Partner Article

Keeping hold of young talent when budgets are tight

It’s HR focus week on Bdaily. Here, Penny Davenport, of Penny Davenport Executive Coaching, examines the rigours of holding on to staff when budgets are tight.

Average basic pay in the City rose by a below-inflation 2% in 2012, down from 12% the year before.

The slower growth is a direct result of the intense pressure placed on the Banks by regulators and shareholders. Guaranteed, significant bonuses are also off limits.

For the average line manager, it’s a challenge to motivate and retain staff when pay rises are effectively taken out of the equation. So, how do you hang on to your top, young talent if you can’t offer more money?

1. Treat staff like humans: it sounds obvious but line managers in 2013 must understand that very few 20-somethings are willing to be cannon fodder anymore.

20 years ago, new grads did what they were told and were happy to work all hours. This has changed. There are very few careers today where you are guaranteed a job for life if you simply work hard. This makes the young guns much more discerning and unwilling to be robots.

2. Life / work balance: the younger crowd today want a much more balanced life. To be cool and interesting, they need a constant stream of hip activities to Tweet about and post on Facebook. Workers like time away from their desk, and opportunities to socialize inside and outside of work.

3. Growth opportunities: if you can’t offer a pay rise at the end of the year, can you give your staff something new to stretch them or an opportunity they have been craving?

If someone has been asking to spend more time with clients and less time on backroom data, use all your powers of organization and training to make this happen. Be aware of piling on responsibility to some. If they are bitter about the financial side, this can back-fire.

4. Travel: for the 20-somethings, opportunities to travel hold the same appeal it always has. If you can, find the time (and the budget) for your team to travel abroad to spend time with their colleagues in other offices. Or, can they accompany you on client visits?

Overseas secondments are always a winner so be aware of vacancies overseas or opportunities to arrange job-swaps. The cost of relocating someone 2013-style is very reasonable. Young staff typically receive their flight and shipping costs, and then move onto a local package. Forgoing a pay increase doesn’t feel so bad when you are high-tailing around New York and having fun, much more cheaply than London.

5. Training: the world today is much more entrepreneurial and many graduates are taking City jobs to develop experience which will help them in their future endeavours.

Embrace this and support your team by helping them be their better self via formal, and on-the-job, training. This is another sound way of heading off a mutiny if pay rises are tiny. And guess what, not all of your trainees will move on. If you treat them correctly, many will stay with you for a very long time.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Penny Davenport .