Getting the best out of your most valuable assets

There are plenty of articles on why employees are your most important asset and the various ways to get the most out of them. At Data^#3 we recognise that people aren’t just an asset but they are the source of our competitive advantage.

With this mind set we have been striving over many years to understand what makes some people perform better than others and how to provide the best environment for our people. This has been done primarily through surveys with the results used to formulate plans in specific areas to increase the engagement of our employees.

Employee engagement is the extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organisation and how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment. This translates to improved performance as employees that are committed work 57% harder and are nine times less likely to leave.

In a recent survey while most employees are less likely to leave because of fewer job opportunities high potential employees are 10% more likely to leave and they currently contribute 21% more effort than other employees. This puts organisations at risk of losing some of their best employees.

“Over the last few months we have been starting to see signs of improved market conditions in our People Solutions business with specific skills sets within IT again becoming difficult to source” says Lindy MacPherson – General Manager People Solutions, Data^#3’s Recruitment and Workforce Solutions business. “Couple this with increased turnover from employees who have disengaged throughout the recent downturn and many organisations/IT managers could quickly find themselves short of key staff”.

“While the prospect of increased turnover may excite other recruitment companies we are committed to working with clients to ensure we provide a range of services that add value alongside our traditional recruitment offerings” she said. “Demonstrating this commitment to deeper relationships with our customers we have launched a new division to provide a range of HR solutions to our customers.

“Our customers are looking for more than just recruitment. Many are coming to us seeking help in a variety of different areas however the issue that is causing most concern to managers at present is the threat of losing critical talent” he said. “Understanding what drives your employees is critical in addressing issues that may lead to increased turnover” says MacPherson.

With one of the key drivers of engagement being the quality of the direct manager now is the time to evaluate yourself and your team to assess if you could be getting more out of your employees. To discuss any of your requirements feel free to contact our HR Solutions team on 1300 23 28 23 or visit the People Solutions website.

Reference sources – Corporate Leadership Council – Employee Retention and Engagement Research Brief July 2009