How To Retain Top Talent?

By Author: shaily ajmera
Total Articles: 11
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Nurturing the rising stars of the company is practically a very tough task. And every company must have to design some program to retain top talent (best employees) in today’s competitive scenario, as they are the one who brings impact on business results.

Some Facts & Figures Why Companies Fail To Retain The Best Talent

Why do companies so often end up with a shortfall in their talent pipeline? Let’s discuss the bottom line of some research:

Nearly 40% of internal job moves made by people identified by their companies as “high potentials” end in failure.
One in three emerging stars reported feeling disengaged from his or her company.
12% of all the high potentials in the companies actively searching for a new job
70% of today’s top performers lack critical attributes essential to their success in future roles
Let’s have a closer look at the most common mistakes done by organizations:

Mistake 1: Assuming That High Potentials Are Highly Engaged

No doubt, every company needs people who are enthusiastic about the company. But if your budding star performers ...
... are among:

One in four employees intends to leave your company within a year
One in three employers admits that they are not putting their 100% efforts in their job
One in five employees believes that their personal aspirations are quite different from what the organization has planned for them
Four out of 10 employees have little confidence in their coworkers and even less confidence in the senior team.
Why all the negativity?

This happens because of the outsized expectations of the employees and lots of alternatives available for them in the market. Precisely star employees set a high bar for their organizations because they work harder and often better than their peers. In return, they expect their organizations to treat them well, by providing them with stimulating work, recognition, career growth.

Senior management must use some tactics to keep their talent engaged. For this, the management needs to take the temperature of these valuable employees very often because the retaining talent is especially challenging when multinationals companies are paying careful attention to their satisfaction.

Mistake 2: Equating Current High Performance with Future Potential

The “high potential” designation is often used, as a reward for an employee’s contribution in a current role. But many times senior management overlooks future results of employees. It’s true that majority of not many low performers have high potential. But it’s wrong to assume that most high performers do.

So, it is better for companies when they try to retain employees who are able, engaging and aspired. What are the attributes that best defines rising stars? Our analysis pinpoints three that matter: ability, engagement, and aspiration.

Mistake 3: Delegating Down the Management of Top Talent

Senior management must not delegate talent management to line leaders. The reason behind this is these employees are a long-term corporate asset and must be managed accordingly. Sometimes, talented employees can also be hoarded by line managers—collected and protected and certainly not shared.

Mistake 4: Expecting Star Employees to Share the Pain

Researchers indicate that under normal circumstances, high potentials put in 20% more effort than other employees in the same roles. Reward employees in line with his or her contributions.

Mistake 5: Failing to Link Your Stars to Your Corporate Strategy

High potentials are acutely aware of the health of the firm. The company must share their future strategies on a privileged basis with their young leaders and emphasize their role in making that future real.