HR Spectrum Article - Tools for Retaining Key Employees

Tools for Retaining Key Employees

HR Spectrum
Home Page.

Consulting
Services.

Member
Firms.

Client
List.

Advisory
Board.

Articles &
Presentations

Coming
Events.

Related
Links.

Contact
HR Spectrum

Recently, Human Resources Spectrum Inc. held a breakfast for friends, associates and clients as one of a series where current and relevant topics are discussed in an open forum. The subject of the most recent breakfast, held in New York City, was "Tools for Retaining Key Talent."

A key observation made at this particular meeting was that specialized functions such as information technology are receiving a great deal of attention around attracting and retaining key employees in this field. Other observations can be summarized as follows:

Would anyone have predicted 15 years ago the degree to which we rely on technology today, even in non-technology companies? How do we anticipate what companies will need in the future, especially in our rapid state of change?
One company makes technology decisions based on the following philosophy: "If a solution is 75% or better of what we need, we use it because change is so rapid, we can't wait for 100% of our needs to be met."
Chief Information Officers (CIO's) are utilizing more and more contractors to complete their projects instead of in house employees.
Management processes are becoming more complex and as a result, are impacting the ability to effectively manage contract workers.
Could the corporation of the future be comprised of a CEO with a rolodex of associates, guilds or contractors for every function? If so, what makes one company different from another if each CEO has the same rolodex?
Reduce the cost of global expatriate assignments by developing a network of local experts that will perform a particular role on a local basis.

As a result of these general observations, the following ideas were discussed, some of which are already in use, and others which can be adopted by companies grappling with this issue:

Retention programs must meet the unique business needs of your unique company.
You may choose to take an approach not to retain employees and gear up for a turnover strategy.
Build flexible benefits for each employee that will meet their individual needs.
Flextime is becoming as much of a strategic advantage to employers as well as a technique for employers to offer a better environment to work. Flextime also provides a significant benefit for employees and employers as well.
Provide very work-life, family-friendly programs.
Provide project bonus payments as specific intervals of a project such as 6 months, 12 months and when the project is completed. In one case, the project bonus could be as much as 55% of one's base pay.
Provide the latest and greatest technology for I/T employees to work on either on the job or through training. Becoming obsolete is the biggest fear of "technologists". In the absence of the best technology, develop and communicate a plan to include such technology in future I/T development projects. If you cannot offer the latest and greatest technology, consider providing company sponsored training in state of the art technology.
Increase the use of tuition reimbursement and technical training.
Identify the top percentage of people needed for effective retention, develop a critical impact rating that determines the impact if those people do leave, and provide a 2 year rolling retention bonus to keep those employees.
Share the market study with employees to indicate the competitive position of the company.
Provide long term incentive plans for executives.
In addition to company pension plan, provide Supplemental Employee Retirement Plans (SERP) for highly compensated employees, where the pension calculation is based on total salary, not the IRS limit; provide an additional 10% retirement benefit for each ten years of service to the employer.

For information please contact staff@hrspectrum.com