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Strategic Talent for Accelerated Market Growth
Montserrat Cazorla, Group Lead Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding, CHG-MERIDIAN
In recent years, the business has experienced accelerated growth and expansion into APAC and the Americas. As a result, a Shared Services strategy became increasingly relevant. At the same time, global collaborations with clients and partners evolved into key drivers of growth acceleration and value creation in the market.
From a People & Culture group perspective, we leveraged this growth by first broadening our perspective on where talent resides and strategically defining operational hubs in key locations where talent is both accessible and diverse. This approach enabled us to scale efficiently and support rapid growth with specialized talent available within shorter timeframes, while also accelerating and streamlining onboarding processes.
Today, my team and I oversee global hiring operations from three strategic locations, which are Mexico, Barcelona and Germany. This structure allows us to connect with talent across time zones while ensuring cultural alignment and diverse sensitivity.
Importantly, our strategy remains dynamic. Markets today are highly volatile - at times creating greater talent availability due to mass layoffs, and at other times driving intense competition, particularly for specialized IT roles. Our talent strategy continuously adapts to these fluctuations to remain competitive and proactive.
Turning Employer Brand into Attraction and Retention Power
A strong Employer Branding strategy has been the cornerstone of our approach.
We implemented comprehensive people analytics to better understand and segment our workforce, systematically comparing internal and external perceptions of the company. By introducing both internal and external KPIs, we gained deeper insights into what motivates different employee groups to stay, perform with passion and remain engaged.
We mapped the entire employee lifecycle—from candidate experience and onboarding to career development and even exit stages—ensuring consistency and intentionality at every touchpoint. In parallel, we identified key competitors and analyzed market perception data from platforms such as Glassdoor, Great Place to Work and Kununu to benchmark our positioning and ensure competitiveness.
"Hybrid flexibility is no longer optional; it is now one of the top three factors influencing retention, attraction and engagement."
As our employer brand strengthened, through valueambassador programs, expanded Health & Wellbeing initiatives, impactful volunteer programs and reinforcing our commitment to circular economy principles within our supply chain, we observed measurable improvements in retention rates and candidate engagement throughout the hiring process. Our talent pipelines increasingly recognize our recruitment experience as meaningful and differentiated.
Additionally, this strategy is reinforced by a strong DEIB focus. We strive for maximum objectivity in hiring by involving diverse interview panels that assess both competencies and cultural alignment in a structured manner. This transparency has significantly strengthened candidate trust, regardless of the final hiring decision.
Data as the Engine of Talent Planning
My team and I are directly responsible for people data and analytics, which allows us to drive dynamic and strategic decision-making.
Although the financial services environment can be volatile and demand forecasting is not always fully predictable, our analytics—market growth forecast, engagement surveys, attrition data, workforce demographics and performance indicators—enable us to anticipate talent needs as proactively as possible.
These insights have supported global initiatives that strengthened our employer positioning as stable and reliable, while also allowing us to implement targeted corrective actions where improvements were required. Data is not only a reporting tool; it is a decision engine that shapes workforce planning, organizational design and strategic prioritization.
Where Flexibility Meets Performance
Hybrid flexibility and Workation as a key benefit is no longer optional; it is now one of the top three factors influencing retention, attraction and engagement— alongside compensation and career development opportunities.
However, flexibility without a clear and transparent performance framework is not sustainable. This is why structured OKRs and continuous feedback mechanisms are essential pillars of performance management.
At CHG-MERIDIAN, our Board of Management is committed to equipping leaders with the right tools to set clear, aligned objectives, provide consistent execution support, and lead impactful feedback, mentoring, and coaching conversations.
This leadership enablement acts as a critical lever to ensure that flexibility and high performance not only coexist but reinforce each other sustainably.
Additionally, we measure the effectiveness of this approach through engagement surveys, specifically assessing whether employees experience clarity in objectives and consistent feedback. Where gaps are identified, we provide targeted support to leaders who require further development in goal-setting and performance follow-up.
In this way, flexible work models can operate effectively without reliance on micromanagement, fostering accountability, trust and sustainable high performance.
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