Page 198 - Retaining Top Employees

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186 Retaining Top Employees

Leverage Alumni Contacts
Collateral losses Employ-
ees who leave the organiza- Top employees who’ve left
tion in the weeks or an organization that they
months after an employee leaves, come to view as their
whether because they worked closely
“alma mater” are powerful
with the person,depended on him or retention tools, in that they
her for assistance,or “just because
can recommend your
the place isn’t the same” without the
person.Top performers,when they organization to others as a
leave,tend to cause more collateral good place to work and
losses than do other employees. they can help reduce col-
lateral losses by remaining
in contact with the organization.
But that’s not all. Here are some more ways to leverage
alumni contacts:
• Have alumni call potential top performers holding job
offers from you and answer any questions they may
have about joining the organization.
• Ask alumni to take part occasionally in orientations of
new employees to help with expectation management.
• Ask alumni to mentor your younger high performers.
• Provide alumni with recruiting materials to distribute at
industry events.

Mark Mentors Maggie
When I owned a graphic design firm,my top designer left
to set up his own shop. I was prepared for Mark to leave—
we’d talked about it for a while—but my main concern was with
Maggie,Mark’s natural successor. Maggie had worked with Mark for
two years and I knew she was exceptionally nervous about stepping
into Mark’s shoes.
We cut a deal for Mark to come back regularly (on a sliding scale,
starting at one day a week,reducing to one afternoon a month,over a
six-month period) to mentor Maggie into her new role. It worked
very well. Maggie developed her confidence (she eventually bought the
firm from me) and Mark received some income that was very useful in
the early days of his new business. In addition,the two firms continued
to collaborate on larger projects for many years to come.