SuccessionFeb 23 2017

How do you create a culture that retains the talented?

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How do you create a culture that retains the talented?

The number one rule - if you are to retain and create talent - is to remember your staff are human beings, says Helen Floor.  

The founder and managing director of 1-1 Recruitment in Hampshire.urges employers to “connect with people as individuals”. She adds: “You need to remember staff of all levels are complex and sometimes bring their lives to work with them. 

We live in challenging times where people have to work hard but rightly expect to be treated well in return. 

Ms Floor says: "Employers need to reward and recognise people as individuals. Sometimes this can be as simple as remembering birthdays, providing regular opportunities to socialise and ensuring there are opportunities for training and progression – all things that any reasonable person would want from a job.”

Good and regular communication with employees is crucial, and that should happen both formally and informally. 

Employee turnover is a serious matter and not having a replacement plan or strategic succession plan leaves you very vulnerable. David Murphy

Benchmarking your own talent against the broader market can help to ensure your staff are on competitive packages. But it is also important to have a culture that allows people to experiment, grab hold of challenges if they want to and, potentially, recognise and reward people for what they do outside of their core remit. 

Ms Floor adds: "We want to encourage creative thinking and part of that is about ensuring your culture is not one that dulls ambition through fear."

People in an organisation soon learn how that organisation responds to people who want to progress. Though a company may make a lot of noise about its people policies which can be very impressive on paper, in reality it is the behaviours that get noticed – how managers really respond to ambition and talent.

“As leaders, business owners also have a responsibility to ensure they understand what each new generation wants out of life,” explains Ms Floor.

Proactivity

According to Ms Floor, advisers need to be proactive about and work to understand this, because it’s a real phenomenon that, say, millennials aren’t necessarily looking for exactly the same qualities from a job that the previous generation was at that age.

Ms Floor explains: "My company uses Foresight (formerly the Future Foundation) to “stay connected” – it’s something that’s really important to us and we cannot sit still.”

“I also like to understand my employees as individuals and get to know them. Obviously there are boundaries that must be respected but I believe a little goes a long way when it comes to knowing your people.

"So many job offers are turned down, and so many people leave an employer because of a changes in their personal circumstances. To retain talent you need to recognise that people are human beings.

"If a business knows that a member of its team is experiencing challenging circumstances, why shouldn’t it do all it can to be flexible and work around those circumstances? Not only does that approach prevent costly talent churn and “brain drain” but it also sends a very powerful message to employees."

When you hire someone, you hire them for a reason and you shouldn’t let the day to day challenge of running a business make you forget that. 

“The nice thing for me about running a group of businesses is that you can move people on occasion if they aren’t getting on as well within one business as they’d hoped. We’ve done this on occasion with great success – why wouldn’t you try to find a place for someone once you’ve decided they’re worth hiring.”

“To be able to do that, you need to step away from the daily grind, which is why I think it is important to find what I call “moodling” time, when I get away from the business and think about the bigger picture and where people fit into it; where do we want to go and how can our people help us to get there.

“I believe a good old job specification is a really important tool in helping an employee understand what they’re supposed to achieve, too. And finally, trust. Nothing turns employees off a company more than feeling they’re not trusted. Conversely, being treated as though you are trusted is very motivating.”

David Murphy, managing director of Talent Acumen, has the following key points for any business wanting to retain talent.

  • Manage well, challenge and afford appropriate support.
  • Set clear goals and measure results.
  • Ensure your communication channels are strong, so you have the opportunity to identify any problems before them become larger issues.
  • Develop leaders; training and leadership development requires a lot of focus and commitment.
  • Visible leadership  - for employees to stay engaged they need to have visibility of what’s going on at the top of the tree, to feel a part of it, and be inspired and driven by it.
  • Creating a strong working environment that encourages innovation and provides employees with opportunities to contribute.
  • Establishing a company culture of trust and consistency to put your team at ease and to help them feel comfortable, no matter what challenges arise.
  • Developing working conditions that boost job satisfaction – whether that be the office environment or through providing flexible working and benefits.
  • Reward and recognise your team - everyone appreciates being appreciated.

Retaining your staff and developing talent also means that your succession planning will create a business that is fit for the future. 

Mr Murphy adds: “Employee turnover is a serious matter and not having a replacement plan or strategic succession plan leaves you very vulnerable. It will also make recruitment very costly.

“Other risks are potentially creating low morale when you are hit with someone leaving and no replacement in mind, as other team members are then forced to take on more responsibility alongside their own day jobs.

As employees move on, if training has not been carried out with other team members a departure could illustrate serious talent gaps, that can be hard to fill in a rush.”

To summarise, succession planning will de-risk your access to the best talent and offers a further safeguard to business and talent continuity.

Mr Murphy says: “Research-based succession planning also provides you with external benchmarks to help you understand the reality of the talent pool you can fish from, and the requirements you need to commit to as a business to attract those new team members you really need.

"Doing this before you are desperate for a senior hire puts you in a much stronger position than trying to recruit on the back foot in panic mode. There’s no contest. Succession planning will always help to win the war on talent."

samantha.downes@ft.com