Page 136 - Retaining Top Employees

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124 Retaining Top Employees

There are five common hiring models being used by organi-
zations that recruit for retention. Each of them has different
advantages for the employer seeking to maximize employee
retention.
Model 1: The Classic Model—Core Employees
We’ve already discussed the concept of the core employee: it’s
the standard hiring model. This model works best in circum-
stances such as the following:

• Senior management appointments, where you want and
need the person’s full time and attention
• Core activities, when the job is central to the purpose of
your organization
• Proprietary activities, where there are trade secrets or
intellectual copyrights that you wish to keep internal

Many organizations make the mistake of assuming that the
core employee is the only hiring model available to them and
try to shoehorn every job into this model, with the dysfunctional
result detailed above. In fact, using other hiring models appro-
priately is a vital step in recruiting for retention.
Model 2: Flexible Work
As we’ve seen, over the last 15 years the relevance of core
employment status has been weakened by a combination of

Polishing the Apple
Consider making core employment with your company a
cherished status. Using the core employment model selectively
will add luster to this type of position.
Your hiring practices should reflect reality—that true core employ-
ees are becoming less and less common. Reverse the usual employ-
ment psychology: make non-core employment the norm (by using
some of the other hiring models) and core employment a goal to be
attained.
Consider changing the “default” hiring status in your company to
one of the other hiring models. Make it clear to candidates that they
need to persuade you to offer them core employee status.