It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. The truth is, finding and retaining great talent isn’t easy for any of us. Whether you’re working in the high-tech world, manual manufacturing or a service-based business like real estate the fact remains that good businesses are built on good people.
This article will look at the human element of business a little more closely. And hopefully when you are done reading you’ll have a better idea of the steps you can take to engage, retain and foster talented employees in your business. Sound good?
Now the first thing to keep in mind, is that there are many different strategies, tactics and tools for fostering employees with talent. And one thing to keep in mind, is that these different approaches to employee engagement have changed over the years as the economy shifts and shakes.
For example, prior to the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007 and ensuing financial panic, many companies seemed committed to retaining employees for life. This was especially true in the finance and accounting sectors where employees were given lavish bonuses and rewarded for hours or hard work. But in the post-financial crisis world companies have been much less loyal to employees.
That’s because companies are under increasing pressure from shareholders to show profits, even though global economic growth might very well be slowing. The result is that more temporary workers are being hired and software-as-a-service is automated back office functions that used to employ a whole tier of staff. So where does that leave us in terms of fostering employee talent?
Well, due to these shifting attitudes, employees are now more skeptical and less loyal than ever before. So as an employer, your ability to foster talent has to go beyond a big bonus check or a fat salary. Top quality talent is now looking for more in the way of recognition, flexible work schedule and ongoing education. When you give your employees more freedom it builds trust, and trust works both ways.
So when trying to foster talented employees in your business for 2014, you will want to take this long-term view of employer and employee relations. The most talented staff won’t be back if you don’t give use this implicitly accepting approach. It’s about communicating their value to you and showing with real actions that they’re an important part of your ongoing success. When you involve your staff to this extent you are much more likely to retain the talent that is essential to running your business.
For more information on how to adapt your employee engagement strategies to the 21st century, you might enjoy this article from the Workforce 360 blog about why engagement is a state of mind.
When you start to apply these lessons you’ll easily see that employee engagement isn’t such a difficult topic. And if you still have more questions I genuinely encourage you to check out the link above. You’ll see in much more detail why employee engagement best practice requires you to go above and beyond. But after all, if that’s what you want your staff to do, can you really expect anything less?
