Are You Keeping Your Talent In-House?
Looking at the Oil & Gas boom in Calgary, it’s very obvious that there is a big shift in HR practices that has to happen in order to keep that workforce motivated and in place. If you don’t do your homework, you better say goodbye to your valuable team. You might say to yourself “hey, I’m a really nice guy” or “hey, don’t they remember the nice salary increase I gave them just two months ago?” Truth is, these things may be true, however, today’s environment demands much more.
Today’s top talent, particularly in the Oil & Gas industry, consider may factors when deciding whether or not to stay with an organization. The questions on most employees’ minds are likely:
- Is my salary competitive? I know what compensation other companies are providing – is my company doing the same?
- Is my company helping me develop and further my career?
- Are they offering training? In good and bad times? Or when costs need to be cut, will training be one of the first expenses to go?
- Is there any consideration for my family? Can I work from home on Wednesdays because my wife can’t be with the kids that day? Will I earn the same salary increase, or better, than my colleagues that are in the office every day, or am I at a disadvantage?
- Am I being treated with respect? If I have less experience, will I be treated less respectfully?
- Do I have to be political to move upwards? If I do my work and leave at the end of the day, can I progress the same as my counterpart who is more social and occasionally goes for drinks with the boss after hours?
- If I bring the company more business, are there any more rewards for me?
- How will I park the car when I go downtown? Will you compensate me for that?
- Do you offer comprehensive medical benefits? I may get five free massages, but are my kids’ braces covered?
- Did I say salary?
And many more questions…As you can see, the salary item is there, but often it’s less than 50 percent of the reason an employee chooses to leave an organization.
If you are constrained in your company on salary increases, and that’s something you can’t help, why not try to maximize the other 50 percent of the reasons your employees would stay? Don’t you think you still improve your chances dramatically, rather than just being frustrated about the salary that you can’t do much about?
It is estimated that your mid-level employees will cost you 1-2 times their salary to be replaced. If an employee cost you $100,000, it will cost you close to $200,000 to replace him till he reaches that same level. If your company makes 10 percent profit a year, then you need to make $2 million of revenue to replace that $100 thousand employee.
Farid Bedwany
Senior Advisor