Talent Pool – views and counter views

Most of the organisations are going out of way to nurture and retain talent. Many have created elitist talent pools and assign ratings. The higher rated in this pool are beneficiaries of several exclusive offerings such as specialised training, including programmes at premier institutes here as well as abroad, opportunity to work in the department of choice and fast track promotions.

Talent pools or merit pools have all along being in existence and earlier these existed in a more informal manner, bereft of management jargons. So if organisations are bestowing so much importance to these pools today, it’s not surprising. The moot point, however, remains the modus operandi behind the selection of candidate into such pools and benefit to the organisation. Has any organisation undertaken a study whether the beneficiaries of such pools deliver adequately, if not over deliver, to the organisation, reckoning the investment made in them? How the other staff, who are not part of these pools and therefore, have to suffer the agony of being second rung citizens in the organisation cope up with the situation emanating from no or delayed promotions, low annual hikes and bonuses and no ESOPs? 

Is one selling most aggressively the most talented or one expert in execution falls in that category? Or do the alumni of premier institutions automatically land up in talent pool? 

This, in fact, is the next in the series that I have started on LinkedIn relating to the problem of attrition. I would like to know that who is attriting at higher rate – those who constitute talent pool or those who don’t and are therefore, disgruntled? Is it worth creating such a divide when the system of annual appraisal already exists in all the organisations?