Specialist approach to staff retention

In a climate where skills are in short supply a growing number of Western Australian companies are investing in strategies to try and keep good staff from leaving. Julie-anne Sprague reports.

IT seems many company directors in Western Australia are as worried about keeping their staff as they are about finding new employees to fill gaps in their business.

And they’re using a wide range of initiatives and strategies to achieve their aim.

From the pragmatic legal approach of anti-poaching clauses in employment contracts to the use of human resource consultants to develop retention strategies, staff retention is increasingly top-of-mind for many business leaders.

Keeping the troops happy is particularly prevalent in the mining sector, where companies that have already boosted pay packets are now investing in new amenities. One company even flies in medical specialists to deliver services to employees, free of charge.

But the need to retain skilled staff is being felt across industries from hospitality to accounting.

According to Gerard Daniels board and remuneration specialist Sue Jauncey, the issue of staff retention is causing concern.

“In the last week I’ve had two calls from clients wanting to know if I can help them with a strategy to attract and retain people,” Ms Jauncey told WA Business News.

“Whereas before it was about money, now people are saying: ‘It’s not just about money because I got that and I still wasn’t satisfied’.”

Ms Jauncey said she was helping organisations identify their strategy, business structure and its capabilities so they could restructure their approach to make sure staff are happy in defined roles.

Robert Walters general manager Bruce Henderson said recruiters were increasingly being forced to headhunt potential employees.

“Recruitment firms are going to be moving more that way so finding staff will be more expensive because you have to put more of a process in place to identify people of the right calibre,” he said. “Retention will become more and more important.”

Some organisations are instead opting for contractual restraint-of-trade clauses to stop employee defections.

Blake Dawson Waldron partner, industrial relations, Tony Davies said there was an increasing focus by employers on their rights to restrict employees from competing with the organisation.

“They are now more closely scrutinising the terms so they can make them enforceable,” he said. 

Sparke Helmore partner Greg Smith said while more people were inquiring about anti-poaching clauses they had limitations and were not always adopted by employers.

“How do you prove that they solicited someone to come and work for them? How do you prove that they solicited clients if the clients contacted them,” he said.

“They work by being a deterrent and I would say it would be evoked if there was a mass defection.”

Anecdotally, Mr Davies said, more employers were willing to test the clauses through the courts.

“Before they wouldn’t spend the money to test it and find out if they can enforce it, but now employers are saying in the current environment they have made an agreement that they think is reasonable and they are now willing to take it to court,” he said.

Mr Davies said employers were implementing other incentives in contracts such as extending paid maternity leave and other flexible workplace initiatives.

Mr Henderson said employers should keep abreast of competitive remuneration packages and should be willing to be more generous in annual pay negotiations.

He also said management needed to listen to its people and give them opportunites to grow within the organisation.