If You Want to Become a Talent Magnet, Focus On The Fundamentals
By David Lee


In the frenzy to find high tech talent, it’s tempting to search for the Talent Magnet Silver Bullet – the ultimate perk or program that will make you the employer of choice.

This attempt to find the Holy Grail of recruiting and retaining talent includes the misguided notion that being a Talent Magnet also involves recreating the kind of workplace that gets media coverage - the workplace where dot-com stock option millionaires engage in SuperSoaker water fights or dance on their desks to relieve stress.

The answer to becoming a Talent Magnet isn’t in gimmicks, the perfect enticement, or a contrived "we’re a fun workplace" image. The answer to becoming a Talent Magnet is in the fundamentals. The answer is in creating an organization that satisfies fundamental human needs and the emerging needs of today’s workers. When organizations do this, they create a workplace that is intrinsically motivating and fun, a workplace that makes them a magnet for the most talented employees.

To become such an organization – a Talent Magnet - here are some ways you can satisfy these fundamental needs of today’s worker:

Engage Your Employees’ Hearts and Souls - People don’t just want to bring their brains to work, they want to bring their hearts. They want to feel passionate about what they are doing and be part of something great. Leaders of Talent Magnets speak to this human need by regularly communicating to all employees where the company is going, the importance of what they are doing, and the significance of each employee’s contribution. They share stories of victories and warn about imminent battles with competitors.

The more you let your employees know they are part of something great, and how they make it possible to be great, the more passionate they will be about your company. The more passionate they are, the more they will tell others about how great your company is - making every employee a recruiter.

Keep People in the Know – It’s hard to be excited about something you know nothing about. When employees understand the big picture, and are kept in the loop about new developments, they feel part of the organization, and therefore, more involved, more excited, and more loyal.

At ManagedOps.com, CEO Dan Taylor keeps their 180 employees in the loop by holding a President’s Breakfast each week. At these breakfasts, he meets with 10 different employees to discuss new developments and listens to their ideas and concerns.

Respect Employee’s Right to Have a Life – Research shows flexibility and work/life balance are top priorities of today’s workers, especially GenXers. At HCI Systems of Kennebunk, Maine, employees trying to juggle parenting and work responsibilities are strongly supported in their efforts to balance the two.

With several employees at HCI Systems being single mothers of young children, this kind of flexibility and respect has a huge impact on morale and dedication. "Because of the flexibility and respect employees are shown, we’ll have people willingly come in on a weekend if need be. It pays to be flexible," notes Kathie Davies, HCI Systems’ HR Manager.

Provide Opportunities to Grow – A study by the American Electronics Association, the nation’s largest high-tech trade group, revealed that the number one factor influencing employee retention was having challenging work assignments. If going to work means grinding out the same task over and over, employees will soon go elsewhere. Thus, keeping employees energized and excited about coming to work requires making sure they are constantly being challenged. As the head of HR for Sun Microsystems, Ken Alvares says "our goal is to keep people so busy having fun every day that they don’t even listen when the headhunters call." Apparently this strategy is working, as Sun’s turnover rate is less than half of the industry’s average.

Show Appreciation – Many companies drop the ball on this one. Decades of employee research shows that appreciation is one of the greatest motivators. Yet, when companies remember to show appreciation, it is usually with a gimmicky Employee of the Month or Employee Recognition Day programs.

Far more effective are simple, informal expressions of appreciation such as saying "Thank you" to employees as they are leaving for the day, as does HCI Systems’ president Jim Kavanagh.

Because managers and front line people tend to treat each other the way they are treated, employees at HCI Systems show the same kind of gratitude and appreciation to each other. "For instance, I’ll have people in product development come up and thank me for something I’ve done," notes HR Manager Kathie Davies. "That almost never happens to the HR person in most companies."

The kind of goodwill created by such gestures translates into tremendous synergy and the kind of workplace people are excited about going to.

Showing sincere appreciation is a no-cost, high return practice. Not showing appreciation is a high-risk behavior for companies hoping to keep talented people. When the staff of a Maine high tech company recently received bonus checks, several said "I would rather have gotten a handshake and a ‘thank you’ from the president than the cash." Not surprisingly, morale at this company is low and turnover high.

Don’t Hamstring Your Employees – Putting obstacles in the way of employees doing their work well is a great way to send them to the competition. Whether its inadequate technology, bureaucratic hurdles to leap, or a "Sorry, there’s nothing we can do about it" attitude, making life difficult for employees is a costly endeavor. Not only does it make them less efficient, it conveys disrespect.

Give People the Chance to Do Something Great – The best, most talented employees want the opportunity to do something great. Says BroadcastAMERICA.com’s CEO Alex Lauchlin, "You don’t want to give them a job, you want to give them a challenge."

" We don’t say ‘Go out and get 20 new stations next week.’ We say ‘We want you to build BroadcastSports.com or BroadcastTalk.com’ (two of BroadcastAMERICA.com brands)," explains Lauchlin. Such a philosophy has helped BroadcastAMERICA.com become the largest online broadcasting network.

Show Employees That You Care – Although talented people want their talent and expertise to be recognized and valued, they also want to know you care about them as a person - not just a producer of high quality work. Leaders like ManagedOps.com Dan Taylor or BroadcastAMERICA.com’s co-founders John Brier and Alex Lauchlin address this need by taking the time to get to know employees not just as programmer or designer, but as people who have families, hopes, and dreams.

Says Laurie Murphy, HR Manager at ManagedOps.com "One of the most frequent comments on our employee satisfaction surveys is how much it means to employees that Dan knows who they are, who their spouses are, and the names of their children."

To Become a Talent Magnet, Remember The Fundamentals – Being a Talent Magnet doesn’t require being clever or cute. It requires a sincere appreciation of, and interest in, the people who work for you. It requires a willingness to meet their fundamental human needs, and their needs as workers in a complex world of competing responsibilities. By doing this, you will create the kind of workplace that talented people love – and love to tell their talented friends about.