The Difference Between Attracting and Recruiting Top Talent

Every company wants to hire great people. But not every business has the same level of success in their attempts to do so. In fact, most organizations work hard at developing recruiting strategies for securing top talent, but see little fruit for their efforts, while a select few seem to be able to attract more quality applicants than they can possibly hire. So, what accounts for this dichotomy? Why…

Read More

3 Rules for Linking Pay and Performance Management

Businesses in virtually all industries have initiated significant renovations of their performance management systems in recent years. Gone are the rigid employee appraisals at year end. In their place are flexible, future-facing tutoring and coaching methodologies. The focus now is on helping employees develop and succeed in the hyper-change environment all companies are experiencing. These changes have not come without growing pains, however. And one of the biggest sources…

Read More

3 Expectations CEOs Should Have of their Company’s Pay Strategy

Most chief executives have growth ambitions for their businesses that are unfulfilled. Seldom do they think their companies are achieving their full potential. This feeling is exacerbated by the pressure these leaders feel to perform well against the intense competition they face. Their frustration is heightened when the people around them don’t exhibit a shared vision of the company’s future or an equal commitment to its fulfillment. One of…

Read More

What Motivates Employees?

There is certainly no scarcity of studies you can read that attempt to explain what motivates employees. And those studies have been commissioned largely because every business leader in the world wants to know the secret to getting his or her people fired up about driving company growth. However, my observation is that often the best way to resolve some enterprise “mysteries” is to simply apply a little common…

Read More

What’s the Right Balance Between Salaries and Incentives?

I once had a phone conversation with a CEO of a company who ultimately became a client. He was baffled why he was not getting great performance from his top employees. “My strategy was to attract the best talent by paying salaries at the 90th percentile of the market. I assumed that by attracting great people, performance would just naturally follow. It hasn’t happened. Why not?” This chief executive’s…

Read More

What kind of employees should you be recruiting?

If you lead a business, you likely have a good sense of what your company can achieve. But you recognize that your vision cannot be realized if you’re be the only one who holds it and is passionate about it. You need people around you who are as committed to its fulfillment as you are and possess the wherewithal to make it happen. Beyond that, they must have unique…

Read More

Why CEOs Must Assume More Responsibility for Compensation

It used to be that chief executives could delegate compensation-related issues to HR. Most of the work was formulaic and those in human resources were competent enough to conduct market pay studies, come up with reasonable bonus plans and make sure the company offered adequate benefit and retirement plans that didn’t cost too much. This level of delegation is no longer viable. “Reasonable” and “adequate” are no longer good…

Read More

3 Ingredients Your Pay Offer Must Include to Recruit Top Talent

People who have unique abilities and understand the current state of the talent market know they are in a strong negotiating position when being wooed by potential employers. As a result, many business leaders assume they must offer a high salary and other perks to secure those people. But that’s not necessarily the case. Let’s talk about what top talent is really looking for when it comes to pay….

Read More

3 Reasons to Pay Attention to Employee Engagement

To “set the table” for this discussion, please allow me to share some data.  These statistics compare the results of companies that invest in their employees’ experience with those that do not.  The study shows that  businesses making that investment have an employee growth rate 1.5 times higher than those that are not.  Employee pay is also 1.5 times higher.  Their average revenue is 2.1 times higher.  Their average…

Read More

Social Share Buttons and Icons powered by Ultimatelysocial