Can’t retain talent at your company?

Can't retain talent at your company? Everywhere you turn, more and more people are talking about the “free-agency” attitude of many professionals. The greater the demand of their skills, the less likely they will be loyal to their employer. I have a number of friends and acquaintances in high demand fields and I keep hearing stories about why they will “only do corp-to-corp” (independent consulting). This free-agency mentality is a direct backlash to poor human capital management (HR, for you old-schoolers) practiced by companies. Even in a bad economy, good talent is always in demand. The multitude of recent layoffs have left people feeling like they are easier to dispose of than corporate jets, and this is only going to make it more expensive and harder for companies to recruit and retain talent once things bounce back.

David Russo, who was Head of HR for the famous SAS Institute for over 17 years, is frequently quoted saying: “Every night at 6 o’clock, all our assets walk out the door…We just hope they come back at nine the next morning…” Now I never worked for SAS, but I have heard about the environment, low turnover rate, and loyalty of their employees. Unfortunately companies like that are in an absolute minority.

What makes great talent stick with a company through thick and thin? There is no “magic” formula for creating an environment that fosters loyalty to a company. But from my own experience, observations, and research, I have found a couple of “ingredients” that are very common in companies with loyal teams:

Open-book management says to employees: “we did a good job hiring you, we know you will understand things, and if you don’t, you will ask good questions.”
Dignity. From the office cleaner to the CEO – everyone should be treated like the CEO of their job.
Trust shows people that the company understands honest mistakes are made. They would rather have you do your best and try, rather than “stay under the radar” and exert the least amount of effort to not attract attention.
Great leadership greatly reduces the need for management. Leadership inspires people and inspiration is important to loyalty.
An occasional office party does not create belonging. People must feel they are part of the team, that they matter, and that company knows they are not just a line item in the budget.

If you work for a great company that gets it, please share the ingredients of their “recipe” in the comments section.

Photo credit: Enrique Burgos

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Sarah Peacey
Great information! I absolutely agree, but I would add that companies also need to realize great leadership and great people management are not always synonymous. It takes skill to inspire people to produce top quality work, but not all leaders take on a mentoring and coaching role and really get to know their employees. Companies that do not focus their training on both leadership and people management are often times hit exponentially because when the “great manager” leaves the firm, he/she takes the staff with them. This is one of the prime drivers behind employee referral programs and why they are often so successful.
In times like this, companies tend to focus their leadership skills on increasing the business, focusing on customer service and the quality of the product while budgets are cut on human resource projects, training, employee perks etc. How often does the company ask itself: What are we doing to keep, not only our best performers, but also our best managers?
Sarah Peacey
Great information! I absolutely agree, but I would add that companies also need to realize great leadership and great people management are not always synonymous. It takes skill to inspire people to produce top quality work, but not all leaders take on a mentoring and coaching role and really get to know their employees. Companies that do not focus their training on both leadership and people management are often times hit exponentially because when the “great manager” leaves the firm, he/she takes the staff with them. This is one of the prime drivers behind employee referral programs and why they are often so successful.
In times like this, companies tend to focus their leadership skills on increasing the business, focusing on customer service and the quality of the product while budgets are cut on human resource projects, training, employee perks etc. How often does the company ask itself: What are we doing to keep, not only our best performers, but also our best managers?
http://leanstartups.com/ Apolinaras Sinkevicius
Couple of points:
1. If company spends resources on hiring people who fit and investing in extensive training, managers are not needed, only great leaders. People are smart enough to do the right thing for the company. We need to trust and treat them like adults.
2. Focus on best performers is wasteful. Why? Companies live and die because of overall performance of the employees. You can have “stars”, but if you waste all your resources on the A players, B players will drag you down. I would go so far to say that B players are MUCH more important to the company than the “stars”. Companies need top performing TEAMS.
3. Old HR methods are dead as they can be. HR practitioners need to enlighten themselves in proper human capital nurturing.
4. Flatten your organization and managers will not be as important. Multiple layers of management only fosters mediocrity and reduces visibility.
http://leanstartups.com Apolinaras Sinkevicius
Couple of points:
1. If company spends resources on hiring people who fit and investing in extensive training, managers are not needed, only great leaders. People are smart enough to do the right thing for the company. We need to trust and treat them like adults.
2. Focus on best performers is wasteful. Why? Companies live and die because of overall performance of the employees. You can have “stars”, but if you waste all your resources on the A players, B players will drag you down. I would go so far to say that B players are MUCH more important to the company than the “stars”. Companies need top performing TEAMS.
3. Old HR methods are dead as they can be. HR practitioners need to enlighten themselves in proper human capital nurturing.
4. Flatten your organization and managers will not be as important. Multiple layers of management only fosters mediocrity and reduces visibility.
http://www.igorshare.com/ IgorM
Loved it. Agree 100%. Especially companies do not understand that parties are not bonding people – the leaders are!
The best way to keep best performers on board is to create a great nurturing environment, free flow of ideas and open fearless discussions.
http://www.igorshare.com/ IgorM
Loved it. Agree 100%. Especially companies do not understand that parties are not bonding people – the leaders are!
The best way to keep best performers on board is to create a great nurturing environment, free flow of ideas and open fearless discussions.
http://debashishbramha.blogspot.com/ Deb Brahma
You Hsave a Great Blog.
Regards
Deb

Can’t retain talent at your company?

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