August/September 2008 Newsletter
August/September 2008
Welcome to the PageUp People Newsletter
This issue focuses on Retention and Succession and covers the following:
1. Retention: How can all Talent Management Professionals help?
2. Product in the spotlight
3. PageUp People News
4. PageUp People Podcast Series
Retention: How can all Talent Management Professionals help?
Retention, the act of 'developing and implementing practices that reward and support employees', is sweeping the world with its urgency. Conferences, forums, blogs and media commentary are all shifting attention to retention and the market is listening. Talent management professionals globally are realigning budgets, re-writting strategy to focus on retaining talent.
Stop. Relax. Now breathe people! Before your organisation directs all its energy on retention and away from other talent management practices, take a step back, have a clear look at the bigger picture and ensure your recruitment, performance and training and development approach is supporting rather than hindering your retention strategy. Only then will your retention investments really provide your organisation with value.
Why Retention?
Let's consider how we got to this point. Retention has risen to the top of HR professionals 'to do' list as a result of a combination of macro environmental factors.
The aging workforce, and the changing nature of motivations and expectations of workers over the last few decades mixed with the current climate of potential economic downturn means keeping talent is an increasingly difficult and vital component for business sustainability.
Recent research suggests that today graduates career goals centre on getting the most out of life rather than getting to the top.
In essence, employees have less loyalty and are more likely to move on, whilst the necessity for economic prudence is making it harder for employers to hire and keep their most important people at the same time as keeping the business afloat.
So...
What we know is that economic growth is coming at a high price for organisations globally! As the skills shortage gets even tighter, competition for talent has driven wage rates up and increased job choice which in turn has been found to increase the level of voluntary turnover . So, there is a very real urgency for HR to act!
Making matters even more challenging is the findings by Pentacle, The Virtual Business School, which stated that over 70% of executives surveyed had little or no experience in how to deal with the current economic situation . This begs the question, if few of our business leaders know how to manage a likely recession, how can we as HR professionals guide their thinking?
Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, retention programs to entice longer than expected tenure as well as creative onboarding processes are now being implemented in organisations, indicating HR is definitely acting.
Interestingly, in dealing with the current situation, a recent article in Selection and Development Review noted that recruiters are reducing the stages of the selection process to get candidates onboard as soon as possible.
As retention is dependent on having talent worthy to retain, reducing your focus on your selection process is a hazardous approach. By incorporating "ideal fit" assessments, to determine candidates competency, cultural and motivation fit, into the selection process is vital to effectively selecting talent. This element of the recruitment process is key to ensuring talent is subsequently more likely to stay within your organisation.
By reducing selection activities and not determining 'ideal fit' your company will be back to square one as the new recruit is a perfect candidate for quick turnover. This tendency to reduce the selection process also cuts out the first stage of socialising the employee into the company culture , which also acts to harm your retention efforts.
Therefore, it seems clear that recruitment plays a key role in retention practices. The act of keeping talented employees is only as good as the recruitment and selection process that egages them. Thereby, the role of recruitment in times of retention stress is not a supporting role, but rather a leading role worthy of accolade if done effectively.
Where else can talent management professionals assist the increasingly urgent issue of retention? A social forum to further continue this discussion is now available on our social network. Have your say at http://pageuppeople.ning.com !
1. Phillips.S., 2006, Vol .22 (5), Selection and Review
2. Brittain, Si., 2006, Selection and Review, Talent Management, Vol 22 (3)
3. Bywater, J., & Martin.T., 2006, Selection and Review,Reducing Call Centre Staff Turnover, Vol 22 (1),
4. Grapevine, April 2008
5. Bywater, J., & Martin.T., 2006, Selection and Review, Reducing Call Centre Staff Turnover, Vol 22 (1),
6. Bywater, J., & Martin.T., 2006, Selection and Review, Reducing Call Centre Staff Turnover, Vol 22 (1),
Service in the Spotlight
Engagement and Retention Surveys
In-depth organisational health checks assist human resources and organisations in identifying areas of improvement for engagement.
PageUp People's customised reports provide engagement data, segmented to your needs and post survey solutions workshops explore issues and develop solutions.
To learn more about how this offering can assist your organisations retention strategies, please contact your closest PageUp People office.
PageUp People News
PageUp People is pleased to announce that Karen Cariss, CEO, was named a winner of the Southern Region in the Ernst and Young 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards during July.
The gala event, held at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, recognised all 18 Southern Regional finalists and announced the winners of each category; Product, Services, Technology and Emerging Industries and Young.
Cariss, nominated in the Young category, was recognized for her entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, personal integrity/influence, financial performance, strategic decision and national/global impact.
Cariss will now go on to compete for the national titles of Young Entrepreneur of the Year as well as Australian Entrepreneur of the Year at the National Award Ceremony in Sydney on 27 November 2008.
Special Message from Karen Cariss
I would like to extend a personal thank you to all clients and partnering companies, for your commitment & belief in both PageUp People and me. I was fortunate enough to be nominated for the Ernst & Young, Young Entrepreneur of the Year award a few months back & was very surprised when I won the Southern Region! I feel very privileged to have received the award. Without the support of our great clients & staff we would not be where we are today, so thank you very much for your contributions to the journey.
Social Network
Our social network has been thriving! Thank you to all our members for joining the social network for talent management professionals. We are very excited that we have had so many members join the network from all corners of the globe; Greece, Canada, UK, USA, Sweden, Finland, NZ, Malaysia, South Africa and Australia!
There are a few updates on the social network that you may find useful.
Recent discussions added:
- Has anyone had experience with Hippo the job board?
- What are people's perceptions/experience of videos within job ads?
- What is the biggest challenge facing talent management professionals in 2008?
- PageUp People online performance management results have been released. How does your company match up?
New Group Added:
Finally, we have added a new video to help you understand the benefits of social networking to talent management professionals.
Sign up now at http://pageuppeople.ning.com
PageUp People Podcast Series
The PageUp People podcast allows the latest research and trends to find you! The podcast series includes monthly interviews with leading experts across talent management.
The latest edition features an interview with Sylvia Vorhauser on Positive Psychology and its place in Performance Management.
Look out for the September edition of the podcast - Harnessing Old and New Media in Employer Branding an interview with Mike Beeley
To automatically receive the latest podcast episode on your iPod, MP3 device or computer as they become available, please sign up by visiting the PageUp People resource centre on our website.
What did you think of this issue?
At PageUp People we are continually looking to improve our e-newsletter. If you have any suggestions for future issues, please contact our marketing department at marketing@pageuppeople.com.