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Best Practices for Hiring and Retention Today
Jana Turner, partner in RETS Associates, offers insights into the best means to recruit and retain key talent to combat today’s employer-employee disconnect.
Suzanne Silverman: This is Suzanne Silverman, CPE editor & chief, and I’m talking with Jana Turner, formerly president of assets services for CB Richard Ellis and now a principal of real estate recruiting firm, RETS Associates, about the type of hiring taking place today and how to retain talent.
Suzanne: Thanks for joining me, Jana.
Jana: My pleasure.
Suzanne: First, I’d like to ask you: what types of companies do you see hiring and what positions do you see them hiring for?
Jana: Well, that’s a good question. We see a myriad companies from the services companies to the REITs to privately-owned firms, private equity, it’s really across the board. But we do see more in the in acquisition, analyst-type positions and people are gearing up for more activity to happen in 2011. However, the bread-and-butter positions; many in property and asset management continue to see a nice pace of hiring.
Suzanne: What kind of talent do you see interested in moving around right now?
Jana: We see many levels of folks wanting to move round. I think the reasoning for the movement is lack of opporunity where they’re at. And then that equates to a cap on financial components. So, I really think it’s opportunity that people are looking for because everyone has been somewhat hunkered down for the last three years, keep your head down, not look up and having to do more with less, and now some of the troops are getting restless and wanting to take that next step and look at that next opportunity.
Suzanne: Now for the people that companies have currently and that have a lot of value, where do you see the disconnects occurring with those key employees, and what do you recommend to help retain the talent that you have?
Jana: Well, I coin it as that “high-touch/high-tech” balance. I think many companies have gotten into the trap of using technology to a very, very high degree and with everyone having to do more with less with the tremendous amount of cost reductions and lowering that expense line, people have lost the intimacy with their key employees. And it’s more about the deal or the transaction than about the person. I think people are feeling disconnected from firms. They are not feeling important, they are not feeling recognized and my recommendation is to leadership of every company that they have to allocate more time for in-person, intimate conversations with their key employees as to what the future looks like. They have to paint a brighter picture for that key person and that includes both opportunity and the financial component, and I can’t recommend that enough.
Suzanne: Well, as you mentioned in this technological world, I think we, especially, have to concentrate to make sure that we do pay attention to such things. Thank you very much, Jana, for your insights.
Jane: It’s my pleasure.
