Employee Poaching

Web definition: The act of enticing key employees from one competing firm to another.

    Why is this even worth a topic to debate? Well, for me, if some other firm is giving better incentives and lots of mullah, does it really matter whether my present employer is worth leaving? For starters, the net worth of every company is his people and the satisfactory index of the employers is what defines the real assets. Not the patents, not the machineries and certainly not the closing-opening stock. Now, if you are not creating a suitable environment for your employees, it is certainly your loss.

    According to a study by The American Society for training and development predicts that by 2015, 60% of the new jobs created will require the special skills held by only 20% of the population. In 1991, by contrast: Less than half of the U.S. jobs required skilled workers. Hence, the poaching.        

                                 

                                                                              

Where does the problem lies then?

The problem lies in the unethical way and going beyond what is fair and legal. For ex. well known stock brokering firm Ord Minnett recently fell foul of restraints in a different way. It used the confidential information of Wilson HTM, an employer of some individuals who were angling for jobs at Ord Minnett, to try and 'lure away' even more of Wilson HTM’s employees. 

 

 

    From the prospect of employers, they always look for growth; and rightly so, but the effect on the employee can be hazardous due to this reasoning. In several corporate trainings, employees are trained to respect the brand they are associated with, to fill them with a sense of pride and understanding. But when the same people step into the corporate boardrooms, the result turns out to be destructive. Instead what employers should do is, to take more care on their HR policies, rather than filling the employees mind with garbage. If we look at the present statistics, almost 12% of the Google engineers now work for Facebook. It was not the monetary incentives, as we already know both the companies are very competitive. Then what was it that changed the perspective of those 12% employees.

    It was the sudden urge for entrepreneurship, as most people in the tech savvy Silicon Valley aspires for. And here comes the crazy Poaching part, where possible start up companies look for these people, provide them with great incentives and  the biggest advantage- give them freedom like never before. And lo, you have your skilled employee in your lap. As soon as the brand name has been established and the IPO on the way, these crazy brainiac  people looks for “other exciting stuff”.

 

    

               

So, what should be done?

There are some provisions to retain your key employees. The first and foremost is the legal way. A contract signed and secured with the penalty clause will effectively protect a business from the illegitimate conduct of employees and competitors. The second option is to provide them with the freeness to work. As seen previously, the handcuffed employee is more prone to poaching cases.

    Jack Welch started a new concept to curb employee poaching on a higher level. Whenever a new VP or CxO wanted to go to another firm or start his own, his only reasoning was to train his successor. And if duly tested for the job, he allowed it. The effect of this was the training and cost could be saved.

    The points worth considering before deciding the final decision on employee poaching are:

·        Know your employees right. Make every suggestion count. Feel the need to change the strategy whenever necessary.

·        Link employee success to business success. It may be monetary, non-monetary or even a pat on the back incentive.

·        Find out the reason why they really want to leave. Is it because some executive decisions or internal disputes?

·        Find out what others are giving and why? The basic poaching methodology comes down to identifying your competitors and monitor them closely.

   In the end, it comes down to staff satisfaction – employees will always prefer to stay with an organisation where they feel happy and motivated. The risk (or curiosity) in the unknown will be outweighed by the employee’s happiness in their current workplace. Businesses that help to foster these conditions will see the benefits, not only in reduced turnover and poaching, but no doubt in productivity and performance too.

(First published in College magazine)