【HR Q&A】Talents are constantly being poached by large companies—how can small companies retain them?

2022-08-11 932 views

Content source: 《When You Can’t Find People, Retaining Them Matters Even More》 event. Speaker: Dr. Lin Juan, cross-strait HR expert/consultant/lecturer. Compiled by: 104 HR Marketplace

Q: The company is small and therefore has fewer resources. It cannot compete with large companies in either talent attraction or compensation; even employees who have been painstakingly trained and become proficient may be attracted or poached by large companies, resulting in talent loss.

Faced with the challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises, what can they do to retain talent?

Lin Juan:

Most companies in Taiwan are small and medium-sized enterprises. Some SME owners or HR professionals believe that, compared with large companies, they lack name recognition, salaries are not high, and the job opportunities are not as attractive. Therefore, retaining talent is especially difficult.

I believe the key is still to understand what employees feel they need most from a company.

Some people choose SMEs because of their emotional culture. They feel that the boss is “very good to us,” “treats us like family,” and is even “very close to us.” In contrast, because large companies are bigger, management relies on systems, so they are less likely to place special emphasis on emotional bonds.

Supporting new employees

Emotional bonds alone are not enough. SMEs can also consider whether profit sharing could improve their talent retention rate.

For example, there is a very famous steakhouse in Taichung whose owner distributes 50% of the gross profit proportionally among the store manager, head chef, front- and back-of-house staff, and others. This gives employees the feeling that, although it is only a small company, they can earn more by working here than elsewhere and have greater room for salary growth.

In terms of external fairness, other companies in the same industry may not be able to offer compensation at the same level as this steakhouse. The owner is willing to share profits, allowing employees to see themselves as owners and to feel that they are working for themselves.

【HR Q&A】Talents are constantly being poached by large companies—how can small companies retain them?

2022-08-11 932 views

Content source: 《When You Can’t Find People, Retaining Them Matters Even More》 event. Speaker: Dr. Lin Juan, cross-strait HR expert/consultant/lecturer. Compiled by: 104 HR Marketplace

Q: The company is small and therefore has fewer resources. It cannot compete with large companies in either talent attraction or compensation; even employees who have been painstakingly trained and become proficient may be attracted or poached by large companies, resulting in talent loss.

Faced with the challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises, what can they do to retain talent?

Lin Juan:

Most companies in Taiwan are small and medium-sized enterprises. Some SME owners or HR professionals believe that, compared with large companies, they lack name recognition, salaries are not high, and the job opportunities are not as attractive. Therefore, retaining talent is especially difficult.

I believe the key is still to understand what employees feel they need most from a company.

Some people choose SMEs because of their emotional culture. They feel that the boss is “very good to us,” “treats us like family,” and is even “very close to us.” In contrast, because large companies are bigger, management relies on systems, so they are less likely to place special emphasis on emotional bonds.

Supporting new employees

Emotional bonds alone are not enough. SMEs can also consider whether profit sharing could improve their talent retention rate.

For example, there is a very famous steakhouse in Taichung whose owner distributes 50% of the gross profit proportionally among the store manager, head chef, front- and back-of-house staff, and others. This gives employees the feeling that, although it is only a small company, they can earn more by working here than elsewhere and have greater room for salary growth.

In terms of external fairness, other companies in the same industry may not be able to offer compensation at the same level as this steakhouse. The owner is willing to share profits, allowing employees to see themselves as owners and to feel that they are working for themselves.