Retention is about understanding your unique employees – do you know what your employees aspire to? Do you know what keeps your employees happy? The reality is that the answer to these questions can be different for different individuals and different groups of individuals.

“Retain” has two meanings: “to hold or keep in possession” and “to engage the services of”. The traditional focus in many HR practices has been to hold or keep rather than to engage a service. High-value employees and hot skills want to be “engaged” and not “kept”. To this end, 21^st Century has assisted many organisations in gaining a better understanding of their employees, and has developed retention strategies unique to each organisation.

Attraction and retention strategies often target specific roles within an organisation. This enables organisations to attract and retain key talent critical to the organisational competency. These may include:

• High fliers – consistently outstanding performers; high potential employees
• Critical skills – these are skills that are essential for business continuity
• Scarce skills – these skills are affected by market supply and demand, and can change dramatically year on year

 The key success factors in a retention strategy development process:

• Involve the employees – focus groups are beneficial
• Communication, Communication, Communication!
• Follow a holistic approach, but focus on “burning platforms” and “quick wins”
• Identification of Hot Skills needs to be signed off at executive level
• Create higher level of understanding with regard to the value employees receive
• Develop and follow a detailed Implementation Plan
• Be seen to be doing something

The focus in retention strategies has shifted from a one-size-fits-all to customisation. Each employee is motivated by different factors. Therefore, retention strategies must be targeted to individual employees or groups of employees. In designing a retention strategy, 21^st Century considers your unique talent pool, your unique retention challenges, and market practice. Both cash and non-cash solutions can be implemented.