“There is a lot of talk about how to find talent. And far too little about how to keep them.”
Mr Derakhchan, companies are desperately looking for expert and leadership teams – even though we have been talking about the war for talent for years. Why do we still have this situation?
In such a complex environment as the market for highly qualified employees, one should of course be rather cautious with explanations and analyses. GIn general, I observe that the attitude of many people towards work has changed significantly in recent years. The shortage of skilled workers is indeed not new to us. But today, the individual meaningfulness of the work activity is questioned much more strongly, the conditions for doing the work with pleasure.
In other words, the shortage of skilled workers is one thing. But the willingness to look for a fulfilling job is much more pronounced than it used to be significantly more criteria play a role in career decisions. What you want to do, how intensively you want to do it, and now also where you want to work from – people are dealing with this more and more.
In addition, more and more people, especially in the result of the Corona epidemic, want to take time off or work part-time or flexibly adapt their working models. All in all, this means that professional decisions today are very differentiated and demanding. . And employers who cannot meet these expectations lose their attractiveness. That is why the willingness to change jobs is also increasing significantly.
Doesn’t this trend also bring the question of employee retention into sharp focus?
Absolutely. In recent years, we have talked a lot about the difficulty of attracting talents. And far too little about how to keep them.
Ideally, you get up in the morning and know why you are doing this job, exactly with this employer, and not something else somewhere else. People ask themselves these questions more often today. I observe that the individual values have shifted noticeably. Free time, family, social activities – in other words, quality of life in a deeper sense – play a very important role. This development meets the virtualisation of work. Remote work has opened up many new possibilities. But it also makes the employee retention and commitment much more demanding.
Taken together, this poses a great challenge for companies and their managers and human resources departments.
Because one has to keep a close connection to the employees, balancing on the fine line between support, freedom and the consistent pursuit of company goals and combining bonding with self-determination.
If you don’t succeed in keeping the team members on board, you don’t just have to go back to start again and again in terms of staffing. A constant coming and going instead of a healthy fluctuation disrupts the company and negatively influences the corporate culture.
With people who are always gone after eighteen months, you don’t reach the next level. If new colleagues constantly join the team, there is no sense of togetherness and no relationship of trust and you lose strength and efficiency. These are not the conditions for successful development, change or transformation.
Do the trends you have outlined also have an influence on employee development?
Professional CVs are less and less characterised by the classic career paths. Instead, it is very much about individual development paths. The focus is increasingly on professional rather than hierarchical aspects. Also because our organisations and ways of working correspond less and less to this image. And that’s where it gets challenging. Because in order to support such a development, you have to be close to the employees, build trust, have intensive conversations, ask questions and listen in order to find out what the best individual path is. This also includes being able to openly say what employees are missing in order to be successful in the organisation. Only then can you give effective support. Or perhaps to make it clear at a certain point that certain goals cannot be achieved together.
„Of course, this also shows that the classic “off-the-shelf” leadership programs that are often offered to young talents are not enough.
Firstly, people development does not always have to be about leadership. And secondly, such isolated, very often local programs are limited because they allow little diversity, inspiration and international perspectives. And these factors are essential today to cope in a world where value creation is not structured along organizational charts and reporting lines.
Such development programmes take time. That is the third factor. But if you work 60 hours a week, it is questionable whether there is still room for inspiration and dialogue. Employees and companies alike need to think about this.
Many companies have realized that it is no longer about managing human resources, but about developing people and culture in the interests of the company and its employees. Against this backdrop, what would be the core task of the People Culture division?
On the one hand, you have to recognize exactly what the employees really need. On the other hand, you have to understand the business, i.e. understand the company needs. What is the company’s business model and what skills does this business model require? How can the corporate strategy be translated into the people strategy? And on this basis, you then have to look for individual solutions and offer support. This necessity is increasingly being recognized – but it is not being put into practice quickly enough. And not all HR professionals who come from a more traditional HR background feel comfortable in this role. This is because you really have to see yourself as a “people partner” and provide managers with targeted support – not least on the basis of your own network and a wide range of experience, including international experience.
Does the role model you described for the People Culture department also require a certain position within the organization? A strong standing in order to make your own perspective visible and relevant?
The People department should have its own position in the organization’s top management body so that it is involved in all strategic decisions at an early stage. However, you also need to be able to have a say, i.e. understand the people and the company in depth. You have to be able to explain and persuade and be able to get the right people on board for your cause.
Against this background, how difficult is it to fill senior positions in the People Culture division? How do you approach such projects?
For me, it is absolutely crucial to understand where the company wants to go. Only against this background can the specific requirements for management positions in the HR department be defined. At the same time, the culture of the company plays a key role as a variable in the project. After all, there is no point in finding an outstanding HR professional who does not fit in with the company. This has to be precisely coordinated with the candidates during the interview phase so that the company’s goals are understood and supported and are also in line with the individual goals. For a fast-growing start-up and for a corporation that perhaps wants to create a gradual cultural change but otherwise keep the structures stable, different personalities are needed at the top of the HR department.
There is little talk about salary as a decision criteria for candidates. What role does it play when filling management positions in the People Culture area?
I experience time and again that this depends heavily on the individual stage of life and personal mindset – which is not a question of age, by the way. When people are in the process of building up a wealth base, perhaps starting and securing a family, or simply when their idea of success correlates strongly with their income, then salary plays a major role. And then, if you are good, you can also find this fast track; there are enough companies that are prepared to maintain very high salary levels. However, real management positions are very much about purpose in the broadest sense, about opportunities to shape and make an impact. My experience tells me that the salary is of course important. But the question of whether you achieve an increase of ten or fifteen percent does not play the main role.
MARCEL RAMIN DERAKHCHAN is the founder of dla digital leaders advisory and is responsible for filling top management positions in business professional services companies as well as software and high-tech companies. In particular, he advises global strategy consultancies, IT-service providers, software companies and hidden champions.