Archived News Releases
| Growing Talent From the Inside Out Taken from the Best of Boston June 29, 2006 |
 The top educational institutions…the most trusted medical facilities… and some of the most prestigious business organizations in the world reside here in this historical city; Boston. Yet we ask ourselves the number one pending question that is affecting more and more local businesses; “Where is everyone going?” As a CEO, I have seen the direct impact of talent migration within my own company and fear the height of destruction that could result. In hopes to eventually resolve the problem, I join local proactive business leaders in addressing one of the first steps: Developing talent from within our companies and from within this city as a whole. Across the industries we service, as a staffing resource for the Greater Boston Region, we find the hottest issue in the local job market involves talent acquisition-- attracting and retaining skilled professionals. According to the Boston Foundation, after configuring the high costs of healthcare, real estate, and entertainment, Boston is now recognized as the most expensive and one of the least desirable cities in the US to reside. “If you look at the talent retention issues and consider that a lot of these people leaving are young and innovative, it’s not a pretty picture moving forward.” explains Mary Joe Melsner, Vice President of Communication, Community Relations and Public Affairs for the Boston Foundation. “The Boston economy runs on high-knowledge industry sectors and in order to compete in these sectors, we need to consistently attract educated workers,” she says. Saving themselves from being impacted by this talent shift, some business owners are leaning toward internal development, maximizing their existing employee platforms. Results of this method are not only tightening and strengthening operations, but are, in addition, reinforcing company culture. On June 24th of 2005, the Boston Business Journal published a special supplement, which featured The Area’s Best Places to Work. Aside the names of the nominees was a bulleted list titled; “Creative ways to show employees you care”; citing all ideas accumulated from a survey conducted by QMR Inc. Work places that put benefits into effect, such as casual dress, back-up day care and tuition reimbursement, were right there at the peak of the list. After speaking with CEO’s and Human Resource Directors of these desirable companies, we find that company perks don’t necessarily lend-forth to qualified employees. “Many companies have great perks...it's a necessity in attracting and keeping people at the company, but the critical factor is the corporate culture,” says Betty Cotton, General Manager of Travel Collaborative (ranked #1 for small companies). “A primary reason for our success is the bed-rock principle that business should have a ‘human face’.” It’s the collegial atmosphere at Travel Collaborative that leaves no room for internal status; everyone’s opinion counts. The same is held true for the team at Suffolk Construction (rated #2 for mid-sized companies). Kirby Yoder, Director of Client Services, explains, “Everybody here understands where the company is going. The bottom of the organization always understands what the top is thinking.” The results of this method are clear the moment you walk in the door and feel the presence of unified camaraderie and professionalism. “There are conflicts that are inherent to this business-price, quality and time and when two people are fighting about price, quality and time, both can be right,” says Yoder, “It’s a tough business, so if we do it in a professional way, people like working with us. That’s why I chose to be here and that’s why everyone else chooses to come here and chooses to stay.” Though the businesses on this list cover a wide range of industries, so far we find one common trend that was expressed passionately by each company leader: internal development. “It all starts with Great people” says Kate Creagh, Vice President of Human Resources for Commonwealth Financial Network (rated #1 for mid-sized companies). “At Commonwealth we distinguishes ourselves by subscribing to “employee engagements”, investing our time and money into educating our people; we encourage regular performance feedback; we make sure employees have the information and the tools they need to do their jobs; we talk to employees about internal opportunities, encouraging them on promotions and lateral movement; we share business information about the performance of the firm; and finally we take every single hire very seriously,” she explains. “We know that the most important aspect of maintaining our unique culture is through hiring great people and we recognize that once we find these smart, talented individuals, we must then continue to help them develop within there careers,” says Creagh. In October of 2003, The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Boston Foundation and The Boston Consulting Group released a study titled, Preventing a Brain Drain: Talent Retention in Greater Boston. The study magnified the issue of talent retention specific to Greater Boston graduates and identified three issues important to the demographic examined- job opportunities, housing and city experience. Today, two years prior to the release of the study, the Chamber continues to work as a change agent in solving these problems for the business community by collaborating with city legislators to drive retention-related policy initiatives. A similar movement is made by a local group that works to cultivate professional growth within the community. Training, Inc., a non-profit workforce development organization, affiliated with the YMCA, provides less educated, highly driven individuals the opportunity to reach the level of professionalism that is recognized and commended by sponsoring corporations in the area. Boasting a 90% job retention rate, Training, Inc. is a source of local talent that will stay and grow to meet their employers' needs. Though business owners have little power to change the real estate market or strengthen the entertainment scene, it is our responsibility to remain up to par with out-of-region competitors by continuing to prioritize these issues as a business community. If we continue, as business leaders, to approach this issue head on, starting by growing talent from within our own companies and the community, Boston will eventually regain its deserved status- attractive to all. |
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