Stop Draining Your Talent-pool To Your Competitors!

Finding the best talent is one thing, keeping it is an entirely different ball game.

A prevalent notion - every employee longs for that time of the year when salary hike is due, and that alone motivates them to come to work each day. As HR administrators, we hardly ever think past that. Well, the myth can’t be bigger. There’s something that is of far more significance and efficacy than just greed of money as a driving force. It is acknowledgment and appreciation.

Simply put, if you fail to acknowledge the hard work of your employees, you fail to appreciate them. You fail to appreciate them, they become likelier to leave you given at the first chance. So, it is not always about cost-to-company or the raises that you account in a whole year to evaluate so cautiously. Your biggest resource is your workforce, humans that are devoted to your goal, every day, and they deserve acknowledgment.

When an employee doesn’t get the requisite acknowledgment their interest towards their work drops, hence both quantity and quality drops. As the graph goes down they also become susceptible to be laid off first. Any talent, if they don't get the raise in pay or acknowledgment, timely, their likelihood to quit working for you, grows. Yes, it is an either-or case. It gets worse when both things are absent.

So it boils down to acknowledgment. What is it? Let’s get our concepts cleared out first.

Gifts? Surprises? Outing? Team-building exercises? Lunches? Dinners? Get-togethers/parties? Incentives? Festive bonuses? Etc. That’s all for acknowledgment, right? No. Observe any extra-mile endeavor by your employee, express appreciation while their effort is still afresh. Let them know that their existence and contribution alone matters enough for the company and that they don't have to overtime, every time, just to stand out and get spotted in any superior’s eyes.

Reach out to them one-on-one, one-by-one, talk, express, send an email, a message, privately or in a group, observe what they have done unprecedented for the collective good. Bring that to light, let others know that they have set an example to be inspired from. Genuine appreciation fuels unlike any other, it rejuvenates and fills you with energy and drive, to perform your 200%. This is nothing new and small acts of appreciation are no rocket science.

When you begin acknowledging your employees, the word goes around and by around we mean the market, the industry by word of mouth. Employee acknowledgment is one key factor in employee happiness index, juxtaposed to significance of timely raise and work-satisfaction. Recognizing your employee base actually brings in the wholesome goodness that(a workplace environment needs) otherwise eats dust in “The Good HR” textbooks such as integrity, dignity, solidarity in a company.

Nobody wants “and one day I woke up, made coffee, and as I entered my office’s floor, they all got up from their seats and started clapping out of nowhere.” They want it as authentic as real life, they can spot off-putting, pretentious praise as easily as it can be given.

 So what should you do? Open a department called talent retention, adjacent to talent acquisition? No. Sit down, gather personnel, and devise a program for staff recognition. What, where, when, why, and how - that you are smart enough to figure.

Chart a cost-estimation for this program since you’ll need to continue it. Measure the efficacy of the program over the long run and whether it is giving you the desired results which is basically increased productivity and engagement. Make adjustments accordingly.

In the end, the summary goes, recognize your personnel while you can, employees become indifferent to delayed recognition, it works and lasts longer than other forms of appreciation. Appreciate small achievements, since milestones are achieved once in a while, small appreciations give a drive to race ahead. And keep up the practice, if you want the existing talent from draining to your competitors.