the life events handling approach
● the offboarding approach.
The employee journey models aim to ensure value co-creation for the organization and the
employee by:

● creating a positive employee experience

● maintaining employee satisfaction, loyalty, and commitment
● monitoring, maintaining, and continually improving employees competence.
The employee experience is created through the physical work environment, social interactions,
work interactions, and the essence of work to be done. To improve the employee experience,
organizations employ approaches such as personalization, transparency, simplicity, authenticity,
and responsiveness 8. The ITIL guiding principles can be helpful for this purpose, as shown in Table
2.3.

8
IBM Institute for Business Value. (2016). Designing employee experience: How a unifying
approach can enhance engagement and productivity 1st ed. [pdf] New York: IMB Corporation.
Available at: https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/ZEND5PM6 [Accessed 19th March 2020].
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Table 2.3 ITIL guiding principles applied to the employee experience

ITIL guiding principle Application to employee experience

Focus on value Understand how the employee sees their contribution to the
organization’s mission and vision and what value is expected
by the organization and its consumers, and ensure that
employees have a ‘clear line of sight’ to consumers. Ensure
that there is a shared understanding of value. Ensure that the
employee’s journey is tailored to optimize the agreed value.

Start where you are Take the employee’s previous experiences into account,
regardless of whether they were with the same or another
organization(s). Account for cultural differences. Ensure
effective onboarding.

Progress iteratively with feedback Collect and discuss feedback regularly with employees.
Actively manage competence and performance development.

Collaborate and promote visibility Be transparent and honest with employees, involve them in
discussions and important decision-making as often as
possible. Create organizational structures that allow for the
creation of cross-functional, diverse teams whenever possible.

Think and work holistically Ensure that employees have a shared vision of the big picture
and that they understand how they contribute to the
organization’s success and benefit from it. Analyse and
improve all areas of the employee experience (physical,
social, and work).

Keep it simple and practical Keep procedures, structures, and interactions simple and
practical. Avoid excessive bureaucracy.

Optimize and automate Keep optimizing work, physical, and social environments and
interactions. Automate where possible and beneficial.

2.2.5 Talent management

Talent management describes work that ensures organizations can meet current and forecasted
requirements and that this is achieved in the most efficient way. It is sometimes called
competency management or skills management. Organizations might use different terminology to
describe the same practices, according to their cultural, social, and industrial context.

Talent management is focused on the competencies of employees, which includes knowledge and
skills.

In its simplest and most widely adopted form, talent management considers the competencies of
individual employees and small teams. Less commonly, an organization can adopt a holistic
approach to understand and develop a competency pool of the whole organization. Other
approaches to talent management include:

● technical expertise only (hard skills) versus a holistic skill set (hard and soft skills)

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● formally recorded competencies versus implicit competence 9

● based on objectives versus based on competency models. 10
These and other options are usually selected and defined by the organization’s workforce and
talent management strategy, which is agreed as a part of the organizational design.

In ITIL, a simple model is used to identify the competencies required for specific activities in
addition to technical knowledge and skills. The model defines five key competency profiles, as
described in Table 2.4. It is important to note that these competencies describe the roles,
activities, and/or skills of an individual or team and are not directly tied to titles or positions.

Table 2.4 Competency codes and profiles

Competency code Competency profile (activities and skills)

L Leader Decision-making, delegating, overseeing other activities, providing

incentives and motivation, and evaluating outcomes

A Administrator Assigning and prioritizing tasks, record-keeping, ongoing

reporting, and initiating basic improvements

C Coordinator/communicator Coordinating multiple parties, maintaining

communication between stakeholders, and running awareness campaigns

M Methods and techniques expert Designing and implementing work

techniques, documenting procedures, consulting on processes, work analysis,
and continual improvement

T Technical expert Providing technical (IT) expertise and conducting expertise-

based assignments

Every ITIL practice guide includes a competency profile for each practice’s activity. A competency
profile includes one to five letters (L, A, C, M, T) in order of decreasing importance for that
activity. For example, the code TMC suggests that the most important competencies for that
activity are technical expertise, implementing methods and techniques, and coordination and
communication skills, in order of importance. Leadership and administrative skills are not
important for this activity.

An organization can use this model and recommendations from the ITIL practice guides to identify,
assess, plan, and improve the competencies of employees. Organizations can also assign roles and
responsibilities to better qualified employees and combine people to perform roles, when there
are not any individuals available who possess a full skill set. The competency profiles for the
workforce and talent management practice are provided in section 4.

Talent management is not limited to competency assessment and planning. It should also include
active professional development through training, certification, job rotation and cross-training,
and other techniques. Increasingly popular approaches include internal and external consulting,
mentoring, and coaching for individual employees and teams. In Agile organizations, self-
organized teams direct their own competency assessments, planning, and development. ITIL® 4:
Create, Deliver and Support recommends creating T-shaped and comb-shaped resources to help

9
See more on implicit and explicit knowledge in the knowledge management practice guide.
10
In digital and IT industry, the most adopted competence models include European e-competence
framework (https://www.ecompetences.eu/ [Accessed 20th March 2020]) and Skills Framework for
the Information Age (https://www.sfia-online.org/en [Accessed 20th march 2020]).
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individuals and teams learn skills beyond a single area of expertise and promote knowledge
sharing, continual learning, and the removal of resource bottlenecks in delivering products and
services to customers.

Definitions:

Consulting

Helping people and organizations improve their performance by providing technical and
professional advice based on the consultants’ significant understanding, knowledge, and
experience. The relationship is usually limited to an agreed period of time to solve a specific
problem.

Mentoring

A service relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a
less experienced or less knowledgeable person. Mentors provide insight and guidance to their
mentees when the latter encounters challenges in their professional journey. Mentors might have
little expertise in their mentee’s subject matter field, but they generally understand how to
navigate organizations.

Coaching

A form of personal and/or professional development in which an experienced person, called a

coach, supports an individual or team in achieving specific personal or professional goals by
unlocking their potential and providing tools and techniques to inspire confidence. The aim of
coaching is to transform and achieve better results, without directly advising or implementing
ready-made solutions.

Self-organized team

A team that has the autonomy to choose how best to accomplish their work (including assessing,
planning, and developing competencies), rather than being directed by others outside the team.

2.2.6 Culture
The organizational culture is an important part of an organization’s identity, image, and eventual
success or failure.

Definition: Culture

A set of values shared by a group of people, including expectations about how people should
behave and their ideas, beliefs, and practices.

Culture maps are described in ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value as a useful tool for designing
products and services for different audiences. Culture maps are also useful in organizational
design, where organizations have significant cultural diversity. Figure 2.5 shows the culture of two
groups of people mapped to eight dimensions to identify similarities and differences. In this figure,
each dimension is represented as a spectrum of opposite extremes. 11

11
Meyer, E. (2014). Navigating the cultural minefield. Harvard Business Review 92(5), pp 119–123.
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Figure 2.5 Culture maps comparing similarities and differences

The workforce and talent management practice, in conjunction with other practices (including the
strategy management and relationship management practices, among others) ensures that the
culture of an organization is based on shared and clearly articulated values and principles and that
the cultural differences are effectively addressed. Organizations should embrace and inspire
diversity, including cultural diversity and diversity in personal background.

2.2.7 Conscious leadership

Leadership and leaders are an important driver of an organization’s success. Successful leaders
embrace more than just an understanding of value and what makes a good vision and plan.

Good leadership competencies include:

● emotional, social, and systems intelligence

● cognitive flexibility
● self-leadership
● discerning thinking
● complexity thinking
● conversational intelligence, multimodal communication skills.
Effective leaders:

● engage, inspire, and motivate people by behaving with integrity to generate respect and
empower employees
● focus on value by being prepared to reprioritize to stay aligned with the overall vision
● create a healthy culture by consistently following the organization’s values
● create and communicate a clear vision
● show a commitment to knowledge and continual learning.
In a VUCA business environment, more organizations should adopt sustainable values that are
supported by conscious leadership.

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Conscious leadership balances the common global good and individual self-interests. This is
leadership guided by a vision and driven by values that target not only the success of the
organization but also the well-being of all stakeholders, including employees, customers,
investors, partners, society, and the environment. Conscious leaders speak with integrity, lead
with authenticity, and hold themselves accountable. They listen with the intent to understand and
not just to respond, and they do it by being in tune with themselves and the world around them. 12
For additional details on digital leadership, refer to section 8 of the ITIL® 4: Digital and IT
Strategy.

SCOPE
The workforce and talent management includes:

● holistic organizational planning, including the organizational structure, culture, competencies,

and other factors
● managing and improving the organization’s identity and image
● managing the organization’s workforce
● managing the organization’s talents
● managing and improving the employees’ journeys and experience
● ensuring ongoing oversight of people’s roles, behaviours, and experiences in the organization.
There are some activities and areas of responsibility that are not included in the workforce and
talent management practice, although they are still closely related to workforce and talent
management. These are listed in Table 2.5, along with references to the practices in which they
can be found. It is important to remember that ITIL practices are combined in the context of value
streams to enable value creation.

Table 2.5 Activities related to the workforce and talent management described in other practice
guides

Activity Practice guide

Managing organizational changes Organizational change management

Managing internal relationships as well as Relationship management

relationships with partners and consumers

Managing project-specific training, Project management

onboarding, and other workforce-related
projects

Planning capacity and identifying demand Capacity and performance management

for change in the number of employees

Identifying and managing people-related Risk management

risks

Defining sourcing strategy, including Supplier management

sourcing of workforce

12
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2018/07/19/5-ways-to-be-a-conscious-leader/
[Accessed 20th March 2020].
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PRACTICE SUCCESS FACTORS

Definition: Practice Success Factor

A complex functional component of a practice that is required for the practice to fulfil its purpose.

A practice success factor (PSF) is more than a task or activity, as it includes components of all four
dimensions of service management. The nature of the activities and resources of PSFs within a
practice may differ, but together they ensure that the practice is effective.

The workforce and talent management practice includes the following PSFs:

● ensuring the continual alignment of the workforce and talent management approach to the
organization's business strategy
● ensuring that motivated and competent people effectively contribute to the achievement of the
organization's objectives
● ensuring that the administrative processes for this practice effectively support the organization's
strategy and objectives.

2.4.1 Ensuring the continual alignment of the workforce and talent

management approach to the organization's business strategy
Organizations’ strategies continually evolve. In a digital economy with high levels of volatility,
uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, organizations move from long-term, rigid, and detailed
plans to an agile approach with goals that are continually redefined and adjusted based on the
analysis of external and internal factors. (See more on this in the strategy management practice
guide and ITIL® 4: Digital and IT Strategy).

To support these changes in strategy management, organizations must adopt an agile approach to
organizational planning. This implies:

● adopting organizational forms that are optimized for agility and efficiency
● nurturing an organizational culture that is optimized for agility, creativity, and efficiency
● inspiring and promoting servant leadership
● planning for changes that are in demand in the organization’s workforce.
Organizations optimized for agility, evolution, and efficiency tend to demonstrate the following
features: 13

● They scale-up by adopting small teams and flatter structures. The adoption of adaptable
organization systems (such as holacracy, cells, network, and so on) allows organizations to
expand or reduce without significant changes to its organizational structure. Organizations can
also add new capabilities, experiment, and innovate.
● They utilize a connected workforce. People working in different locations form effective teams,
by using digital technologies to collaborate and communicate. This approach increases
efficiency, velocity, and resilience. The wide adoption of remote working, including working
from home, ensures continuity in times of disruption, such as environmental and social events.
● Employees are encouraged to think like entrepreneurs. They should think and work holistically,
focus on value, innovate, and voice their opinions. This increases the organization’s innovative
potential, safety culture, and stimulates the individuals’ development and growth opportunities.

13
Morgan, J. (2015). 14 principles of the future organization. [Blog] Jacob Morgan. Available at:
https://thefutureorganization.com/14-principles-future-organization/ [Accessed 23rd March 2020].
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● They focus on needs, rather than on formal requirements. Organizations should aim to enable
value for stakeholders by addressing their wants and needs, not focusing solely on the
customers’ articulated requirements. This improves the customer and user experience and
stimulates the organization’s development. The essential principles for this feature are: focus
on value, holistic thinking, and iterative progress based on feedback.
● Agility and adaptability are key features of successful digital organizations. Successful
organizations adopt and promote agile ways of planning, execution, and improvement. They
continually adapt to the changing environment and the internal circumstances. This approach
includes flexible planning, the adoption of Agile and Lean methods, optimizing for complexity,
and experimentation.
● They demonstrate creativity and innovation. Creative and innovative solutions improve the
organization’s positioning, create competitive advantages, and optimize the internal methods of
work. Techniques such as design thinking are widely adopted to support creativity and
innovation.
● They adopt emerging digital technology. Many of the features mentioned here are supported by
digital technology. The most important features include: collaboration and communication
solutions, cloud solutions, machine learning, and advanced analytics. The early adopters of
these technologies often demonstrate better performance than their more conservative
competitors.
● They embrace and promote diversity. In a diverse world, diversity, inclusivity, and equality are
not only the ethical choices of responsible organizations; they also ensure a diversity of
cultures, backgrounds, and approaches. This helps organizations to: innovate, see opportunities,
and understand and cater to diverse consumer groups and societies.
● They embrace democratized learning and development. Organizations move from a directive
long-term approach to learning and development, to a more democratic and flexible approach.
This includes peer-to-peer consulting, coaching, and mentoring, and on-demand training, even if
the topic is not directly linked to the employee’s work responsibilities. Organizations inspire
employees to learn what is important and relevant to them and share knowledge by forming
internal and external communities. Additional details on knowledge-sharing tools and
techniques can be found in the knowledge management practice guide.
● They embrace the triple bottom line approach, as well as sustainability. Organizations move
from purely financial objectives and indicators to more holistic values, principles, and goals.
The most common approach is the triple bottom line approach which consists of three parts:
financial, societal, and environmental values and goals. This is also known as 3-P: people,
profit, and planet, with all three Ps being equally important.

2.4.2 Ensuring that motivated and competent people effectively

contribute to the achievement of the organization's objectives
Ensuring that motivated and competent people effectively contribute to the achievement of the
organization's objectives, depends on an effective workforce management practice (see 2.2.4) and
talent management practice (See 2.2.5), in conjunction with other practices.

To ensure the realization of this PSF, organizations create and maintain effective approaches to:

● the management of the employee journey

● continual learning and development
● maintaining a healthy organizational culture
● conscious leadership.
By combining these approaches, organizations:

● identify the organization’s needs in its workforce and competencies

● ensure that the required workforce and competencies are available when needed

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● ensure that the people in the organization share the organization’s values, understand the
objectives, and follow a shared set of principles
● ensure that the people in the organization satisfy their needs for safety, autonomy, professional
and personal development, and purposeful contribution
● ensure that the physical, social, and work environment and interactions in the organization are
optimized for the effective contribution to the organization’s objectives and aligned with the
organizational culture and principles.

2.4.3 Ensuring that the administrative processes for this practice

effectively support the organization's strategy and objectives
The workforce and talent management practice includes an important administrative feature.
Organizations need to understand how many teams and people they have and their workload,
competencies, current and future availability, work performance, associated costs, and so on. This
is important for the effective management of the workforce, and to ensure conformance to agreed
rules and compliance to relevant regulations.

The workforce and talent management practice ensures the effective integration of the
administrative procedures into the organization’s teams, practices, value streams, policies,
processes, and procedures. The aim is to ensure a sufficient level of control, conformance, and
compliance without excessive bureaucracy or a negative effect on performance and motivation.

To achieve this, it is recommended to follow the ITIL guiding principles, especially:

● focus on value: introduce controls that clearly contribute to value creation for stakeholders
● think and work holistically: analyse and optimize controls in the wider context of the
organization and environment
● progress iteratively with feedback: listen to feedback from employees and other stakeholders,
optimize administrative procedures and controls following their requirements and suggestions
● optimize and automate: many controls and communications can be effectively and conveniently
automated to minimize extra efforts, associated costs, and distractions.

KEY METRICS
The effectiveness and performance of the ITIL practices should be assessed within the context of
the value streams to which each practice contributes. As with the performance of any tool, the
practice’s performance can only be assessed within the context of its application. However, tools
can differ greatly in design and quality, and these differences define a tool’s potential or
capability to be effective when used according to its purpose. Further guidance on metrics, key
performance indicators (KPIs), and other techniques that can help with this can be found in the
measurement and reporting practice guide.

Key metrics for the workforce and talent management practice are mapped to its PSFs. They can
be used as KPIs in the context of value streams to assess the contribution of the practice to the
effectiveness and efficiency of those value streams. Some examples of key metrics are given in
Table 2.6.

Table 2.6 Example of key metrics for the practice success factors

Practice success factors Key metrics

Ensuring the continual alignment of Number of strategic initiatives not supported or otherwise
the workforce and talent management negatively impacted by this practice’s strategy, and the
approach to the organization's business associated impact

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strategy Number and percentage of strategic objectives supported by the

organizational strategy

Stakeholder (employees included) satisfaction with the

organization’s approach to this practice

Ensuring that motivated and Number of plans and agreements negatively affected by lack of
competent people effectively workforce and/or competence, and the associated impact
contribute to the achievement of the
Number and cost of idle (not engaged in valuable activities)
organization's objectives
employees

Attrition rate

Employee satisfaction

Employer image/brand of the organization

Employee lifetime value and ROI on employees and/or teams

Ensuring that the administrative Stakeholder satisfaction with the workforce and talent
processes for this practice effectively administration
support the organization's strategy and
Relevant audit findings and success in passing audits
objectives
Cost to value ratio of the administrative controls and procedures

The correct aggregation of metrics into complex indicators will make it easier to use the data for
the ongoing management of value streams, and for the periodic assessment and continual
improvement of the workforce and talent management practice. There is no single best solution.
Metrics will be based on the overall service strategy and priorities of an organization, as well as on
the goals of the value streams to which the practice contributes.

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3 Value streams and processes

VALUE STREAM CONTRIBUTION
Like any other ITIL management practice, the workforce and talent management practice
contributes to multiple value streams. It is important to remember that a value stream is never
formed from a single practice. The workforce and talent management practice combines with
other practices to provide high-quality products and services to consumers. The main value chain
activities to which the practice contributes are:

● plan
● design and transition
● improve.
The contribution of the workforce and talent management practice to the service value chain is
shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 Heat map of the contribution of the workforce and talent management practice to value
chain activities

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PROCESSES
Each practice may include one or more processes and activities that may be necessary to fulfil the
purpose of that practice.

Definition: Process

A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs. A process takes
one or more defined inputs and turns them into outputs. Processes define the sequence of actions
and their dependencies.

Workforce and talent management activities form three processes:

● organizational planning
● employees’ journey management
● talent management.

3.2.1 Organizational planning

This process is focused on defining and implementing an organization-wide approach and strategy
for the workforce and talent management practice, and its continual maintenance in line with the
organization’s evolution and changing direction.

This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.1 and transforms the inputs into outputs.
Table 3.1 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the organizational planning process

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

Organization’s principles, Strategic analysis Strategic and service value chain

policies, and vision analysis reports
Service value chain analysis
Organization’s business strategy Organization’s workforce and
Organizational design
talent management strategy,
Organization’s portfolios
Initiating and monitoring including organizational values,
External factors, including risks organizational changes structure, and culture
and opportunities
Organization monitoring and The workforce and talent
The workforce and talent review management guidelines
management performance
Organizational changes and
reports
improvement initiatives

The workforce and talent

management performance
reports

Figure 3.2 shows a workflow diagram of the process.

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Figure 3.2 Workflow of the organizational planning process

Table 3.2 provides examples of the process activities.

Table 3.2 Activities of the organizational planning process

Activity An internal IT service provider within a An external digital service

parent organization provider organization

Strategic analysis The executive leaders of IT and HR Executive leaders of the

analyse the parent organization’s organization analyse the
strategy and agree what the organization’s vision and strategy
organization’s requirements are in and agree on the principles,
relation to the IT organization and its requirements, and objectives for
associated objectives. The resulting the organization’s workforce and
report should include principles, talent management practice.
objectives, and requirements for the IT
department’s workforce and talent
management practice.

Service value chain The IT executive leader, HR executive Managers of the organization’s
analysis leader, and the leaders of the key teams, together with the HR
organizational teams analyse the value director, analyse the service value
chain, key value streams, and chain and key value streams. They
supporting organizational solutions of define organizational forms and
the parent organization. Based on this the practice’s solutions that
analysis, recommendations for the IT optimally support the
organizational form and other practice organization’s operating model.
solutions are defined. The resulting The resulting report should
report should include requirements and include requirements and
recommendations for IT workforce and recommendations for workforce
talent management to ensure alignment and talent management to ensure
and effective support of the value alignment and effective support

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chain. of the value chain.

Organizational design IT managers and HR business partners Managers of the organization’s key
for IT plan and agree the IT workforce teams and HR managers plan and
and talent management strategy and agree a workforce and talent
approach, document supporting management strategy and
guidelines, and obtain approval from IT approach, document supporting
and HR executive leaders and other guidelines, and obtain approval
relevant stakeholders. The resulting from the executive leaders and
programme of changes might include other relevant stakeholders. The
organizational changes, improvement resulting programme of changes
initiatives, employee journey models, might include organizational
communication campaigns for values changes, improvement initiatives,
and principles, and other relevant employee journey models,
initiatives. communication campaigns for
values and principles, and other
relevant initiatives.

Initiating and Approved organizational changes and Approved organizational changes

monitoring other initiatives are planned and and other initiatives are planned
organizational changes implemented through other practices and implemented through other
(organizational change management, practices ( such as the
project such as management, supplier organizational change
management, relationship management, project
management, and change enablement management, supplier
practices among others). management, relationship
management, and change
The HR and IT managers of the relevant
enablement practices among
authority initiate, approve, oversee,
others).
and sponsor these initiatives. Progress
is reported and, where needed, The organization’s HR and the
corrected. team managers of the relevant
authority initiate, approve,
oversee, and sponsor these
initiatives. Progress is reported
and, where needed, corrected.

Organization monitoring IT, HR, and other relevant executive The organization’s executive
and review leaders analyse the IT workforce and leaders analyse the IT workforce
talent management and, where needed,and talent management and,
initiate corrective actions, from where needed, initiate corrective
strategy reviews to specific initiatives actions, from strategy reviews to
corrections. specific initiatives corrections.

3.2.2 Employees’ journey management

This process is focused on end-to-end employee journeys across the organization, from
understanding the demand for the workforce, to offboarding. It describes universal activities that
aim to ensure that all employee journeys are successful and relevant to the organization’s needs,
and ensure a positive employee experience.
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This process includes the activities listed in Table 3.3 and transforms the inputs into outputs.
Table 3.3 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the employees’ journey management process

Key inputs Activities Key outputs

Organization’s principles, Segment the workforce and Employee journey records

policies, and vision identify the employee journey
Exception reports
model
Organization’s workforce and
Employee journey review
talent management strategy and Verify and adjust the employee
reports
guidelines journey model

Environmental factors Follow the model

New demand for workforce Manage exceptions

Changes in workforce Review the journey

Figure 3.3 shows a workflow diagram of the process.

Figure 3.3 Workflow of the employees’ journey management process

Table 3.4 provides examples of the process activities.

Table 3.4 Activities of the employees’ journey management process

Activity Working with permanent employees

Segment the workforce and the Upon request for a new employee or a change in the current
employee identify journey employee’s journey, the team manager and/or HR manager identify the
model type of the position (role) for the employee and the respective
employee journey model.

Verify and adjust the employee The team manager and/or HR manager review the selected model and
journey model confirm that it is suitable for the situation. If needed, the individual
journey may be adjusted based on the selected model in order to fit
the specifics.

Follow the model HR and team managers follow the selected model with agreed
amendments. This typically includes (depending on the starting point of

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the journey):

● requirements for the role/job

● competency profile
● procedures for the key touchpoints at every step of the employment
journey
● professional development and career options
● other relevant recommendations.
Manage exceptions If an exception occurs during the employee journey, HR, and team
managers handle it in line with the organization’s values, culture, and
established practices.
Where reasonable, deviation from the procedures is possible, as long as
they follow the values and principles, and enable value for the
stakeholders.

Exceptions are documented and reviewed for future references and

lessons learned.

Review the journey Upon significant exceptions, or regularly, HR and team managers review
the employee journey models to confirm or update them based on the
collected feedback, reviewed requirements, employee journey records,
and new opportunities.

3.2.3 Talent management

This process is focused on ensuring that the organization has sufficient competency to fulfil the
current and anticipated needs.

Table 3.5 Inputs, activities, and outputs of the talent management process.

Key inputs Activity Key outputs

Organization’s workforce and Defining a competency vision Competency vision

talent management strategy,
Competency assessment Competency assessment report
including organizational values,
structure, and culture Planning development and Competency development
optimization programme and plans, including
Workforce and talent
learning and development plans
management guidelines Steering the development
programme Progress reports
Organizational changes and
improvement initiatives Managing exceptions Exception reports

Environmental factors Competency development Competency review reports

programme review
Industry competency models and
best practices

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Figure 3.4 shows a workflow diagram of the process.

Figure 3.4 Workflow of the talent management process

Table 3.6 gives examples of the process activities

Table 3.6 Activities of the talent management process

Activity Working with permanent employees

Defining a competency vision HR managers and team managers, together with key subject matter
experts within the organization and, if needed, external consultants,
identify the organization’s vision for key and supporting competencies.

Where relevant, this can be based on industry competency models, but

they should always be treated as a supplementary source of
recommendations. Key sources are the organization’s vision and strategy.

Competency assessment HR managers and team managers, together with key subject matter
experts of the organization and if needed, external consultants, assess
current competencies of the organization’s employees, identifying gaps,
risks, and opportunities.
Where there are limited resources, the assessment can be limited to the
key employees and competencies only. However, a holistic approach is
recommended.

Planning development and Based on the competency assessment. HR and team managers together
optimization with key subject matter experts of the organization and if needed,
external consultants, plan competency development programmes for the
organization.
The programme should be integrated into the employee journey models
and support the organization’s approach to professional development.

Steering the development HR managers oversee and steer the development programme realization,
programme including training and development, internal and external consulting,
mentoring and coaching, periodic assessment, rotations, and other agreed
initiatives. Records should be kept, and feedback collected and

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processed, to serve as an input to the review and update of the

competence vision.

Managing exceptions If an exception occurs during the development programme realization, HR

and team managers handle it in line with the organization’s values,
culture, and established practices.
Where reasonable, deviation from the procedures is possible, as long as
they follow the values and principles and enable value for the
stakeholders.

Exceptions are documented and reviewed for future references and

lessons to be learned.

Competency development HR and team managers review the competency development programme
programme review and vision to confirm or update them based on the collected feedback,
reviewed requirements, employee journey records, and new
opportunities. This occurs regularly or following significant exceptions.

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4 Organizations and people

ROLES, COMPETENCIES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The practice guides do not describe the practice management roles such as practice owner,
practice lead, or practice coach. They focus instead on the specialist roles that are specific to
each practice. The structure and naming of each role may differ from organization to organization,
so any roles defined in ITIL should not be treated as mandatory, or even recommended.
Remember, roles are not job titles. One person can take on multiple roles and one role can be
assigned to multiple people.

Roles are described in the context of processes and activities. Each role is characterized with a
competency profile based on the model shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1 Competency codes and profiles

Competency Competency profile (activities and skills)

code

L Leader Decision making, delegating, overseeing other activities, providing

incentives and motivation, and evaluating outcomes

А Administrator Assigning and prioritizing tasks, record-keeping, ongoing reporting,

and initiating basic improvement

C Coordinator/communicator Coordinating multiple parties, maintaining

communication between stakeholders, and running awareness campaigns

М Methods and techniques expert Designing and implementing work techniques,

documenting procedures, consulting on processes, work analysis, and continual
improvement

Т Technical expert Providing technical (subject matter) expertise and conducting

expertise-based assignments

Examples of other roles which are responsible for workforce and talent management activities are
listed in Table 4.2, together with the associated competency profiles and specific skills.

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Table 4.2 Examples of roles with responsibility for workforce and talent management practice
activities

Activity Responsible roles Competency profile Specific skills

Organizational planning

Strategic analysis Executive leaders of the TC Excellent

organization understanding of the
organization’s vision,
HR executives
strategy, and
External consultants objectives

Service value chain Executive leaders of the TC Excellent

analysis organization understanding of the
organization’s business
HR executives
and operating models,
External consultants value chain, and value
streams

Organizational design HR executives, MCTL Good knowledge of

organizational design
Organization’s leaders
theory and best
and managers
practice, excellent
External consultants understanding of the
organization, planning,
and design skills

Initiating and monitoring Team managers CAT Good knowledge of the

organizational changes agreed initiatives of
HR managers
the organization

Organizational HR executives, TCM Excellent

monitoring and review understanding of
Organization’s leaders
organization, good
and managers
understanding of the
External consultants agreed organizational
design, understanding
of the changing
demand and
opportunities

Employee’s journey management

Segment the workforce HR managers ATC Good understanding of

and identify the journey the organization’s
Team managers
model employee journey
models

Good understanding of

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the organization’s
needs and workforce
and talent
management
guidelines

Verify and adjust the HR managers MCT Good knowledge of the

model organization’s
Team managers
workforce and talent
management
guidelines and the
employees’ journey
models

Follow the model HR managers AC Good knowledge of the

organization’s
Team managers
workforce and talent
management
guidelines and
employees’ journey
models

Manage exceptions HR managers MTC Good knowledge of the

organization’s
Team managers
workforce and talent
management
guidelines and
employees journey
models

Review the journey HR managers TMA Good knowledge of the

organization’s
Team managers
workforce and talent
management
guidelines and
employees journey
models

Talent management

Defining a competency HR managers TMCL Excellent

vision understanding of the
Team managers
organization’s vision,
Subject matter experts business strategy, and
workforce and talent
Organizational
management strategy
consultants
Good knowledge of the
industry competency
models

Good knowledge of the

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industrial, market, and

economical
development trends
and associated
opportunities

Competency assessment HR managers TCA Good knowledge of

competency
Team managers
assessment techniques
Subject matter experts and tools

Organizational Good knowledge of the

consultants agreed competence
vision and the
organization’s
workforce and talent
management strategy
and guidelines

Planning development HR managers TMC Good knowledge of the

and optimization agreed competency
Team managers
vision, and the
Subject matter experts organization’s
workforce and talent
Organizational
management strategy
consultants
and guidelines

Good understanding of
the organization’s
competency
assessment report

Steering the HR managers TLM Management and

development programme communication skills,
Team managers
good knowledge of the
organization’s
workforce and talent
management strategy
and guidelines

Good knowledge of the

development
programme

Managing exceptions HR managers TLM Management and

communication skills
Team managers
and good knowledge of
the organization’s
workforce and talent
management strategy

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and guidelines

Good knowledge of the

development
programme

Competency HR managers TMCA Excellent

development understanding of the
Team managers
programme review organization’s vision,
Subject matter experts business strategy, and
workforce and talent
Organizational
management strategy
consultants
Good knowledge of the
industrial, market, and
economical
development trends
and associated
opportunities

Good understanding of
the development
programme and
ongoing performance

4.1.1 Human resource manager (HRM)

The key role specific to this practice is the HR manager. This role can be combined with the team
manager role, depending on the practice’s scope, but it is more likely to be a dedicated job or
even a team. The evolution of the practice and its role in organizations, has led to the evolution of
the role of the HR manager.

The HR manager’s professionalism is based on:

● core professional knowledge, usually obtained with relevant education

● industry-specific knowledge, obtained with practice and supported by specialized training and
certification, and with professional communities
● organization-specific knowledge, obtained with practice and internal communities
● professional code of ethics
● knowledge of adjacent subject matter areas.
To keep their competencies relevant, HR professionals continually maintain their professional
development and engage in professional communities, to share and exchange knowledge and
experience.

The key competencies of an HR manager are similar to those of a successful leader and include:

● emotional, social, and systems intelligence

● cognitive flexibility
● self-leadership
● discerning thinking
● complexity thinking
● strategic thinking
● conversational intelligence, multimodal communication skills

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● empathy and collaboration skills.

The responsibilities of an HR manager include all aspects of the workforce and talent
management, as described in Table 4.2. The specific allocation of duties to professional HR
managers, the organization’s leaders, and team managers is subject to the design of the workforce
and talent management practice of the particular organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES AND TEAMS

A specialized HR team is incorporated into the organization when they are develop the workforce
and talent management practice. The positioning of the IT and HR teams might differ, depending
on the role of technology and IT teams in the organization. Typical models include are explored in
Table 4.3.

Table 4.3 Example positioning of HR teams towards IT teams

Role of IT and IT team Positioning of HR team Role of HR and HR team in

(IT) workforce and talent
management

IT team acts as an internal HR team is focused on key HR acts as a regulator and

service provider within a business functions and teams internal consultant, the
parent organization with of the organization, with only majority of the workforce and
relatively low IT a minimum focus on IT teams talent management activities
dependency are performed by IT leaders
and managers

IT team acts as an internal HR team pays significant There is a dedicated HR

service provider within a attention to IT as a key manager or team (often
parent organization with business enabler called HR business partner)
high IT dependency supporting IT leaders and
managers throughout the
workforce and talent
management processes

Organization is an IT service HR team is created to support HR team is specifically

provider, digital technology an IT-related business, digital focused on workforce and
is its key competency and technology is among the key talent management for the IT
area of business competencies of the HR organization and works in
managers close collaboration with IT
leaders and managers

The examples described in Table 4.3 are extremes, whereas real-life scenarios are usually more
complex. It is important that this practice takes this positioning into account and develops the IT
practice accordingly. An effective practice is not possible without close the cooperation, and
preferably collaboration, between IT and HR leaders and managers.

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5 Information and technology

INFORMATION EXCHANGE
The effectiveness of the workforce and talent management practice is based on the quality of the
information used. This includes, but is not limited to, information about:

● the organization’s strategy

● the organization’s environment and key stakeholders
● the organization’s portfolios: resources, products and services, and customers
● the organization’s architectures
● industry trends and opportunities
● the labour market situation and trends
● the workforce and talent management methods, tools, and techniques
● the culture and climate of the organization
● the ongoing performance of the organization
This information may take various forms. The key inputs and outputs of the practice are listed in
section 3.

AUTOMATION AND TOOLING

The automation of the practice is evolving, with technology becoming increasingly important. For
example:

● The utilization of machine learning and advanced analytics creates new opportunities for
analysis, planning, and forecasting.
● Communication and collaboration technologies enable new forms of learning and knowledge
sharing.
● Learning and content management systems make online training and collaboration easier and
more efficient.
● Technology connects organizations, creating a decentralized, organic community where market-
based organizational forms are both possible and effective.
Table 5.1 lists the specific means of automation that are relevant to each activity of the workforce
and talent management practice.

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Table 5.1. Automation solutions for workforce and talent management activities

Activity Means of automation Key functionality Impact on the

effectiveness of the
practice

Organizational planning

Strategic analysis Analytical tools, Strategic mapping Medium

collaboration and
Remote communications
communication tools

Service value chain Analytical tools, Value chain mapping Medium

analysis collaboration and
Business and operating
communication tools
model mapping

Remote communications

Organizational design Organizational structure Mapping and modelling High

modelling/mapping tools
Communications
Process documentation
Workflow and records
and mapping tools
management
Communication and
collaboration tools

Journey mapping tools

Initiating and monitoring Workflow and records Workflow and records High
organizational changes management tools management

Communication and Communications

collaboration tools
Reports generations
Programme and project
management tools

Reporting tools

Organization monitoring Analytical and reporting Analysis, report Medium to high

and review tools generation

Communication and Remote collaboration

collaboration tools
Report distribution

Employee’s journey management

Segment the workforce HR management Employee journey Medium

and the identify journey automation systems mapping
model

Verify and adjust the HR management Employee journey Medium

model automation systems mapping

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Follow the model HR management Activities planning, High

automation systems communication, and
recording
Workflow and records
management tools

Communication and
collaboration tools

Manage exceptions HR management Activities planning, High

automation systems communication, and
recording
Workflow and records
management tools

Communication and
collaboration tools

Review the journey HR management Analysis, report Medium to high

automation systems generation

Analytical and reporting Remote collaboration

tools
Report distribution
Communication and
collaboration tools

Talent management

Defining a competency Communication and Remote collaboration Low to medium

vision collaboration tools

Competency Assessment tools Running surveys Medium to high

assessment
Survey tools Remote communications

Communication and Analysis and reporting

collaboration tools

Skills databases

Planning development HR management Activities planning High

and optimization automation systems
Communication
Workflow and records
Reporting
management tools
Training design, delivery,
Communication and
and record keeping
collaboration tools

e-learning and content

management systems

Steering the HR management Workflow and records High

development automation systems management
programme
Workflow and records Communications

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management tools Reports generations

Communication and Training design, delivery,

collaboration tools and record keeping

Programme and project

management tools

e-learning and content

management systems

Managing exceptions HR management Workflow and records High

automation systems management

Workflow and records Communications

management tools
Reports generations
Communication and
Training design, delivery,
collaboration tools
and record keeping
Programme and project
management tools

e-learning and content

management systems

Competency HR management Analysis, report Medium to high

development automation systems generation
programme review
Analytical and reporting Remote collaboration
tools
Report distribution
Communication and
Training and
collaboration tools
development record
e-learning and content keeping, and reporting
management systems

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6 Partners and suppliers

Very few services are delivered using only an organization’s own resources. Most, if not all, depend
on other services, often provided by third parties outside the organization (see section 2.4 of the
ITIL® Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition publication for a model of a service relationship). This means that
organizations work with employees from multiple organizations, with various levels of integration
into the organization. Therefore, the term ‘employee’ as defined in section 2.2.4 as ‘any
individual engaged to work within an. This includes, but is not limited to: permanent members of
staff, contractors, volunteers, and members of another organization’s staff who are working under
the organization’s authority’.

Organizations need to adjust their workforce and talent management practice to the sourcing
model and overall architecture. This can be done by tailoring the employee journey models to
different forms and terms of engagement (see sections 2.2.4, 2.4.2, and 3.2).

Where organizations aim to ensure an efficient and effective workforce and talent management
practice, they usually try to cooperate more closely with their partners and suppliers, removing
formal bureaucratic barriers in communication, collaboration, and decision-making. Refer to the
‘supplier management’ practice guide for more information on this topic. Additional details on
when to ‘make versus buy’ products, services, or components; what to consider when outsourcing,
and as well an overview on service models that can be used (that of a service guardian, single
provider, retained service integration, or service-integration-as-a-service) are included in the
ITIL® 4: Create, Deliver and Support.

Practice-specific roles and teams are described in sections 4.1.1 and 4.2; these are sometimes
outsourced. However, this approach only proves to be effective for administrative activities.
Strategic and tactical activities are usually too important and organization-specific to be
outsourced. External consultants are often involved planning and assessing the workforce and
talent, but the responsibility for the final decisions remains within the organization.

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7 Important reminder
Most of the content of the practice guides should be taken as a suggestion of areas that an
organization might consider when establishing and nurturing their own practices. The practice
guides are catalogues of things that organizations might think about, not a list of answers. When
using the content of the ITIL practice guides, organizations should always follow the ITIL guiding
principles:

● focus on value
● start where you are
● progress iteratively with feedback
● collaborate and promote visibility
● think and work holistically
● keep it simple and practical
● optimize and automate.
More information on the guiding principles and their application can be found in section 4.3 of ITIL
Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition.

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8 Acknowledgments
AXELOS Ltd is grateful to everyone who has contributed to the development of this guidance.
These practice guides incorporate an unprecedented level of enthusiasm and feedback from across
the ITIL community. In particular, AXELOS would like to thank the following people.

AUTHORS
Antonina Klentsova, Roman Jouravlev.

CONTRIBUTORS
Ariana Bucio Ramirez, Ana Yasmeen Chong Rosales.

REVIEWERS
David Cannon, David Crouch, Erika Flora, Irina Matantseva, Irina Mikhailava, Oksana Tomilets, Mark
Smalley.

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