Tweet

People Poaching - The Problem or the Solution?

Written by: Peter Nicholls

Article Overview: Attracting and keeping good staff is a major issue today. It's common to poach them and equally common to have them poached. The right workplace culture is vital for both and the answers require going beyond what happens only when people are at work.

People Poaching - The Problem or the Solution?

Employers face an apparent dichotomy:

• their major ‘people issue' is to attract - and keep from being poached - the best people for their type of business, and
  


• the best potential recruits are often employed and prized by
  another firm - perhaps a direct competitor - and would have to be
  poached to get them.
  

Poaching can therefore be a solution and a problem.



Being able to attract, retain, nurture and sustain the right people
is becoming an art form. Money, status or even flexible working
conditions aren't enough anymore. People want to work for companies that
offer “the right feel”, a very individual perception that is not easy
for an employer to second guess. It means having to take a hard look at
that vague expression, the workplace culture, which I define as the way
we do things here.



Nor is it a case of one culture fits all. A successful team is like a
mosaic - recognizing and nurturing the unique individual talents,
skills and abilities of each person to achieve team goals. To attract
and retain good staff now requires seeing people as more than just the
person who turns up at work each day.



For the individual employee - including the CEO - the line between
work and personal life has become a blur. So we get into looking at
flexible work options and the wider question of work life balance.



Work life balance is interesting. It's largely time-based, with a
battle between employers and employees as to how much time is spent on
work matters and on personal matters. Even with the growth of flexible
work practices and time management, there just isn't enough time in the
week to get everything done. It is getting worse and if we don't find a
better way we are eventually going to run around in ever-decreasing
circles until we go bust. This links to the other major cost factor in
business today - the rise in work-driven stress-related illnesses and
claims, depression, divorces, and heart attacks.



I found myself looking at the bigger picture. We are trying to still
fit square pegs into round holes. While the huge changes in 21st
Century living are making us look at life and work very differently, the
business machine is still grinding under the industrial age principles
of the work ethic. People are increasingly seeing work as a means to an
end, not an end in itself. However, in the world of business and
economic development, work is everything - it's the driver on which
material success depends.



People want to express and develop their talents and feel they are
contributing something of value through both their work and their
personal life interests. This flags the need for a new direction to
replace work life balance with a theme of work life harmony in which
each person creates their own unique harmonious mix of energy-burning
and energy-generating work and personal life obligations and interests.



This with two vital motives in mind:

1. developing a diversity of opportunities to creatively express
their talents and maximize their life potential through all their
interests, and

2. sustaining the mental energy and resilience needed not just to
survive but to positively thrive in the constant, competitive jungle of
the business world.



Harmony, as in choral or orchestral music, is found in diversity,
not uniformity. People thrive on diversity in so many areas of life and
it is this fact that makes the concept of work life harmony so
attractive, realistic and feasible. It also implies the absence of
conflict and discord and encourages collaboration, co-operation and
mutual enjoyment for the conductor, the participants and even the
audience (customers).



The “right feel” workplace culture to which I alluded earlier goes
deeper than simply giving official recognition and blessing to the work
life harmony concept. It goes to the very core of building a strong
ethos of...



employing the whole person, recognizing and encouraging the
development of all their unique talents and abilities at work and in
personal life and drawing on the energy and self esteem that these
interests generate.



It has to be an ethos that every person, especially the chief
executive and senior managers, emotionally embraces in their own
lifestyles - in this case the buck starts at the top!



To keep your best staff from being poached, or if you want to poach
staff from your competitors, your workplace culture can become your
greatest asset. The result will not only benefit the employees' total
lifestyle but add significantly to the stability and viability of your
business.

Related Articles
  Money comes to you when you do this one thing!
  Stuck for an idea?
  How to Become a Better Salesperson
  How 2 Beliefs Increase Sales
  Problem or Not the Problem?

Article Tags: attract, balance, harmony, keep, lifestyle, people, poach, staff, workforce



Related Forum Posts
What? - Problem fixed. Never mind!
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - People of all ages are using and creating blogs - so I agree that the quality of the content is more critical. A friend had a newsletter that she sent to her list and she stopped that to create a blog. Problem was that some of the people liked having her thoughts sent to their email - so we set up an RSS feed for her and inserted a subscription block on her email and voila - they get her thoughts in their email on a much more frequent basis. So, I'd suggest - add a subscription block on the block and send an invitation to subscribe to each of the people on your mailing list. In addition, promote the fact that people can have tips from you sent directly to their email - and then post to the blog on a regular basis. Chris
How to get financed - We looked at doing the same thing. Problem is you own the truck out-rite, so most require a add on to your title or release of title to them for liability should you default. Contact Kevin at RV Lending, he assisted us with our stacker transporter, pretty easy to deal with and straight up with the answers before you give all you personal information. Good luck
Getting financed for conversion on an older truck - We looked at doing the same thing. Problem is you own the truck out-rite, so most require an add on to your title or release of title to them for liability should you default. Contact Kevin at RV Lending, he assisted us with our stacker transporter, pretty easy to deal with and straight up with the answers before you give all you personal information. Good luck
Keyboards and coke - [quote:3b3y75yj]The hardest part is raising the plastic piece above the keyboard without breaking it [/quote:3b3y75yj] Problem is I'm not very "ept" when it comes to mechanical stuff, even as simple as this appears to be. I'm sure if I tried anything like that I'd break something! Oh, well, it's now a glorified DVD viewer and message board reader. Everything works as long as I've got it bookmarked... I just can't type anything! Thank goodness for two computers...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Unharnessing Creativity in Business

Soda Vending Machine = Energy Hog

Reverse Mentoring

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.