Finding and Keeping Talent

(Note: this picture of downtown Tulsa was taken by Steven Roemerman – click here to see his Blog.)

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment in Tulsa, OK jumped in January and February 2007 – catapulting up to a whopping 4.1%. Well, considering it had been 3.5% for three months, that’s a pretty good jump!

The labor shortage in Tulsa is a very real challenge. I spoke with someone today that told me he could place 200 welders TODAY if they were available….problem is, they aren’t. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get into a conversation with a business owner or executive about the inability to find qualified workers. There are hosts of companies that simply cannot continue to expand because of severe labor shortages!

So, what are companies doing? About the only thing they can do really – they are looking around at their competitors and attempting to find talented, yet disgruntled, employees at YOUR company. They are trying to lure away the disengaged employees at your place of business!

Talent retention has become the buzzword in business circles. Many companies are beginning to employ “employee retention strategies” – using things like perks, additional benefits, signing bonuses, and other items to keep talented people on the payroll. After all, the cost of turnover is estimated to be a minimum of 29% of the employee’s annual salary and and as high as 400% of the annual salary, depending on the position.

According to an article published in MIT Sloan Management Review in 2002 (Bartlett and Ghoshal, Building Competitive Advantage Through People):

“There is a surplus of capital chasing a scarcity of talented people and the knowledge they possess. In today’s economy, that is the constraining – and therefore strategic – resource.”

Experts agree that the problem is only going to get worse, and it should be high on your list of potential threats to your company. If your employees are disengaged – and the data suggest that 2/3 of them are – then you are a target-rich environment for head hunters and your competition.

What should you do? First, you need to evaluate the extent of this threat to your business. Second, you need to evaluate your hiring process. Consider this quote from an American Management Association article entitled Retention Before the Fact (Carol Morrison, HRI):

“Development Dimensions International (DDI), which conducted research on 4,000 workers in various industries, identified six traits that DDI says can help employers determine, during prehire interviews and testing, whether or not an applicant is likely to become an engaged and lasting employee. The six characteristics are “adaptability, passion for work, emotional maturity, positive disposition, self-efficacy and achievement orientation.”

Third, you need to evaluate your managers (or yourself if you own and run the business) and determine if they have the skills to hire and develop talent. Finally, you need to ensure that your managers receive training in the critical areas that impact employee engagement.

In Leigh Branham’s book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, Saratoga Institute research indicates that 70% of the reason that employees leave a company can be directly attributed to the manager. The reality is that most managers receive little, if any, training in leadership and coaching – two skills that contribute directly to an employee’s satisfaction with their job. In fact, according to a 2005 Conference Board Report, 2 out of 3 managers are considered to be poor leaders .

With talent at a premium, you might want to put a strategy together to protect your investment.