IF you haven’t heard the phrase ‘The War for Talent’ over the past year you must be either living a life of blissful retirement or have yet to join the world of work. It was probably the HR phrase of 2021 and it’s not a myth, it’s been a real concern for a while now, exacerbated by the pandemic.
Companies are (or should be) laser focused on how to attract the best there is from a market where no matter how fast the talent pool grows, demand continues to outstrip it.
But here’s the thing; in any war a key component stretches far away from the battlefield and that’s the supply chain. If that doesn’t work, then the front line is null and void. Any gains will be short-lived, advances negated and victories temporary as they cannot last without that backup.
Yet, here’s the thing: many companies think the war for talent starts and ends outside their front doors and neglect to look at how they can help the fight from the inside, focusing on their own supply chain i.e., their existing staff. If you cannot retain and develop your existing staff then you will exist in some endless ouroboros type cycle of exit and recruit, exit and recruit.
So rather than dedicate 100 per cent of your effort to the front-line where you are competing for external talent consider spending some time on the following:
1. Take stock of your internal resources: understand the skill set(s) you have internally and where the gaps are. Identify where you have single points of failure and where you have critical roles that will significantly set projects, deliveries, development etc back if that person exits.
2. Once that is done, assess your current workforce. Understand their ambitions, both in relation to their existing roles and where they wish to progress from a career perspective.
3. That done, implement development plans that will help them become subject matter experts in their area and/or help then to build the experience or skill-set required to operate at the next level up.
4. Ensure these are folded into an overall departmental and organisational plan so that strategic decisions can be made, and perhaps economies of scale can be found if you are introducing common training plans or new technology.
5. Ensure you regularly communicate with staff. On a personal level this should be at regular check-ins / 1-2-1s and at formal devolvement sessions / appraisals. On a company-wide level use regular briefings and town halls to let staff know what the company plans are, to celebrate wins and to make them feel they are personally contributing towards the overall success of the business.
6. Make sure your hygiene factors are taken care of; nice office, good place to work, so people like coming in (or ensure they are comfortable working from home, if that’s the current policy)
7. Have an engagement plan in place; activities, events, and strategies to inspire, motivate, amuse, interest, educate, stimulate and most importantly retain your staff. Help employees weave themselves into the fabric of the company by developing committees, action groups etc.
8. Be responsive and timely to requests and queries. Adopt a service mentality. You may not have the answer to everything but at least respond in good time. Don’t ignore or obfuscate, causing frustration and cause a build-up of little irritations, as these can often become disproportionally magnified or at least form part of the ‘cons’ column when employees weigh up staying or going.
9. Create a unique, positive and open culture. You will not be able to please all your staff, all of the time but try and create an atmosphere everyone can buy into, feel proud of and part of.
10. Use internal staff as advocates to promote the business. The more they are able to sell the positives externally, the more they understand and buy into what you are doing internally.
11. Have honest dialogue: explain the thinking behind decisions you make (where appropriate) and present an honest face to the workforce. A lot of goodwill can be generated this way.
12. Use exit interviews to understand where pain points are in the business and rectify them. Survey your staff to get their opinions on the business, what they like, dislike, want to see. more of, less of etc. Find out what works in terms of those actives and engagement that you have been working on.
13. Use external benchmarking to ensure you are (if not leading the way) at least keeping in the same space as you competitors with pay, benefits, entitlements etc.
14. Finally, start building relations with local schools and universities so that you can begin to build your own supply chain at any earlier stage, using work placements to show potential new talent how good your business is and giving them a reason to come work for you rather than elsewhere.
:: Barry Shannon is head of HR at STATSports
