It is no clich'e - in today`s highly competitive global business world, the adage that people are a company`s greatest asset is a fact. What differentiates a company from its competitors? Undoubtedly, the quality of its highly-skilled employees. What ensures that company remains a step ahead of other players in the game? Surely it`s the retention of that most valuable asset - after all, if you keep employees happy, they`ll keep customers happy.
It`s a global problem - skilled employees are in short supply and companies compete to secure the best. Quality expertise is not easy to find, and once a company secures the right people, it`s vital to retain them.
A company`s wealth lies in its human intellect, a phenomenon particularly common to the IT industry. And it is this intellectual capital that goes home every night.
A company`s wealth lies in its human intellect, a phenomenon particularly common to the IT industry.
Doug Leather, MD, Bryan Hattingh Executive Services
Statistics show that SA`s staff turnover levels are at the highest ever, with job-hopping costing the country more than R10 billion a year. The demand for highly skilled employees in the job market is such that workers can exploit their advantage by frequently moving on to selective positions in competing companies. It is estimated that the cost of losing and replacing a senior executive member is equivalent to the position`s annual salary.
South African companies are gradually realising that attracting and retaining talent is the key to a secure, stable and successful company. After all, if you keep your staff happy, they will keep customers happy.
Magic formula
So what is the formula to becoming an employer of choice? If the wealth of a company is its intellectual capital, methods must be devised not only to attract and capture that knowledge, but to secure it. What compels people to stay - and want to stay - within a company? It can`t only be money. While money certainly helps to pad the comfort zone and can be used to change the mind of an employee who`s tottering on the brink of resigning, it`s simply not the key to securing that employee in the long-term.
The essential ingredients to a successful retention strategy are more intangible than that - far more difficult to promise or to quantify. They`re the "soft issues" - elements such as job satisfaction, a sense of belonging and worth, feeling appreciated, attractive growth opportunities, and the ability to balance life and work form some of the vital statistics behind such a strategy.
The forward-thinking company will have a distinct and focused vision, and secure employees will not only identify with such a vision, but prescribe to company values, aligning them with their own. An employer of choice will weave its people into its business plans to build a compelling workplace - one that attracts and secures highly motivated, goal-directed and satisfied employees.
Building a compelling workplace takes time and money to secure a richly stimulated workforce. Businesses must be creative and imaginative, generate dynamic ideas that challenge, invigorate and stimulate the employee to buy in to the company direction and vision.
Communication needs to be encouraged and transparent, performance measures must be clearly defined and quantified, targets should be realistic and carefully mapped, and reward programmes must be securely in place. Compensation should not only be performance-driven, but encourage loyalty, creativity and the generation of new ideas to build and drive the business.
Different strokes
The existence of a compelling workplace means different things to different people. For the analytical employee, a compelling workplace would be one that reduces the cost of turnover and mitigates potential business and productivity losses caused by employee dissatisfaction.
The strategic thinker might view it as one that promotes co-operation, collaboration and cohesion, with everyone moving in the same direction, speaking the same language. The people person is likely to see it as one that creates a setting for combined strengths, shared values and capitalised knowledge, while the organiser would see the compelling workplace as one in which resources are plentiful.
Growth and development are the key to employability. An employee`s challenge in the workplace is to enhance one`s employability by building one`s skills base. Companies need to identify this, and strategise to train and mentor their employees in a multidimensional manner. The acquisition of new skills keeps the workforce constantly challenged and stimulated, and employees are shown that opportunities for their growth are limitless.
The employer of choice will have the foresight to recognise the benefits of ensuring its employees balance the demands of work and life, and will give them the opportunity and flexibility to do so. This is no better identified than by SAS Institute, the world`s largest privately owned software company, rated the sixth best employer in the US and described by Fortune Magazine as "the closest thing to a worker`s utopia".
CEO Jim Goodnight qualifies this success: "The well-being of our company is linked to the well-being of our employees. Employees determine whether we flourish or fail. If we make the effort and invest resources in our employees` professional welfare, everyone wins - the employee, the customer and the company."
SAS believes in making the workplace a home from home. Hundreds of hectares of scenic office park with tennis courts, gym, theatre and football fields surround the building in which every worker has a private office. Two onsite doctors treat workers free of charge, and two childcare centres provide for employees` children, who can receive subsidised secondary education at the private Cary Academy, which SAS funds to the tune of $10 million.
Hearty welcome
A compelling employer will ensure new employees are made to feel welcome. First impressions need to be as positive as possible, and an orientation session can be used to help the new employee acclimatise to the culture inherent within the company. Workspace, computer, e-mail, phone and other systems should be in place on arrival, and often a mentor assigned to each individual ensures a smooth settling-in period.
The keys to ensuring your company is an employer of choice are multi-faceted, and often involve careful planning. Don`t be afraid to spend money on putting systems in place that will help to secure your prize employees from your competitors. Low employee turnover is the way to high long-term profits, with a happy workforce as the core.
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