When The Headhunter Calls, What Will Your Best Employee Say?

As if it wasn’t already painful to recruit great people! Now, with the economy in full gear, you also must actively defend your company against headhunters seeking to lure your best employees to greener pastures.

Make no mistake. This is the strongest employee-driven labor market in decades. If you don’t make your company super-compelling to your rock-star performers, they’re going to leave you.

At this very moment, a headhunter might be preparing to woo your vice president of digital marketing. Is there anything you can do to convince her to stay? Best to act now. Next week will be too late.

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The positive employment news has been relentless. The U.S. unemployment rate is down to 4.1% and some economists see it hitting 3.5% later this year – the lowest rate in 49 years.

So you’re likely sailing in uncharted waters.

The closest thing in memory might be Silicon Valley in the 1990s when tech firms dangled stock options worth millions to recruit software engineers. But today, the talent shortage is national in scope and extends across a wide range of technical, financial and management roles.

Can you offer the same? Or better?

The promise of a brighter future can be enticing. In fact, top performers receive 4.3 new job opportunities a year, according to a 2017 survey by Qualtrics. And even if they’re happy in their current position, most employees will listen to a recruiter’s song.

So what can you do to “headhunter-proof” your organization and minimize the chances of losing your top people?

As someone who recruits people for a living, I study why people elect to say where they are, and here’s what I’ve learned:

• Create an environment where your rock-star performers can do the best work of their lives. Hire people who share your company’s DNA and quickly let go of people who don’t. If your rock stars feel like they are swimming against a tide of mediocrity, they’re far more likely to consider other organizations. Rock stars want to collaborate with other rock stars.

• Use technology tools, such as TINYpulse, to monitor the mood of your organization. You don’t need an elaborate, time-consuming survey. A couple of questions each week or month will track the trend line of engagement and morale, so that you can act quickly on any emerging problems.

• Salaries are finally starting to increase. If you haven’t benchmarked key positions against industry and geographic ranges recently, do it now. Glassdoor and PayScale are great tools, but there’s no substitute for comparing notes with a similar company in your city. When it comes to pay, you don’t need to be at the top of the range, but you should aim to be in the 75^th to 80^th percentile in your geographic market. I’ve found that’s the sweet spot.

• Don’t cap variable compensation. If a rock star blows out his or her targets, pay them handsomely – and disproportionately, relatively to their peers.

• But remember that rock stars aren’t in it just for the money. They want interesting, challenging and impactful work. Get to know your top people. Understand who they are, what they want, and help them to fulfill their career ambitions.

• Stop micromanaging your staff. Establish goals and boundaries, and then get out of their way. Provide your rock stars the freedom to design their own path and the flexibility to deliver results within those parameters. It may not be your chosen way, but that’s okay. You’ll end up with loyal and engaged employees. And they’ll consistently surprise you with innovative ideas.

• While providing your top performers with the freedom to grow, help them to improve through candid coaching. They’ll thank you for it.

• Assign one executive to be responsible for the care and feeding of each top person. They need to understand what your stars are thinking and if they want something new. Perhaps they crave more flexible hours, a dual role or a self-created project that they believe is critical to the organization.

• Make sure your team understands that losing a top-performer is a crime. Retention of rock stars is everyone’s responsibility.

In short, endeavor to create an organization where great employees can achieve professional and personal fulfillment. Let your best people know they’re loved and appreciated.

Do these things and – when the headhunters call – your star employees will simply say: “This is the best job I’ve ever had. The people are terrific. The future looks bright. Thanks, but this is all too good to give up.”

Can they say that now?