People Poaching - The Problem or the Solution

At a recent business awards breakfast, I was fascinated by an apparent dichotomy. The top award winners said, on one hand, that a major ‘people issue' is to attract and keep the right people for their business; on the other hand they also said the top way to get the right people is to poach them from other companies, often their competitors. The point was made that, in a time of relative full employment, the right people aren't sitting waiting for someone to give them a job. They are working hard elsewhere, so the “wine ‘em and dine ‘em to come over to the light side” approach is often the way to go.

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 usually interpret as “the way we do things here”.

Nor is it a case of “one culture fits all”. Just like we have to custom design our products and services to meet diverse public demands, so we now have to think about staff the same way. A successful team is like a mosaic rather than a melting pot - recognizing and nurturing the unique individual skills, abilities and talents of each person to achieve team goals.

That takes the question of attracting and retaining staff into the area of seeing people as more than just the person who turns up at work each day. 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 an interesting one. 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. The rise in work-driven depression, divorces, stress-related illnesses and heart attacks are proving the point. Where do we go from here?

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 along under the old industrial age principles we call the work ethic. Very simply, people are now seeing work as a means to an end, not an end in itself. However, the business world (globally) still says that work is everything and all else has to fit around it.

People are increasingly basing their life decisions on emotional grounds rather than economic rationalism - which is a big part of the reason why people are saying they want to work in places that give them a good feeling. They want more fun out of life - including their working life. “I'm here for a good time, not a long time” is a popular expression, particularly among the x and y generations.

A new language is emerging as part of this trend. “Downshifting “ to describe businesspeople - especially executives - who want to take on less stressful jobs, “sea-change” where people are moving out of the big cities into smaller (but, as a result, rapidly growing) coastal towns and “tree-change” - moving to the country.

These indicate a new direction for the work life balance theme - enjoying a harmonious mix of work and personal life interests. Using this concept, people increasingly want to decide lifestyle priorities (of which work is just one - albeit still a very important one) on emotional grounds. They will seek to determine their priorities on where they want to allocate their personal energies and interests. Instead of the more negative concept of being “time poor”, people will want to give priority to work and personal experiences that promote a sense of being “life rich”.

Looked at this way, enjoyment takes on a whole new meaning - well actually it simply brings to the surface some facts about enjoyment that have tended to be submerged ever since the work ethic first linked enjoyment to leisure and the belief that “idle time was the work of the devil! “

There has never been any question that enjoyment of work promotes a sense of dignity and purpose, of making a worthwhile contribution to society, promoting a positive attitude, being a creative, innovative and lateral thinker and generating sustained enthusiasm and energy. These in turn foster a sense of self esteem, self belief and a sense of self worth.

People are now beginning to remember that enjoyment of personal interests, freely chosen solely for the enjoyment they offer, also foster the same benefits as enjoyment of work - dignity, purpose, creativity, etc. This also leads to increased self esteem and a sense of self worth. When you look at enjoyment that way, it forms a fascinating link for harmonising work and personal life.

That's assuming enjoyment of work. There are many people who don't - a recent survey found a third of Australian workers would leave their job if they could. In those cases, there are plenty of arguments to suggest that enjoyment of personal life interests can promote personal growth more than work!

So if you want to keep your best staff from being poached - or if you want to try and poach from your competitors - aim to make your workplace culture an attractive asset. That includes acknowledging the individual feelings of staff and their desire for harmonising work and personal interests. The result will not only benefit the employees' total lifestyle but add significantly to the stability and success of your business.

People Poaching - The Problem or the Solution - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Nicholls's Website.

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