Release of Analysis Results: Survey on Talent Allocation, Transfers, and Career Support Measures

Recruit Management Solutions Co., Ltd., which supports corporate management/HR solutions and strategic advancement, conducted the 'Survey on Talent Allocation, Transfers, and Career Support Measures,' targeting managers in HR functions to clarify challenges in this area.

In recent years, business environmental changes and the need to adapt to AI/technological innovations require strategic resource shifts and flexible talent allocation. Simultaneously, the necessity to respect employee preferences and career aspirations is growing, making the reconciliation of organization-led transfers with individual career autonomy a crucial theme for many firms.

Results reveal that many companies cite 'formulating medium-term personnel plans aligned with business strategies' and 'placing the right talent in the right positions' as key challenges, confirming the difficulty of strategic talent deployment. Furthermore, while 90% of companies expect employee career autonomy, 70% find it 'difficult' to reconcile this with 'organization-led HR initiatives,' surfacing the challenge of aligning organizational needs with individual intentions.

Conversely, firms that strategically and integratedly promote career autonomy support show a trend toward more flexible allocation, such as carefully explaining transfer purposes and future career prospects. This suggests that the difficulty of reconciliation is not a given and can be mitigated by the design and operation of career support.

Instead of viewing individual career autonomy and organizational resource shifts as contradictory, building a flexible organization requires designing and operating talent allocation and career support as a unified system.

[Executive Summary]

- Key challenges in allocation/transfers include 'medium-term personnel planning' and 'achieving right placement.' While strategic needs are high, 'respecting individual circumstances' makes timely placement difficult, highlighting the friction between organizational needs and individual intentions.
- About 70% find reconciling autonomy support with organization-led HR difficult, often due to organization-first cultures or lack of executive understanding. About 90% 'expect' employee career autonomy, though perceptions vary between firms and employees.
- 'Engagement and motivation improvement' is the most cited purpose for career support, though interpretations vary.
- Career support by managers is often viewed as an extension of daily coaching, with limited expectations for long-term career support.
- Firms with higher strategic integration show more flexible allocation practices, suggesting that the difficulty is not fixed and depends on support design.

Comment by Naoko Fujimura (Senior Researcher, Organizational Behavior Research Institute):
Companies with high 'career support promotion' levels often meticulously explain transfer purposes to the individual and receiving managers, which is linked to flexible talent reallocation. While expectations for managers are high, their roles remain ambiguous, and they are not sufficiently supported, which is a critical issue. Clarifying roles and improving the environment are key to reducing the burden on managers.