As organizations worldwide continue to grapple with a rapidly changing labor market, they’re simultaneously trying their best to engage and upskill their workforce. In response, many organizations have turned to internal talent marketplaces (ITMs) to deliver on these priorities.

ITMs are employee-facing platforms that use artificial intelligence to match employees to experiential learning and development opportunities based on their unique skills and experiences. Earlier this year, Gartner surveyed more than 600 HR staff and more than 2,000 non-HR staff and found that 40% of managers reported trusting HR technology to help them identify prospective internal candidates for positions. Additionally, 46% of managers reported they trust AI to identify the workforce skills that organizations will likely need in the future, and 51% trust AI to suggest learning content to team members.

Organizations are rapidly adopting ITMs to provide valuable insight into available skills in the organization, and to provide workers with equitable insight into available growth opportunities. They are key to enabling adaptability, resiliency, and experiential learning.

Despite the potential for transformational impact, organizations need to be intentional about how they adopt the technology, and for what purpose. Talent management leaders interested in adopting this technology should assess their organizational needs and consider how ITMs could align with their strategic objectives.

Gartner has identified four compelling reasons for organizations to consider implementing ITMs.

1. Strategic workforce planning

According to our March 2023 survey that polled 200 boards of directors, 61% rated workforce planning as a very/extremely important talent issue. However, predicting future skills poses challenges, especially in rapidly evolving environments where there is a frequent change in organizational needs. Additionally, our September 2023 survey that polled more than 500 HR leaders revealed that 47% are concerned about their workforce’s readiness to meet future performance demands. This lack of readiness likely stems from the uncertainty surrounding skills requirements for employees.

ITMs support existing strategic workforce planning initiatives and technologies by offering data-driven insights into skills availability. By leveraging these insights to analyze workforce capabilities, identify skills gaps, and forecast future talent needs, organizations can proactively address talent shortages and anticipate emerging skills requirements.

2. Succession planning

Today, many talent management leaders say that attracting and retaining talent is increasingly difficult in a constantly evolving labor market. For example, while more organizations are looking to implement return-to-office (RTO) mandates, this has severely impacted retention: Per Gartner’s research, as many as one in three executives given RTO mandates plan to leave their company. As a result, talent management leaders don’t feel confident they have potentially capable leaders who can meet the future needs of their organizations.

Organizations can use ITMs alongside traditional succession-planning processes to help uncover succession slates based on the skills and experiences of employees throughout the company. This is especially critical for ensuring leadership continuity and talent pipeline development. To fully leverage the abilities of an ITM while succession planning, progressive organizations should use the marketplace to identify and develop high-potential employees. In addition to technical competencies, they shouldn’t forget about soft-skills development.

3. Learning and development

Leaders in learning and development (L&D) are facing mounting pressure to deliver learning experiences that are tailored to meet the individualized needs of employees. According to our September 2023 survey, 54% of HR leaders reported feeling that their technology doesn’t enable them to meet the learning needs of their organization.

In response to the growing demand for personalized learning at scale, forward-thinking L&D functions are adopting strategies to empower employees to take ownership of their learning journey. If a company deploys it well, an internal talent marketplace can democratize access to diverse opportunities and match employees to personalized hands-on learning experiences. ITMs also allow employees to identify and pursue relevant development opportunities across the organization.

4. Internal mobility

It’s no secret that employees globally are facing record burnout rates, leading to high levels of disengagement. Thankfully, not all is lost: According to a June 2023 Gartner survey that polled more than 3,400 employees, 23% feel that their engagement can be increased by being given access to growth opportunities like projects or rotations in other parts of the organization. Having the opportunity to explore career pathways throughout the business is crucial to fostering employee engagement and retention.

ITMs offer employees visibility into career paths tailored to their unique skills, interests, and aspirations. Employees also gain sight of the internal roles associated with their desired career growth. Leveraging the matchmaking capabilities of ITMs, organizations can facilitate employees’ exploration of lateral moves, job rotations, and project assignments that align with their skills and career goals. This not only provides employees with opportunities for growth and development but also creates a pipeline of internal talent that businesses can tap into in accordance with their needs.

Launching an ITM at your organization

Whether you use an ITM for internal mobility, career pathing, or succession planning, effective implementation is critical to realizing value. The following are crucial steps to investing in internal talent marketplaces:

• Limit your pilot ITM implementation to the use cases that deliver on your primary objective. Plan to sequence additional use cases based on their projected benefits.
• Avoid duplication of effort and miscommunication by assigning stakeholder roles early in the planning process.
• Document the ideal processes, system touch points, and user experience. Ensure that you have enough inputs from internal and external data sources, as well as user interaction, to drive accurate skills-based matches.
• Select a best-fit ITM technology solution that excels in your primary use cases and has a future road map aligned to your expansion efforts.
• Track progress by measuring ITM satisfaction, adoption, and impact. Use this information to expand use cases and/or organizational scope.

An ITM can bring a lot of value to organizations and employees. It’s time to put one into practice.