|
Focus on employee retention should be the same as recruitment
7 August, 2007
By Vanessa Ho |
Retaining employees is just as important as recruiting them and companies need to spend the same amount of time and effort in retention as they do in the recruitment process, according to Alice Snell, vice president of Taleo Research, a provider of talent management solutions.
"In the past, there was a tremendous amount of emphasis on recruiting new hires. A lot of focus was on re-engineering the process in putting in place the technology platforms around [identifying] new hires," said Snell. "What we are seeing now is increased acknowledgement that [recruitment] is one part of the talent management lifecycle and a similar focus needs to be taken on the internal talent of an organization."
She added that the most significant thing that organizations can do to retain employees is to provide very clear understanding of the opportunities that exists within an organization.
"One of the prime drivers [of employee satisfaction] is ... this feeling on the part of employees that they have opportunities, have career development and feel that work will further their interests. If they don't, they will look for it elsewhere," said Snell. "Talent in the workforce is a key differentiator in the global competitive environment so those employees have to feel valued."
In order to give employees internal visibility into an organization, employer's need to use technology tools to help with their retention strategies.
According to Snell, a strong internal mobility technology platform goes a long way to get visibility into the opportunities that exist within an organization. Tools such as ones from Taleo help on the performance management arena that supports career planning, goals management and performance reviews.
"The technology needs to be there in order to collect information for employee self-service and then matching their interests to opportunities ... where employees can indicate interest in a certain role or position then be notified if or when that kind of position is available and respond immediately to that internal position," she said.
The use of technology is something that employees are expecting from their employers. If the technology is not available and employees find themselves going to the cafeteria to look at job postings on the bulletin board, Snell said that you can bet that the same employees will go home at night to look at another company's Web site for job opportunities.
"It is very important in terms of competition to have these solutions and technology platforms to help [companies] optimize retention. It reflects well on the corporation and helps engage the employee and mitigate the risk of employees [switching] companies."
|
