For more than a decade, leading human resource strategists have hit on a recurring theme: You want your star players working in the roles that matter most to the business. For example, in 2009 professors Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Richard Beatty estimated that in most companies less than 15% of jobs are what they call strategic positions and said management should focus “disproportionate investments” on finding A players for those jobs. USC’s John Boudreau, CEO adviser Ram Charan, and consultants at Bain & Company, McKinsey, and Korn Ferry have made similar arguments.
The 3 Essential Jobs That Most Retention Programs Ignore
Experts, customer-facing staff, and important contractors.
January 05, 2018
Summary.
All too often, hiring managers fail to invest sufficiently in recruiting for some of their most important roles — just because they’re not management or leadership jobs. In particular, there are three vital jobs that tend to get overlooked: essential experts, customer experience creators, and critical contractors. These people can make or break your business, almost all of them could probably be making more money elsewhere, and yet there’s almost never a plan for retaining them. To set your organization up for success, you need to figure out which roles will have the greatest impact on your company’s performance — and staff those positions with star players.
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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Attracting and Cultivating Talent. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Discover how to attract, hire, develop, and keep talented people who will grow and thrive throughout their employee journey.