Case study: how Ayala is attracting talent and reducing people risk

As talent challenges persist across the world, building a future-ready approach to managing employees is increasingly important for organisations.

Ayala, a conglomerate in the Philippines founded 190 years ago, has more than 50,000 permanent employees worldwide.

The group faces talent risks that have led it to create a structured approach to attracting and retaining employees – in the form of a three-year talent management strategy that spans accelerating career growth and enhancing talent mobility for all employees.

SOLVING A THREE-TIER PROBLEM

“In a group-wide dynamic risk assessment, three out of 20 risk themes were related to talent, making it a risk priority for the group,” says Xandra Feliza B. Galang, talent management head, strategic human resources, Corporate Resources Group, Ayala Corporation.

“There were three aspects of talent risk identified in the assessment. Firstly, talent recruitment and retention – recruiting the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, and doing this quickly. And along with this, being able to retain the right people in a competitive talent market.”

Galang says that due to globalisation, Ayala is not just competing with local organisations, but with global ones, too. “We are competing with the likes of Google and Microsoft when it comes to talent,” she says.

“The second aspect is about leadership and succession. Who is going to lead Ayala in the future? A large number of our leaders are approaching retirement, at similar timing. Have we identified successors ready to take the next step and assume more critical roles?”

The third aspect concerns changing ways of working. Galang says that employees today often prefer flexible working arrangements, so Ayala needed to assess the impact of this preference on its organisational culture.

“We wanted to give people the chance to grow and to leverage the skills economy we already have”

“We gathered all of the HR practitioners from the di erent Ayala companies and looked at how we could solve for talent scarcity. It was clear to everyone that we needed to reimagine our talent acquisition strategy. How do we leverage the skills we have across the organisation? We needed to articulate a growth mindset for all employees, so they could curate their own development plans,” says Galang.

“Another challenge is re-energising employees towards non-traditional career paths. In some cases, career paths are linear, but we also need people to transition into new roles that don’t necessarily follow a traditional linear path.”

“Rather than trying to get talent from outside the organisation, we decided to look internally first. We wanted to give people the chance to grow and to leverage the skills economy we already have within the organisation,” says Galang.

“Are we giving people what they need to learn? Are we empowering employees to build a career? We wanted employees to curate their own careers. We provide them with a roadmap, but they are empowered to design their career path.”

Galang realised it would be unrealistic to solve Ayala’s talent risk challenges in a single year. This led to the creation of a three-year plan.

YEAR 1: Mastering the basics

“All staff were enrolled in the three-year roadmap,” says Galang. “This was detailed to them at town hall meetings. Year 1 centred on the concept of being brilliant with the basics. You cannot be the best if you do not have those in place first. So we focused on mastering the basics of talent management for the first year.”

To map out how the three years look for the average employee, Galang’s team imagined the journey of ‘Kim’.

“We created this persona, Kim – an imagined employee with 10–12 years of experience, who is 40 years old and in a leadership position. Kim is humble, intelligent and trustworthy. So what should Kim’s experience be over these next three years?”

“We have created tools for employees to record their career aspirations”

“In year one, Kim should be able to say: ‘I’m empowered to express interest in available roles through a transparent internal talent pool’ and ‘I see opportunities for advancement and skill growth in my company,’” Galang says.

This first year focused on creating learning opportunities for employees and establishing shared goals between the employee and the company.

“We have created tools for employees to record their career aspirations. We have also developed a framework for managing careers, so employees have a menu or toolkit to start thinking about their career growth.”

Year 1 also allowed Ayala to profile its employees in order to gain a better understanding of the talent pool within the organisation.

YEAR 2: Making breakthroughs

Galang describes Year 2 as being about making talent management breakthroughs.

“It’s about introducing initiatives that have never been done in the 190-year history of Ayala. It’s important to acknowledge and celebrate that,” she says.

“Year 2 involved identifying the most critical roles within the business and determining how they will be filled. We created a ‘future skills inventory’, which includes 600 different skills across Ayala. This is not just about identifying the skills we need now, but also those we will need in the future.”

By building this skills inventory, Ayala has gained a clearer understanding of the skills its people need to succeed over the next five to 10 years. This, in turn, has informed the creation of strategies to acquire talent for its most critical roles.

As for Kim, the imaginary employee, Year 2 saw her saying: “I’m inspired by real career stories and successful colleagues, offering insights and role models for my own plans,” and “I understand the steps required for advancement within the organisation.”

YEAR 3: Best-in-class talent management

Galang says Year 3 focuses on implementing best-in-class initiatives for talent management.

“Next year, we will complete Year 3. By then, skills and talent will have been fully mapped, there will be a talent marketplace, and we will use AI to match people’s skills with roles within the organisation.”

By the end of the three years, Ayala expects to have achieved several key goals — a shared vision for talent management, an aligned future skills inventory, and a strengthened internal talent pool system.

It also aims for personalised career management for every employee, transparent talent mobility practices, and a growth mindset that supports non-traditional career journeys.

“Talent is no longer seen as a top risk, dropping from being one of our top two risks to one of our top eight risks.”

“By Year 3, we will know the value of all our talent. We will be the employer of choice, and most importantly, we will have a future-ready workforce,” says Galang.

As for Kim, by the end of Year 3 she should be able to say: “I assess my progress, track opportunities, and gauge leadership readiness,” and “I get a transparent career path for growth, clarity, motivation and leadership development.”

Encouragingly, halfway through Year 2, Ayala is already seeing results, Galang is happy to report: “Talent is no longer seen as a top risk, dropping from being one of our top two risks to one of our top eight risks.”