Now that many business leaders are cautiously optimistic about the US economy, some senior business leaders are starting to take steps to grow their profits and re-hire/expand their workforce. In the recent economic down turn, many businesses including the largest global Fortune 100 companies have, in my opinion, beaten their quarterly earnings expectations by reduction in workforce measures. They have maintained their profitability by cutting the work force cost rather than significantly growing their productivity and sales. I am not arguing against senior leadership’s decision to do this but rather just stating how it is. Therefore, the current cadre of employees and top talent has had to and continues to endure taking up the workload of their former colleagues. Although current employees are glad to have a job, I believe they are likely to start looking for other career opportunities because of this greater workload stress (maybe a 150% greater workload in some cases). So, who would not seek relief from their high-pressure job? Whatever the increased workload, they are ready to seek a better work-life environment. Leaving is an option, but better for everyone is to seek ways to retain them.
One tool I recently came across to retain their workforce and top talent is The Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey – Answers to the 25 questions every senior leader wants to know right now. The survey is a professionally designed survey composed of Towers Watson-validated questions, hosted on their secure platform. Some of the features include:
- Comparison with world-class benchmarks to provide context from other companies confronting the same challenges.
- Executive action sessions, engaging senior leaders in building a focused action plan
- An interactive results reporting tool for in-depth exploration of all results
Here are some sample questions and corrective solutions provided by Towers Watson:
I think this tool is very promising in meeting the challenge of retaining top talent as our economic recovery slowly begins. I wish you success in being ready and prepared to retain your top talent.
Source and contact information:
Towers Watson Recovery Readiness Survey” http://www.towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/1869/TowersWatson-Recovery-Readiness-2pg-v2.pdf
Adam Zuckerman adam.zuckerman@towerswatson.com +1 312 828 9725
