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Recruitment & Retention

Published January 2010

Holding on to Top Talent

 

  Sylvia Ann Hewlett

For some, the recession has faded in the wake of recovery plans, but for many organizations and their employees, the view ahead is still one tough slog. It's far too early to dream about constructing your ideal job, says the zeitgeist: Survival trumps career development. Yet that's precisely the kind of thinking that will cause talented workers to tune out, turn off and, as soon as the economy picks up, take a hike.

In addition to waiting out the "bad times," at some companies top talent may be working for a brand they are no longer proud of, one that has been tarnished in the public image. It's hard for companies to attract and retain top talent when their reputations are under siege. According to research on top talent by the Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP) released in fall 2009, this Great Recession has been accompanied by plummeting employee morale. Rates of engagement — measured as the percentage of employees willing to go the extra mile for the company — have fallen 12 to 24 percent, depending on sector, over the past 18 months.

Further, the research revealed the No. 1 reason — far outstripping compensation and recognition — that talented people love their jobs is the availability of stimulating and challenging assignments. This finding is backed up by CWLP's 2009 report "Bookend Generations," which investigates the commonalities between boomers and Gen Y workers. Both groups, totaling some 148 million people, or nearly half of the U.S. population, overwhelmingly want their jobs to provide challenging and diverse opportunities to grow both personally and professionally.

It's easy and even understandable for leaders to dismiss such desires as luxuries to be postponed for fat years. But ironically, tough times offer plenty of scope for career development. When teams are operating with heavily reduced staffs, everyone must pull together. A progressive team leader can use strained circumstances to help top performers gain access to important assignments or cross-functional roles that expand their skill base and their professional network of colleagues and clients — opportunities that would not be available to them under normal business conditions.

And while managers may not be able to enhance salaries or titles, they can promote smart employees among their colleagues by regularly spotlighting and sharing significant accomplishments, a practice that not only lets people stand out in front of their peers but also helps everyone become better at their jobs by creating learning opportunities.

Just because the economy's in bad shape and unemployment is sky high, companies can't assume that employees — grateful to have a job — are sitting tight and focusing on delivering 110 percent. Rather, the reverse is true. In troubled sectors, high-echelon workers who have survived the cuts feel neglected — the boss's attention is elsewhere — and overworked because teams are seriously depleted.