Articles - Training, Development and Retention

In a recent whitepaper drafted by icims, they concluded that employee engagement and retention is emerging as the greatest challenge facing leading organizations’ Talent Management initiatives.

Similar to past periods of economic instability, executives are currently focusing their attention on the financial aspects of the organization rather than the workforce.

Similarly, managers are placing less emphasis on employee engagement as soaring unemployment rates often lead to the notion that employees are happy to be employed at all, and that further engagement is unnecessary. This state of mind is very dangerous for businesses as it is during these times of economic instability that workers need to be engaged and feel valued the most. With economic instability and layoffs comes the erosion of employee loyalty and trust, both of which negatively affect workforce engagement levels.

Here are just a few facts:

• Only one third of the US workforce is fully engaged at their current position.
• Employee turnover costs the US economy an estimated $5 trillion annually.
• Employees have 51% lower turnover and 18% higher productivity.

So, what do you need to do about it?

Below is a list of Six Key Essentials for Engaging and Retaining Top Talent Throughout your Organization’s Talent Lifecycle.

1) Develop an Employment Brand – Strategically develop a cohesive employment brand reflecting your organization’s vision for the future and long term talent management needs. Make your employment brand an integral part of your organization’s everyday recruitment and talent
management processes.

2) Maintain a Robust Pipeline – Develop a cohesive CRM program to engage your pipelined candidates and strengthen your employment brand.

3) Strive for an Ongoing Dialogue with Candidates – Leverage HR Technology to set up triggers for automatic communication letting candidate know where they stand in the recruitment cycle.

4) Training – To increase employee engagement levels, strive to create a working environment where training, skill transferral and knowledge sharing are encouraged.

5) Compensation – Implement some form of performance related compensation to motivate employees and keep them focused on critical success factors.

6) Open line of Communication – Utilize Employee Engagement Surveys to gain a deeper
understanding of your workforce’s career expectations and overarching goals.

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Biography

Jan Watson, President and founder of J.P. Watson Group, LLC, brings over 20 years of national and international sales and marketing experience from the medical device industry, as well as private practice. The Group’s mission is to assist clients with selecting and developing high-performance workforces through the use of state-of-the-art psychometric tools. Today’s corporate climate requires organizations to rely on their top performers and to identify and coach average employees into top performers. Strong workers, who are enthusiastic, focused, and in the right jobs, are the solid foundations of any business. Contact Jan at 850-529-8362 or visit her on the web at www.betterjobfit.com.

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