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怎样留住关键人才?

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虽然当下的就业市场并不景气,但最优秀的员工还是有机会获得其他公司的青睐。公司应该如何留住这些关键员工呢?涨工资和升职或许并不是唯一的答案。

    亲爱的安妮:关于如何优雅地离职,您曾经写过一篇专栏文章,我非常喜欢,可不幸的是,我有几位最出色、经验极为丰富的下属似乎也拜读了您的文章。过去三周内,有三个人“很优雅地”离职了,剩下的人对工作的热情似乎也没有以往那么高涨了。所以我担心他们也可能离职。

    问题是,在经济危机最严重的时候,公司不得不裁掉了大约一半员工,如今虽然公司业务有所好转,但公司高层却让我们坚持“少花钱多办事”的原则。结果,公司所有人都在超负荷运转,我也不例外。而且,为了防止多招人手,公司限制了预算,这也导致我无法给手下的关键员工加薪。我应该不是唯一一个如此纠结的上司吧。您有什么好的建议吗?——LBB

    亲爱的LBB:你竟然没权利给下属加薪,这确实令人非常遗憾(其实,你自己肯定也希望得到加薪),但不必担心。绝大多数员工留任方面的专家都表示,加薪不一定有多大帮助,至少不是长久之计。

    德勤咨询公司(Deloitte Consulting)最近进行了一项名为“人才2020”(Talent 2020)的研究,对最近换工作的560人进行了深入调查。研究发现,导致人们辞职最大的原因与薪酬几乎没有任何关系。相反,42%的人称,最主要的原因通常是因为其他公司能够提供更多机会,让员工更好地发展技术、发挥能力。超过四分之一(27%)的人表示跳槽的原因是之前的工作缺乏职业发展前景。而21%的人由于“缺乏挑战性”而选择跳槽。

    换句话说,就是员工厌烦了之前的工作,而工作量增加更是加剧了这种情绪,尤其是对于最优秀、最出色的员工来说。德勤人才服务部负责人比尔•皮尔斯特发现:“具备关键技能的员工跳槽的可能性也最大,”他补充说。“要留住这些员工,不单是人力资源部的工作。必须从高层开始,贯彻到每一个管理层,直至一线管理人员。”

    这也正是你的工作切入点。顾问公司Career Systems International联席CEO贝弗利•凯伊称:“要留住最优秀的员工,通常需要与他们进行正确的沟通,而这不需要花一分钱。人们需要的是被重视的感觉,他们希望未来在你这里能继续得到更好的发展。”贝弗利•凯伊与他人合作出版了一本新书,名为《员工想要的职场对话:帮助成长,关注发展》(Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want)。

    她补充道:“经理人不会每天早上一醒来就考虑:‘今天该如何榨干我的下属?’只有当所有人都疲于奔命,过于专注于自己每天所受到的压迫,才会发生这样的事”。如何避免优秀人才流失?凯伊给出了三种策略建议:

1. 多说“谢谢你”

    听起来非常简单,但凯伊发现,她的这种所谓“感谢的力量”在客户那里始终没有得到充分利用。她说:“员工工作压力过大的时候,如果没人说‘我知道大家工作负担非常沉重,非常感谢大家的付出’这样的话,他们会感到更加沮丧。”

    此外,也不要把表扬保留到一年一次的绩效评估当中。“应该把表扬融入到日常工作当中。一句‘干得好!’可以让人开心一整天。这可是不花钱的礼物。”她建议,表扬的时候,要考虑员工的个人喜好。凯伊发现:“有的人享受公开表扬的过程。而有的人则会对此感到很不自在,希望在私底下,听到别人一对一的‘感谢’。”如果不了解下属的喜好,可以直接询问。

2. 开始进行“留任面谈”

    凯伊发现,在离职面谈之前,几乎很少有人会主动去问,需要什么样的条件才能留住关键员工。她说:“最后的结果就是,员工跳槽后得到的条件,你本来也能提供,只不过前提是,你要提早知晓。但大部分管理人员都很少会主动问:‘我们怎样才能留住你?’而等知道答案时却已为时已晚。”

    Dear Annie:I liked your column about the art of quitting gracefully, but unfortunately several of my most talented and experienced direct reports seem to have read it, too. Three of them have quit (gracefully) in the past three weeks, and certain others seem less enthusiastic about their jobs than they used to be, so I'm worried about losing them as well.

    The problem around here is that we had to lay off almost half the staff during the worst of the recession and, now that business has picked up again to some extent, top management is telling us to keep right on "doing more with less." Everyone has been overworked, including me, and the same budget constraints that preclude hiring more people are also standing in the way of my being able to offer my stars more money. I can't be the only boss who's struggling with this. Any suggestions? — Low-Budget Blues

    Dear LBB:It is indeed unfortunate that you can't hand out big raises (you'd probably like one yourself, for that matter), but don't fret about it. An overwhelming majority of experts on employee retention say more money probably wouldn't help much anyway, or at least not for long.

    A new study called Talent 2020 from Deloitte Consulting, based on an in-depth poll of 560 recent job changers, says that the biggest reasons people quit have little or nothing to do with pay. Instead, what most often makes them move on is the opportunity to develop and use more of their skills and abilities elsewhere, cited by 42%. More than a quarter (27%) also cited a lack of career progress in their old jobs, and 21% mentioned "lack of challenge."

    In other words, people get bored, and the added work only exacerbates that -- especially for your best and brightest. "Employees with critical skills pose the biggest flight risk," notes Bill Pelster, a principal in Deloitte's U.S. talent services division. Retaining these folks "is not simply a human resources function," he adds. "It has to start with the C-suite and extend through every level of management, down to line managers and supervisors."

    This is where you come in. "Keeping your best people is often a matter of having the right conversations with them, which doesn't cost a dime," says Beverly Kaye, co-CEO of consulting firm Career Systems International and co-author of a new book, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want. "People want to feel valued, and they want to see a future with you where they can continue to develop and thrive.

    "Managers don't wake up in the morning and ask themselves, 'How can I burn out my people today?'" she adds. "It just happens because everyone is so busy and so focused on the crush of the day-to-day." Kaye recommends these three strategies for keeping your stars from straying:

1. Say "thank you."

    Simple as it sounds, Kaye has observed among her clients that what she calls "the power of the thank-you" is a woefully underused resource. "People are more frustrated about being overworked if no one is telling them, 'I understand how tough this is, and I appreciate it,'" she observes.

    Nor should pats on the back be reserved for a once-a-year performance appraisal: "This should be woven into the daily texture of the work. Just saying, 'Great job!' can make someone's day. It's a gift you can give that costs nothing." While you're at it, she advises, try to tailor your attaboys (or attagirls) to people's individual preferences. "Some people revel in public recognition. Others are embarrassed by that and would rather hear 'thanks' one-on-one, in private," Kaye notes. If you don't know who prefers which, just ask.

2. Start having "stay interviews."

    All too often, Kaye observes, nobody asks what it would take to keep a key employee until the exit interview. "People end up going somewhere else to get something you could have given them, too, if you'd only known about it," she says. "But most managers never ask, 'What can we do to keep you?' until it's too late."


    她发现,造成这种状况的原因是他们担心员工提出“加薪”或者“升职”这样的条件。确实会有人提出这样的条件。但凯伊认为:“你可以这样回答:‘我也希望能满足你的条件,但现在还不行。我们还是谈谈我能为你提供的其他条件吧。’只要你继续挖掘,至少能得到三四个你能够提供的条件,比如灵活性、认可、有更多机会做自己真正想做的事等等。”

    她认为,从某些方面来看,这种谈话类似于面试。凯伊建议:“对每个人的好奇心可以挖掘出非常宝贵的信息。比如,你可以提问:‘你上一次感觉享受这里的工作是什么时候?为什么会有这样的感觉?’或者问:‘你还有哪些没有充分展示的技能?’最终,你将得到惊喜,即便你无法马上针对员工的回答采取措施,也可以将他们的想法牢记在心,等待合适的机会。”

3. 承认每个人的独特性

    凯伊说:“以前,我们从没有将关键员工作为个体来对待。管理人员常用的借口是:‘假如我同意一名员工每周可以有两天实行远程办公,到最后,我可能得同意所有人这么干。’实际上却并非如此。如果有人赢得了休假的机会,或者其他待遇,那他/她就有权利享受这个机会,与其他任何人都无关。”

    这种方法要求管理人员必须挺直腰杆,坚持己见。凯伊说:“如果你给一名关键员工特殊待遇,而表现稍差的员工说:‘我也想要那样的待遇’。这时一定要如实相告,即便这意味着直率地告诉他们:‘某某人得到这样的待遇,是靠自己在工作中的表现赢得的。希望你们也能有同样的表现,到那时我们再谈。’这种对话通常比较棘手,所以大部分管理人员都会想方设法避免,并且对所有人一视同仁,全盘拒绝。而这也正是导致明星员工跳槽最主要的原因。”

    许多老板经常说,公司有成文的或者不成文的规定,要对所有人一视同仁。对这样的借口,凯伊嗤之以鼻。她说:“我们经常会问一个问题:‘你是愿意守着规矩死,还是留着人才活?’严格遵守一视同仁的规定,确实更容易,似乎也更安全,但它肯定会导致公司最优秀的员工另谋出路。”

    反馈:你上一次辞职的原因是什么?加工资能让你留下来吗?或者你更注重其他方面?欢迎评论。

    译者:刘进龙/汪皓

    The reason for that, she notes, is that they're afraid the answer will be "more money" or "a promotion." Let's say someone does reply with one of those. "You can say, 'I wish I could do that, but right now, I can't. Let's talk about what else you might want that I can give you,'" Kaye says. "If you keep probing, you will probably get at least three or four answers -- flexibility, recognition, the chance to do more of what they really love doing -- that you can deliver."

    In some respects, these conversations resemble a job interview, she notes. "Curiosity about each person can uncover valuable information. Ask, 'When was the last time you really loved working here? Why?' Or, 'What is one skill you have that we're not making use of now?,'" Kaye suggests. "You'll get some surprises and, even if you can't act on the answers right away, you can keep them in mind for when the opportunity arises."

3. Recognize that one size does not fit all.

    "Never before have we had to treat valued employees so much as individuals," Kaye says. "A big copout managers often use is, 'If I do this for one person -- letting someone telecommute a couple of days a week, for example -- I have to do it for everyone.' No, you don't. If someone has earned a break of some kind, he or she should get it, regardless of whether anyone else does."

    This approach requires managers to grow a backbone. "If you reward one of your stars with a special privilege, and someone less stellar says, 'I want that too,' you have to be honest with that person, even if it means frankly telling them, 'So-and-So got that because he or she earned it. When I see the same performance from you, we'll talk again,'" says Kaye. "That's a tough conversation to have, so most managers just avoid it and say 'no' to everyone. That's one of the biggest reasons why stars leave."

    Kaye pooh-poohs the excuse she often hears from bosses who say there are company rules, written or unwritten, that dictate treating everyone exactly the same. "One question we often ask is, 'Would you rather keep the rulebook or the people?,'" she says. "Sticking to a rigid policy of rewarding everyone equally, just because it's easier or seems safer, is guaranteed to make your best employees look elsewhere."

    Talkback:Last time you quit a job, what made you do it? Would a bigger paycheck have enticed you to stay, or did other issues matter more? Leave a comment below.

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