{"id":633777,"date":"2017-11-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/latest-news\/articles\/is-your-organization-attractive-best-practices-for-attracting-and-retaining-top-talent\/"},"modified":"2019-02-06T12:51:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T11:51:21","slug":"is-your-organization-attractive-best-practices-for-attracting-and-retaining-top-talent","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/is-your-organization-attractive-best-practices-for-attracting-and-retaining-top-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Organization Attractive? Best Practices for Attracting and Retaining Top Talent"},"featured_media":636377,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[],"areas":[16,20,24,25],"subjects":[],"class_list":["post-633777","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","areas-competitiveness-growth","areas-human-behavior","areas-strategy","areas-talent"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["How can companies attract and retain the most talented young professionals? In a world where technology makes job-hopping easier than ever before, it is fundamental to understand young people\u2019s expectations and address them through best practices. Nowadays, young professionals approach their careers differently and have a different view of organizational loyalty."],"wpcf-article-body":["Today\u2019s young professionals have different career expectations than previous generations. Although they attach importance to extrinsic factors such as salary, image, and free time, they also view training and close communication with executives as key elements.\r\n\r\nIn order to retain and develop the potential of this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">talent<\/a>, organizations need to familiarize themselves with the concerns of these highly qualified professionals. They also need to understand young people\u2019s \u201cjob-hopping\u201d approach to career development so that they can offer a plan in line with their expectations. Talent is a scarce resource, and recruiting resolute young professionals with the right skills is essential to present and future <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/competitiveness-growth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">competitiveness<\/a>.\r\n<blockquote>Although today\u2019s new professionals are engaged and committed to their jobs, they are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities at other organizations.<\/blockquote>\r\n<strong>Promotion<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThese new professionals view job-hopping as a path to higher wages that does not undermine their potential for promotion. Companies therefore need to introduce compensation systems designed to retain young workers. Netflix, the audiovisual content provider, uses a salary adjustment system that ensures that high-performing employees receive top-of-market salaries. This <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strategy<\/a> guarantees that the company pays <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/competitiveness-growth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">competitive<\/a> wages compared to other employers, thus demonstrating its firm commitment to keeping top <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">talent<\/a>.\r\n\r\nA decade ago, promotions that came with a significant increase in responsibility were more likely to be awarded internally, whereas today there are no differences in promotion patterns between an organization\u2019s longest-serving professionals and its most recent recruits.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Incessant job search<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAlthough today\u2019s new professionals are engaged and committed to their jobs, they are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities at other organizations. Total dedication and involvement in their current project is no guarantee of loyalty.\r\n\r\nThis incessant search for a new job is primarily due to the fact that young people set career goals that are not linked to any particular organization. They do not see frequent job changes in a negative light. Even if they are not unsatisfied with their current job, they don\u2019t want to feel like they\u2019re missing out. At the same time, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technological<\/a> changes have made the job market and the flow of information between employers and candidates more transparent, with sites like Glassdoor.com, Vault.com, LinkedIn, and even Facebook facilitating connections.\r\n\r\nWhen they receive insufficient feedback about their performance or sense a mismatch between their assignments and their skills, these professionals are more likely to seek out other opportunities elsewhere. Their job search expands as their network grows; hence, a company\u2019s most proactive employees will also be the most proactive in looking for outside opportunities.\r\n<blockquote>Among today\u2019s young people, greater importance is placed on high-involvement jobs supported by senior management than in previous generations.<\/blockquote>\r\n<strong>Best practices<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe most effective human resource practices to discourage these professionals from pursuing other job opportunities involve high stakes assignments (jobs with high visibility and responsibility for key decisions) and support from senior management.\r\n\r\nAmong today\u2019s young people, greater importance is placed on high-involvement jobs supported by senior management than in previous generations, when people mainly developed their careers in hierarchical organizations that followed predictable patterns of professional promotion.\r\n\r\nThe gap between the practices employees consider important for professional promotion and those which are actually implemented by their organizations is largest in the areas of mentoring (a more experienced member of the organization contributing to a newer employee\u2019s personal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/competitiveness-growth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">growth<\/a>), coaching (assistance in developing job skills), training, and the support of immediate supervisors and upper management. Young people consider job transitions between functions, divisions, or regions with new and different responsibilities less important for their career development than high stakes assignments or support from senior management. It is also worth noting that young people do not put a very high priority on the management of racial, sexual, and cultural diversity either.\r\n\r\nIn this scenario, companies with flexible promotion channels\u2014which allow employees to take on new positions as they are ready for them\u2014are more successful in retaining this new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">talent<\/a>. Practices that have been successfully implemented by other organizations include employee clubs, specific events to welcome new hires, and annual gatherings to share experiences.\r\n\r\nSmaller companies also need to offer new challenges and give a voice to young people taking their first professional steps by allowing them to interact with upper management.\r\n\r\nNew generations want to ensure their success and devote great effort to professional development by taking on important, high-visibility jobs and enjoying the support of top management. Organizations that ignore these expectations show that they don\u2019t understand\u2014or are ignorant of\u2014these professionals\u2019 needs and do not support their personal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie.edu\/corporate-relations\/insights\/search\/competitiveness-growth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">growth<\/a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By <strong>Monika Hamori, Jie Cao, Thomas Graf and Burak Koyuncu<\/strong>. How can companies attract and retain the most talented young..."],"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["Recruiting young professionals with the right skills is the key to present and future competitiveness. It is therefore essential to understand young people\u2019s expectations and address them. Companies such as Netflix use salary adjustment systems to ensure that their employees receive competitive pay. Technological changes have made the job market more transparent. Workers are constantly looking for outside opportunities\u2014especially when they receive insufficient feedback. The most effective way to retain talented employees is to give them high-visibility jobs and the support of senior management. Only by taking these steps can companies show that they understand their employees\u2019 needs and support their personal growth."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/633777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=633777"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=633777"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=633777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}