HR struggles with attraction/retention

ATTRACTION AND RETENTION is the top business issue for HR professionals, according to Human Resourcesmagazine’s online voting forum, www.hrvote.com.au.

Seventy-one per cent of HR professionals visiting the site nominated attraction and retention as a key issue, while 47 per cent indicated talent management and succession planning was a significant challenge, followed by organisational change and development at 31 per cent.

“One of the biggest issues our clients are currently facing is how to retain their staff, particularly as the market becomes increasingly candidate-driven,” said Lorraine Christopher, group general manager, recruitment, Chandler Macleod.

“Unemployment is currently at an all-time low and the domestic economy is booming. The upshot is candidates and employees are now well and truly in the driving seat and organisations urgently need to implement strategies to hold on to the talent they have.”

Christopher also noted that being positioned as an employer of choice has recently become increasingly important and this will compound as the skills shortage continues to bite.

Matt Dale, Hudson’s national practice manager for talent management, also said it is no longer sufficient to seek to fill roles that merely meet the skills required in the immediate future.

“More progressive firms are looking for the talent that lies within the organisation, which may not yet be realised or uncovered,” he said.“Firms are also spending more time considering their employment brand and how that effects the attraction and retention of staff. The barrier to exit seems to be getting lower and lower, and managers are increasingly working with the different values set and expectations presented by Generation Y.”

He said organisations have needed to considerably expand their efforts to hold on to their top talent and are spending more on the professional development and engagement of their high performing, high potential staff.

www.hrvote.com.au is an industry wide voting forum in the form of a free floating opinion market for HR professionals. It works with an online leader board of opinion placards submitted by HR professionals. All opinion placards compete continuously for votes from all HR professionals and are ranked live for all to see.

Any HR professional can float a new opinion placard on any topic and vote for preferred placards at any time.