"People Power: Business Owners List Attracting, Retaining Talent as Top Concern"
Dan O'Shea
Grant Thornton, April 2001.
This report, based on a survey of more than 400 small and midsize business owners and senior executives, describes the issues and challenges of attracting and retaining talented employees. Out of eight key factors that determine a company's competitive advantage, surveyed owners ranked the ability to attract and retain employees as the second most important issue, following customer service. However, most owners and executives feel their companies fall short on meeting this challenge. The study found a 42 percent difference between how companies ranked the importance of attracting and retaining talented employees and how they ranked their own performance in that area.
Employee loyalty is a vital element in keeping top-notch talent, the study shows. Owners and managers who lead by example have an 85 percent impact on a company's ability to foster employee loyalty. Rewards and recognition programs are also focused on in the report as ways to retain employees. In particular, effective compensation packages involving incentive programs, shared ownership or a combination of both build a sense of employee investment that is vital to retention efforts.
