July 2007 Newsletter
Newsletter July 2007
Welcome to the PageUp July Newsletter
This month the newsletter will cover:
- Talent Retention: How to stop (or at least slow) the bleeding
- A new role for HR?
- Retention Strategies
- PageUp News - PageUp acquires Talent Edge; PageUp opens in London
- Congratulations...
- Opinion Poll and results from last month
- Tell us what you think
Talent Retention
How to stop (or at least slow) the bleeding
So why has retention suddenly become such an issue of concern for employers?
A combination of turnover factors combined with current employment trends has converged to highlight the importance of holding on to your good people.
Turnover Factors
Personal factors
- Changed circumstances/personal factors/ Career change/issues
Pull effect: Environmental factors
- Economic conditions, technology, etc.
- Direct relationship between unemployment rates & turnover
- Better "deals" elsewhere
Push effect: Organisational factors
- Unhealthy workplace relationships
- Organisational limitations
- Poor selection practices
Current Employment Trends
Shrinking workforce
- Fewer workers to choose from a "candidate's market"
Younger generations in the workforce
- Younger generations value flexibility and are less likely to stay in one job for long
- Employers cannot rely on the loyalty factor anymore
Global competition
- High competition between organisations to attract talent
- Increased mobility facilitates global transfers and increases competition
A New Role for HR?
The stage is set for a new specialty to emerge from the human resources department - the employee-retention specialist, whose role it is to help management to:
- prevent and reduce unwanted loss of human and intellectual capital;
- increase bottom-line profit and improve financial performance by reducing costs related to employee turnover; and
- improve workforce performance (quality, stability, engagement and productivity).
These practitioners will be valuable sources of information about:
- the external employment environment,
- internal conditions within the organisation,
- appropriate policies and techniques, and
- access to best practices in the field.
Retention Strategies
Research by Monster (2006) revealed a number of strategies that HR managers are using to inspire worker loyalty. These strategies include:
- Make supervisors more accountable for worker retention by tying their compensation to retention performance.
- Create proactive succession planning that facilitates a career-path for top performers.
- Provide tools to better monitor employee sentiment throughout the employee lifecycle.
- Offer a workplace that respects, encourages and enables a work/life balance.
Companies are being creative when it comes to promoting a balanced workplace for their employees:
- BEA Systems arranges for a car detailer to visit its campus so that employees can care for their cars without having to spend any personal time on it.
- Google offers its employees on-site dry cleaning services and coin-free laundry rooms at its main campus.
- Yahoo! offers on-site dental services at some of its locations.
- During the summer months, PepsiCo offers its employees a shorter workweek, allowing them greaterpersonal time.
Some other strategies could include:
- Keep up-to-date with changes in employee expectations and meeting those expectations.
- Flexible employment options to suit employees with diverse needs and life stages (generation X & Y, mature employees).
- Tailoring your retention approach is the key -a "one size fits all" philosophy is OUT. Take Generation Y, for instance, how would an employer attempt to tailor their retention strategies to their Gen Y employees? Knowing what's important to them provides the starting point.
Work Life Balance
- Opportunity to continue other aspects of life e.g. education, social
- Flexible work arrangements
Workplace Culture
- Opportunity to interact socially and work collaboratively
- Feel a sense of belonging
Management Style
- Transparent policies
- Respect for staff
- Encourage employee participation and demonstrate people skills
Career Development
- Varied role, secondment and promotion opportunities.
- Mentoring/coaching
- Self awareness (Career Development Profiler)
- In-house or outsourced training
- "Hard" skills: technical training and qualifications
- "Soft" skills: interpersonal, management, presentation skills
PageUp News
PageUp Acquires Talent Edge.
PageUp this month announced the acquisition of leading talent management consulting group, Talent Edge. The acquisition positions PageUp internationally as both a leading technology provider and talent management consultancy. This combined expertise secures PageUp as a powerhouse in the global talent management market.
Talent Edge's expertise will bolster PageUp's consulting division and add depth in experience across the broader PageUp team. The acquisition boosts PageUp staff numbers to nearly 70, located in Melbourne, Sydney, Shanghai and London and increases forecasted revenues to $10 million for the 2007/2008 financial year.
PageUp Opens London Office
PageUp opened offices in London on 22nd June 2007. The move makes PageUp the first Australian owned provider in the industry to actively take on the European market.
Building upon the success that PageUp has received from the Australian market and strong interest that has been generated from the European market, PageUp CEO Karen Cariss says the time is right for the company to further expand globally.
PageUp will offer its full suite of products and services to the European market, with a customer support and implementation team located within the London office, allowing PageUp to facilitate client User Groups and demonstrations internationally. Specific functionality of the PageUp People solution has been developed to support the European market. Such functionality includes time zones, differing language interfaces, the ability to create varying recruitment work flows per country and the ability to support any HR structure.
Product Feature
Our new online Career Profiler enables organisations to demonstrate their commitment to career development, and employees to take control of managing their own career.
Call PageUp's Consulting Division on (02) 9299 8414 to find out more.
Congratulations...
...to Craig Goodhand from Elders Ltd for winning a $300 Myer Gift vochure for his participation in the PageUp 360
Survey
Results...
...of last month's opinion poll are in. 62% of respondents thought they were gaining a competitive advantage through the use of their recruitment technology, 16% said 'Somewhat' and 21% said 'No'. If you missed the last newsletter and would like more information to use your technology to gain a competitive advantage in recruitment, please access the article on our website.
Opinion Poll - Vote Now!
"Does your company invest much time in retention of staff, compared to recruitment of new staff?"Cast your vote now at www.pageuppeople.com
Tell Us What You Think!
I'd love to hear what you think of this issue! Please send your comments, questions, and ideas for upcoming issues to us at: enquiries@pageup.com.au.
Your feedback matters to us!