Keeping our talent at home

Career development and staff retention go hand in hand, say some human resource and career professionals. Whether it is called talent haemorrhage or brain drain, the flow of skilled people overseas needs to be controlled enough to allow organisations to pass on skills and knowledge to future generations.

"The public service has exhibited sustained growth out of many sectors," says Raj Thomson, manager, information and education, Human Resources Institute of NZ (HRINZ).

"Outside the public sector there is talk of New Zealand becoming a branch office of many of the multi-national organisations. This ties up with the talent haemorrhage to Australia and the ebb and flow all over."

The challenge is how to retain staff when larger countries with attractive employment packages are trolling the talent pool. Organisations throughout the world are looking to replace baby boomers as they head for retirement, and to appoint the best candidates to receive their institutional knowledge.

This is happening against a background of world demographic trends, where according to UN studies, population growth in the developed world, especially in Europe, will depend almost entirely on an influx of immigrants over the next 30 years. New Zealand's population growth rate is still on the increase at 1.02 per cent.

Competition for talent is fierce across all sectors - the health services, aircraft industries, engineering, law, the trades are just a few examples where, says Thomson, the United States is calling the shots.

"New Zealand is having to jostle with the big boys, but some companies are starting to listen."

He cites law firm, Minter Allison, as having the foresight to stay in touch if they "lose a bright spark overseas," in case they may wish to bring their skills back to New Zealand at a future date.

Career development is not a new practice in New Zealand, it is, however, yet to become an integral part of our employment scene. The health sector, in particular Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Northern DHBs would seem to be leading by example as they consider and implement new initiatives.

Louise Ayrey, a recruiter at the Auckland District Health Board, says the ADHB wants to retain talented staff across all areas and enhance their working experience.They are adopting the career development programme created by Sarah Strong, career development advisor at the Bay of Plenty DHB.

Strong's career development pilot project won the Waikato/BOP Initiative of the Year Award from HRINZ.

"The career development programme addresses ADHB's goal of having employees feel valued and having a sense of belonging," says Ayery. The initiative has a focus on self-empowerment and ownership for staff.

Through the programme employees will be able take charge of their career path within an organisation that recognises the importance of a 'sense of purpose' in their work.

Ayery says that all of ADHB's retention initiatives are driven by this goal, which has been formulated within the context of a competitive global market.

At the Bay of Plenty DHB, an organisation that employs 2,700 people, Strong developed the programme in response to a staff survey that had identified a sense of belonging and career path awareness as areas for improvement.

Strong researched the field within New Zealand then devised the programme and piloted it within the Mental Health Services.

"There was real lack of New Zealand products [programmes] on the market and ones that were available I found too expensive or included other things that were outside the scope of my work."

The programme provides a work book, card sorts and a software programme for employees to identify their values, interests and skills; their Jungian personality type; preferred work environment and career goals. They discuss the results with Strong over two sessions and draw up a career plan.

"The ideal of the programme is to find career paths internally. The goal is staff retention, however if it works out that they need to be elsewhere I help them with that process too," she says.

One staff member who was burnt out with clinical work and had a nursing background was looking for something different.

"As a result of the assessment she identified project management, which she had not done before, but was suited to because of her organisational skills, attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines and so on. A job was advertised a few months later and she got it," says Strong.

Hester Hattingh, clinical coordinator, community alcohol and drug service at BOPDHB, manages a team of 20. She says the programme helped her in a number of ways.

"It increased my skills as a manager in terms of the facilitation of career development with my staff."

Other benefits included a better understanding of each staff member's strengths, career goals and training needs. The knowledge she gained added value to the annual performance appraisal process and helped her with identifying the 'best-fit' for specific projects and project management within the team.

"Most of my staff benefited from this in the sense that it confirmed to each of them that they are in the right role."

She says the programme is a valuable tool as it addresses the issues of alignment between individual and organisational goals and values.

Wellington career consultant, Mary Cull, has worked with Tall Poppies, delivering career development and training programmes in public and private sectors for many years.

"With the drive to retain talent, smart organisations are realising it is good practice to give their employees a chance to look at their career development," she says.

An organisation is then able to decide how they can best support their staff for mutual benefit.

"That way you can get incredible loyalty from employees," says Cull.

Elizabeth Cantrick, immigration manager with the business migration branch, Department of Labour spent five hourly sessions, one on one, with Cull. Through discussion and using material from a workbook she identified key values, interests and skills and aligned these with possible career goals.

"I thought I had drifted into my job with no particular plan when I graduated in 1990 and I had limited knowledge of what else was out there. The career sessions reassured me that I was in a job that suited.'

She says she became more confident about her managerial skills and was able to see career pathways more clearly, both within the department and in the private sector.

She has noticed a change since the 1990s when she spent nine months unemployed.

"Employers didn't have to try so hard to attract candidates then. Now we have to offer more benefits to future employees."

She and her staff (both recent and longer term employees) have found career planning valuable.

"I think it's good to do every few years to ensure you remain fresh and focused in your current role, or whether you should be open to other career options," she says.

Cull says people need to keep reinventing themselves, particularly with so many baby boomers moving out of the workforce or reducing their working hours.

"We could be looking at how we can grow the younger talent while the institutional knowledge and expertise is still there. We did all this for Y2K and Bird Flu, we also need to be looking at the big demographic shift ahead."