In days gone past, many stalwart employees in companies of all shapes and sizes would stay in their job roles for decades until retirement. These kinds of employees would not necessarily push for promotion, for more benefits or for any kind of work-hour flexibility.

However, today’s generation of employees often move from job to job every couple of years, being more concerned with their work hours and time away from their roles, to spend time with family and friends or to travel. Rather than staying with the same company for 10, 20 or 30 years, the new generation of employees seeks more fulfilment from their jobs.

It’s therefore become more difficult to retain talent, once worthwhile employees have been attracted to a company. It might be easy to attract talented employees to a company by offering benefits and incentives, but if you don’t follow through on promises made during interviews, you may well watch that talent walk out the same door they walked in through. 

During the global financial crisis that started in 2008 and whose effects are still being felt now, it was more difficult than ever before for companies to attract employees. If businesses didn’t at least match the salaries that people were receiving in their previous jobs, their recruitment efforts fell flat on their faces. 

Some companies may feel that offering competitive benefits and regular opportunities for promotion is enough. However, many other aspects need to be considered: such as, valuing employees’ inputs in both meetings and in general; keeping morale and teamspirit high, which also affects productivity; and offering opportunities in a diverse, multicultural workplace – this is something that the multinational UAE does particularly well. People who grow up in a multicultural world will also want to see that multiculturalism reflected in the workplace. 

Attracting and retaining top talent should be the cornerstone of every company’s people strategy, according to David Robert, CEO of Great Place to Work Gulf, part of a global research, training and consultancy firm that recognizes the best workplaces in more than 45 countries worldwide. 

However, Robert said, talent acquisition and retention is not a simple matter of compensation and benefits. More and more companies are looking beyond compensation to get the attention of top talent. 

“You can’t solve talent acquisition and retention with higher salaries. This approach simply isn’t sustainable. A good salary will certainly draw the talent in, but what’s going to keep them with you? Companies that want to compete for the market’s top talent must do so by leveraging their corporate culture and reputation, and must continuously invest in and nurture that culture,” he said.

Attracting talent by offering incentives and salary increments will certainly work, but unless the requirements of top talent are managed properly, these top employees will not be retained. Companies should identify whether the corporate culture is both well-defined and appealing – and appealing enough to both attract and then retain top workers. It’s not just the HR department within a company that needs to understand how to select good candidates, but the management also needs to understand why certain employees have been selected and why.

Attracting the talent in the first place should be clear from the employee value proposition (EVP), which should be visibly placed online and anywhere that top talent might be able to access it. Once the EVP has attracted suitable employees, it’s up to the company to make sure they’ve built enough connections between themselves and their talent to be able to retain them under any circumstances.

The Great Place to Work Institute, UAE, encourages companies to consider these essential questions:

- Is our corporate culture well-defined and appealing to the talent we want to attract?

- Do our leaders understand how to select the right people and cultivate their highest potential?

- Do we have a clearly defined employee value proposition that is easily accessible to job seekers via our website?

- Are we doing enough, and well, in the community to help build strong emotional connections between our employees and their work?.