Staff want to feel at home - but challenged

By Selwyn Parker

American-style retention methods are rapidly making inroads in New Zealand.

"The historical view that a company will retain people if it pays them above the market has changed," explains Heather Keane of executive recruitment agency Pohlen Keane.

"There's still a place for the golden handcuffs, but companies won't hold people without all these other things."

According to recruitment specialists, there are two key reasons why people stay with companies. One is the nature of the job in that capable, ambitious staff want to be challenged - "job enrichment" in the jargon. Job enrichment is different from career advancement, which is about climbing the ladder. Companies that don't provide either or both stand to lose smart people to companies that do.

To find out what staff want, it's important to conduct regular attitude surveys to find out who's bored and why. In any company "shelf-sitters", who are often demotivated potential entrepreneurs, are a said to be a burden that organisations can't afford to bear. The second key reason why staff stay - or leave - is the general working environment. This is the organisational culture where employees are encouraged to achieve a balance between work, family and other interests and where they feel that their own values are reflected by the company.

"That's one of the issues of the 90s," adds Keane. "It's important for people to feel that a company's values are aligned with their own. People will stay with a company of which they feel a part."

* Contributing writer Selwyn Parker is available at wordz@xtra.co.nz