5 Ways to Retain Your Top Talent
August 7, 2024 – In a competitive business environment, often the difference between winning and losing is defined by the ability of your company to firstly attract and then more importantly retain top talent. Successful businesses have done some of these things right and it has been proven over time that these simple strategies have made all the difference in building a steady pipeline of leadership across levels, according to a recent report from K Sudarshan, regional chair, Asia Pacific, EMA Partners International. The EMA Partners report says to think top talent and what comes to mind are companies such as GE of the past, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Aditya Birla. What’s common to all these companies is that they made their top talent stick and ensured the longevity of their people, the study said.
EMA Partners offers insights into how marquee companies have mastered talent retention.
1. Make Them Grow with the Business.
First and foremost is to provide a hyper-growth business environment. EMA Partners has seen that growth is often a great catalyst for retention. “Growth opens opportunities and offers the twin challenges of scale and complexity to people who can thrive in such an environment,” said Mr. Sudarshan. “This keeps people motivated, engaged and inculcates a winning mindset for they see a visible progress in whatever they do.”
In the past couple of decades in India, EMA Partners has seen outstanding talent retention across key players in banking, telecom and a few diversified conglomerates that have grown rapidly, and their people now manage global scale processes and businesses.
2. New Challenge = New Opportunity.
People often get jaded in their jobs after a period, according to the EMA Partners report. “It is critical to infuse a sense of freshness in what they do,” the report says. “Companies which are successful in retaining talent have often provided newer challenges to their people in the form of either higher level of responsibilities, newer geographies, or business divisions or in many cases different functional opportunities. This helps people learn new skills, keeps them on their toes and adds novelty value to what they do.”
Such companies also provide continuous learning opportunities to their people and keep them challenged. Globally, EMA Partners points to how GE was a trendsetter and many successful diversified businesses have adopted this strategy and have managed to retain their key talent.
Top Practices for Retaining Senior Talent
The past few years have shifted the landscape of work in many ways. Many people were forced into remote work as both employees and employers had to adjust very quickly to new workplace environments. For some, they saw the incredible benefits and opportunities that it brought, including no commute time, more work/life integration like breakfast or lunch with family, or being able to get to those after school activities more readily, according to a recent report from StevenDouglas’ Beth Weir. “Even just living at a slower pace and being more mindful of sleep and exercise was an unexpected but arguably necessary benefit for some,” she said. “Person-to-person connection and collaboration was missing and created some real challenges within teams. This dynamic was the case for not only me, but many of the people I represent.”
The EMA Partners report also notes that connected to this are entrepreneurial opportunities within an organization — either in the form of a new business, international expansion or a new product line. “All these amplify the sense of ownership in individuals and build stickiness in the organization,” the report said. “In a high growth environment, such opportunities come in abundance and successful organizations have the foresight to offer such assignments to some of their young leaders. In the past we have seen a financial institution successfully deploy several of their young leaders to set up their international businesses and subsidiaries.”
3. Leader is Not the Sole Decision-Maker.
Irrespective of the level at which people operate in an organization, it is important to give them the leeway in decision making, according to Mr. Sudarshan. “This creates an environment where hierarchy is blurred, and people are empowered to make decisions within their scope of responsibilities,” he said. “This helps in fostering a deep sense of ownership and commitment to the organization and bolsters agility in decision making. In the Indian context, there have been professional managers who have thrived on taking up ownership for the success of their business units and have built platforms and teams which have stayed on course for a long period of time.”
Related: Retaining Your Employees During Challenging Times
“When people are empowered to make decisions, they will end up making a few mistakes along the way,” Mr. Sudarshan said. “When that happens, the organization must explicitly provide them with the license to make mistakes and banish the fear of failure.”
4. Do You Build the CV Value for Your People?
“People like to be associated with a winning cause and want to serve in companies which have a great reputation and an employer brand,” the EMA Partners report explained. “Building a pride of association is critical especially in the talent marketplace and helps build CV value for your people. When companies help build CV value for their people, they often have access to great opportunities outside. Afterall, you want to employ people who are valued outside yet choose not to leave you.”
In recent times, EMA Partners has seen that people value work environments and businesses that are at the cutting edge of innovation and technology. Companies which have adapted to change and have transformed their businesses have a better chance to attract and retain talent in the face of increased competition from digitally native and agile new age businesses.
5. How Fair is Your Workplace?
In addition to all the above, people like to see their employers as fair in their decision making and provide equal opportunities to everyone, the EMA Partners report explains. Companies with robust and transparent performance management systems offer a sense of comfort to their people and help them in trusting their careers with the company for the long term.
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“It is important that the company offers fair compensation in line or better than industry benchmarks and offers long-term wealth creation opportunities,” the EMA Partners report said. “Ring-fencing key performers and creating exit barriers will be an additional moat for your people.”
At the end of the day, EMA Partners concludes that if you don’t take care of your people, someone else will.
Since 1988, EMA Partners has partnered with multinational corporations, governments and not-for-profit organizations across a variety of industry sectors and functional areas. It has more than 40 offices on six continents, and the firm continues to expand globally.
Mr. Sudarshan leads EMA Partners across India, Singapore & UAE and is part of the global firm’s executive board responsible for the marketing & communications portfolio. Operating from Mumbai and Singapore, he has over 25 years of experience in executive search and has led domestic and cross border search assignments for both Indian and multinational corporations across industry sectors and functional disciplines. Mr. Sudarshan also leads the board and CEO practice for the firm in India and has partnered with clients to deliver several high-profile leadership appointments.
Related: How to Attract, Build, Retain & Engage Your Workforce Today
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
