| By :
Joe Maldonado
Copyright (c) 2012 Joe Maldonado Employee retention can be stimulated through talent management strategies. These strategies are generally designed for SMEs (Small and Medium Size Enterprises). The basic idea behind this is that when employees are given opportunities to develop their career and grow, they generally build up long-term loyalty to the company. Employee retention is necessary to ensure that the abilities, skills and knowledge of the workers can be retained. Knowledgeable and skilled workers are human capital. If the companies fail to retain their talent through effective talent management, the attrition rate will increase and more and more employees will simply join the competing firms which will give competitive advantage to others. Talent Management Methods for SMEs If an SME wants to keep building revenue and remain competitive, it needs to leverage its top talents because it is the performance of these talents which impact the operations of the company directly. The impact actually comes in a number of ways starting from innovation, development of a new product, branding and marketing strategy and client servicing. It is the human capital which is the driving force behind the generation of revenue. It is because of this, the top performers of the company need to be constantly developed, sourced and rewarded so that they remain loyal. Hence, it becomes important for the managers to focus away from recruitment as static process towards something which can be embedded in culture of whole organization. Here are some of the talent management methods which can be used: - Recruitment, training and onboarding are costly and hence for SMEs, it is important to actually test the candidates before employing. As far as testing is concerned, they must not only test the knowledge, abilities and skill sets but also test the working style and personality. This will help to understand the technical prowess of the candidates as well as their corporate culture. - Once the candidates are employed, it is essential to test them for the leadership skills. After they are identified, they can be groomed to take up management and supervisory roles via opportunities for professional development along with hands-on training. - In general, the performance evaluation takes place annually. However, in order to increase the productivity of the employees, the SMEs can schedule meetings more frequently to discuss about the performances of the employees. These meetings can he held either during weekly team discussions or one-on-one basis. It is very very essential for the managers to help the employees to come up with strategies which can enhance their performance while highlighting the areas of improvement. - Coming up with programs for employee recognition can actually help to build up the morale of the employees which in turn translates into enhanced productivity. As productivity increases, the company benefits with increased revenue. - Another talent management method will be to provide career growth opportunities. For some employees, professional development is equally important as the salary. They will prefer to stay with the firm if there are opportunities which will allow them to enhance their professional qualities which can help them in career advancement. In case of SMEs, the opportunity of growth can be identified in several verticals.
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