Domain 3: Improve Culture, Retention and Belonging
It isn’t easy to maintain momentum throughout a career and to keep workers as excited as they were in their first months. But it can become impossible if HR teams lose sight of what matters to their workforce. Building a strong Employer Value Proposition and giving work real purpose are key to attracting and retaining talent. Forward-thinking businesses aim to create a sustainable talent ecosystem in which every individual is connected and engaged, part of an organisation with purpose. It’s an approach that generates reward: purpose-driven companies have 40% higher levels of workforce retention than their competitors.
On Wall Street, for example, despite banks offering bumper salaries to fend off competitors, workers are still leaving. Although big paydays are a major draw, people are looking for something more sustainable for themselves too – they want to feel their work has purpose. As a financial recruiter told the New York Times: “Prospective employees are thinking more deeply about their careers, knowing they’re going to be putting in long hours. They’re wondering, ‘How can I make that as meaningful as possible and feel good about it?’”
An organisation with a sustainable talent ecosystem fosters a sense of belonging, where employees see their values reflected in the company culture. This is a key element in creating more diverse and inclusive workforces. While removing bias in recruitment and ensuring diversity in hiring is crucial, it only addresses one part of an employee’s lifecycle. If new recruits don’t feel connected to the company, if they don’t feel they fit in or belong, they will likely leave. Building teams that are diverse, inclusive and sustainable in the long-term means managing teams throughout their time with the organisation.
Companies that define their priorities through a refreshed competency framework can set the right goals to assess, develop and coach their leaders so that they can lead with impact. Diversity and inclusion has the potential to deliver significant value throughout a business. Better decisions and problem solving often come from groups that are made up of diverse voices.
The third domain of the Talent Sustainability Framework, therefore, focuses on improving an organisation’s culture, retention and belonging by transforming its leaders. Six dimensions are key to this. These range from demonstrating the community impact of an organisation, so that individuals know they work somewhere that has purpose, to having a clear succession in place so that there’s a pipeline of talent helping businesses achieve goals today and in the future. Underscoring all of this, leaders must be aligned to the ambitions of the organisation so that they can lead with impact.
HR can define the culture, but it is leaders who embed this culture. Leaders might manage teams differently, but clear goals and incentives will drive the right cultural behaviors across the business. It is right that leaders should be held accountable for the culture they create. It is the culture of the business and their leaders that will deliver this ambition of change for the future.
What gets measured is what matters. It is therefore vital that progress is monitored through understanding measurements like employee turnover and building an awareness of the talent pipeline, so that talent and succession planning are part of the vision for the future.
