Talent Management and Retention: Reward Strategy for 2012

Friday, December 30, 2011

Where should organizations place their emphasis in 2012 on talent management, retention, and rewards? In 2012, there are certainly a number of complex and complicated variables including: an encouraging but slow U. S. recovery, a looming presidential election, weak U. S. employer and consumer confidence, continued congressional deadlock over spending and revenue, and the potential floundering economy and political turmoil in Europe.

Even for employers who are reluctant to hire, when they do hire every effort should be directed at hiring the top talent available. This may result in an extended search and selection process. However, the results will be an individual who is a top performer, integrates well into the organization, and a member with the right skills, for the right role, for right now. Regardless of whether internal or external recruiting staff is used, employers no longer have the luxury of a bad hire with its associated high costs and lost opportunities.

In order to retain that top performer, they have to be rewarded, and rewarded well. An organization’s top performer will not be satisfied with a 2% increase. Cash and non-cash rewards have to be tailored to each performer on a personalized level. The organization must know what motivates each performer and design a mixture of rewards and incentives to keep them on track. Employers can be assured of one thing; in 2012 there is someone out there looking to hire that top performer away from their current organization.

Today, it would be hard to find a large organization that does not have multigenerational and diversity challenges in managing their workforce. Top performers can be found in every generational segment, the challenge is managing all of them to get the best results from all team members. As many boomers extend employment beyond their normal retirement age and as new college graduates enter the workforce; the synergy of all groups can prove to be beneficial or detrimental, depending on how they are managed.

One thing the recent economic recession has taught organizations, is that some parts of their businesses may have suffered, while other business lines have prospered. Top performers in those business or market segments which are experiencing a downturn or stagnation, will require special attention. While the organization may have made a strategic decision to exit a market space, top performers are still expected to manage that process to its maximum value.

Rewards and incentives have little value unless they are meaningful to the intended performer. This means that what is valued and has meaning for a top performer in Boston may not have the same value or meaning to someone in Mexico City. The same holds true for members of various generations. Thus managing top talent requires a reward system that speaks to the individual’s generational, cultural, and situational attributes. This system of rewards has to be dynamic. As an employee moves from one assignment to another, what motivated them in a prior role may not necessarily motivate them in their current position. What incented a top performer in the early days of their career may have no value in today's position.