The 5 best ways to prevent the poaching of your top performers

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Poaching…it’s not just for eggs. It’s for your people. Poaching talent is on the rise as recruiters seek to fill vacancies caused by the “Great Resignation.”

Do you know what poaching costs your company? SHRM estimates the total cost to hire a new employee to be three to four times the position’s salary. For example, someone paid $60,000, could cost $180,000 or more to replace them if they get poached. (Source: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/the-real-costs-of-recruitment.aspx)

In addition to direct costs, think about the indirect costs such as morale of the rest of the team when the person leaves, productivity when a role is vacant for several months, productivity and morale when someone has to add responsibilities to their plate until the role is filled, reduced or changed level of service…and more.

Think about the dollars, time, energy—all impact the company’s ability to serve, innovate, and grow.

To combat the poachers, I wrote a few weeks ago about making your top performers less susceptible to poachers. I suggested you keep woo’ing them throughout their employment journey. https://voyagecg.com/observations/2022/4/21/beware-your-top-people-are-being-poached

Here are five more specific things you can do to keep your top people:

  1. Cement their bond with you, the team, and the company. When people feel part of something special, it is harder for them to exit.

  2. Review your compensation practices. Re-evaluate salary ranges, ensure consistency of pay for the same work, and reward strong performers. Non-performers will probably leave if they don’t get bonuses strong contributors get, so be prepared for their exits. Also consider what it costs you to keep non-performers around.

  3. Update the interview process. Interview people before they start, during their time employed there, and as they exit. Pay attention to the answers so you can be as flexible as possible and so you can fix the issues stifling the bond employees have with the company.

  4. Empower people to lead and grow. Give responsibilities that align with growth opportunities and goals. Ensure the employees have the authority to execute the responsibilities too; otherwise, it’s just dumping work and is not empowering.

  5. Develop your managers at all levels. People exit because of how their direct supervisor treats them. Reduce their openness to poaching by ensuring managers treat people with basic manners and in alignment with the company’s core values. Develop management consistency for difficult conversations, feedback, rewards, and development.

  6. Bonus Strategy! Care. Genuinely care about people. Employees today want their companies to care about them beyond just their performance at work. One of my clients spoke so lovingly about their people this morning. In fact, it’s how this team of leaders has spoken of their people in every conversation. They speak about helping people live a zest for life—within and beyond their jobs.

You can reduce poaching with intentional actions to connect, bond, and engage your people. The six strategies can help.

There are additional strategies in the resource 127 Ways to Influence your Company Culture, available with Voyage VIP membership at the bottom of this page.