5 Red Flags That Your Merged Workforce Is Still Misaligned
Mergers and acquisitions are complex – and integration doesn’t stop when the deal closes. Even many years later, merged organizations find themselves struggling with a workforce that hasn’t fully come together.
So how can you tell if your merged teams are still misaligned – and what can HR teams do to support the business outcomes required to drive the most growth from these critical transactions?? If your company is struggling with at least 3 of the issues noted below, it’s time to get the data views required to inform better workforce plans.
1. You can’t clearly identify who can do what 🚩
If HR and leadership are still relying on outdated org charts or job titles to understand capabilities, that’s a problem. Titles rarely tell the full story – and, in mergers, they often mean different things across legacy companies.
Why it matters: Without a clear, skills- and task-based view, you’re flying blind on talent deployment, recruitment, and development.
What to do: Invest in a workforce intelligence platform that maps actual capabilities across your combined workforce.
2. Teams are operating in silos, not as one 🚩
When different legacy systems, processes, or cultures persist, teams can struggle to collaborate or share resources. You might see duplicated roles, competing priorities, overlapping workflows, and missed opportunities to consider where automation could support employee productivity and/or an improved customer experience.
Why it matters: Silos sap productivity, increase costs, and fuel employee frustration.
What to do: Unify your HR tech stack and create connected data flows to promote transparency and teamwork. Analyze the tasks being performed across your organization to identify where there is duplicated effort and/or opportunities to automate certain functions.
3. You’re recruiting for roles that already exist internally 🚩
If talent acquisition keeps advertising and hiring for skills or roles your company already has, it signals poor internal visibility. You may be missing chances to redeploy or reskill current employees.
Why it matters: It’s costly, time-consuming and damages employee trust, and can contribute to unwanted – and costly – employee attrition.
What to do: Use connected skills and task data to identify internal candidates and create clear pathways for internal mobility. Provide employees with the information they need to see, understand, and address skills gaps that may need to be closed to enable them to move up in your organization.
4. Performance and development metrics are inconsistent 🚩
Conflicting definitions of skills, roles, or success criteria can cause inconsistent employee reviews and unclear career progression. This breeds uncertainty and disengagement.
Why it matters: Misaligned performance management undermines retention and morale – which leads to unwanted voluntary departures.
What to do: Standardize your skills taxonomy and align performance tools across the merged employee population.
5. You lack real-time insights into skills gaps and workforce capacity 🚩
If you’re still relying on manually updated spreadsheets, outdated data, or assumptions about talent gaps, you won’t be able to act quickly as business needs evolve.
Why it matters: Slow decision-making increases risk and reduces agility in a fast-changing market.
What to do: Implement AI-powered workforce intelligence that provides real-time, dynamic views of skills and tasks – informed by your internal employee data and external market insights.
Moving beyond the red flags
If you spot any of these signs, don’t worry: it’s not too late to course-correct. The good news? AI-powered skills and task intelligence platforms make it easier than ever to unify your workforce data, break down silos, and plan with confidence.
Ready to turn your merged workforce into a truly aligned, agile engine of growth? Start by identifying these red flags – and then take decisive action to bring clarity, connection, and insight into your people strategy.