As an executive search firm, naturally our focus is on recruitment of great new talent, but that doesn't mean the process ends when the candidate starts on their first day. The real value in our approach is the long-term care we have for our clients - our aim is always to place individuals who will progress and have great long-term impact in the business. 

Therefore, a retention strategy is also a very important consideration. 

It's a topical subject. This week two conversations highlighted the importance of this. Firstly, I caught up with a client who had lost 3 of their team members within 1 year of hiring them directly. As a result, they were exploring new retention strategies and ways to boost employee engagement, to avoid a repeat of this in the future. 

I also spoke to one of my shortlisted candidates for an assignment I'm managing. They are an experienced, high performing engineer currently working for a battery scale-up company. They joined when the company was <50 employees and the first 12 months was an exciting ride but lately they've felt like their progression opportunities have stagnated.

This got me thinking a little deeper on the topic, and in our world (i.e. the startup and scaleup ecosystem), keeping hold of great talent is one of the biggest challenges, arguably more difficult than hiring them in the first place. It requires a lot of work and constant adaptation given the dynamic nature of an early-stage company. 

Retention strategies start before the candidate has even joined, during the hiring process. We often hear stories from companies who have lost people in their first 12/18 months, and more often than not, those candidates were sourced from an online advert or via a quick-fix contingency method. By engaging a dedicated search partner (like Hyperion), you can have more confidence on long-term successful hires, given the more comprehensive due diligence process, particularly honing in on cultural fit and whether candidates' long-term aspirations align with your company's. 

Once you've made your hire, then there are some key actions you can take to make your organisation an attractive environment for your employees. Some are highlighted in the featured article, but I also wanted to share my own advice:

Feedback, feedback, feedback - I'd say this is number 1 priority. Managers in each functional area and at each level should hold mandatory, regular one-to-one meetings with their reports. This way employees feelings and needs are understood, and managers can find suitable ways to support them. Additionally, employees can be given transparent feedback on their performance and progression, so there's no surprises from either side. 

Appoint a Head of People soon - this role is crucial, particularly as you scale. Team structures are evolving and systems and processes are changing and the Head of People can ensure that employees' voices are still heard when the team is getting bigger and bigger. Introducing talent pathways, learning and development opportunities, and social activities will all boost employee engagement.

Flexibility - It's 2024, do not hamstring your business by sticking to archaic, inflexible working arrangements. Where possible, remove blanket rules for all teams, as each individual is different and if you can be flexible to meet the needs of your team members, then you'll build trust and this will likely be reciprocated by long-term commitment from your employees. One aspect of flexibility is remote / hybrid working - you must try to help those in this scenario to still feel connected to the rest of the team with regular socials, team get togethers etc. 

Diversity and Inclusion - You want your organisation to be welcoming and representative for everyone associated, therefore you must continually push for an environment where people from all walks of life are included (also at Management level). This might not happen overnight, but as long as there are active efforts to make the business more inclusive and diverse, then employees will recognise this. 

Development and Growth Opportunities - To stay competitive and meet the challenges of an evolving business environment, it is becoming increasingly important for employees to learn and develop new skills continuously (for example AI tools). Not only this, high performing employees (which hopefully is most if not all of your team) will want to be continuously challenged and keep improving. Offer training and mentoring programs or support for external education / training opportunities, and you'll not only see engaged employees, but their improvements will have a positive impact on your business.

Wellbeing Awareness - Your employee's mental and physical health and wellbeing should be a high priority. Startups and scaleups can be chaotic and stressful, with unconventional workloads and today's “always on, always-connected" society can make switching off very difficult. Effective leadership will encourage timeout periods for critical thinking and advocate for work-life balance. You need to be extra diligent on spotting for symptoms of burnout or physical / emotional stress in your team members, and have support mechanisms in place to help those suffering.

Regularly review your salary structure - As you grow, hopefully the company's revenue grows and you should try to look after those who have helped you get to where you are. This can be particularly important in a startup, where employees might join initially on a salary below the market average, but over time this will need to evolve (the last thing you want is someone joining, doing a great job for 12-18 months, before being poached away). You should regularly review and reward strong performance with salary increases as you grow.

Clear goals and objectives - Each member of your team should understand their goals and objectives clearly (whether quantitative, qualitative, or both), and tying in with the point above, have regular meetings where they can be fed back on performance against those goals and objectives. Employees with clarity on what they're expected to achieve should feel more assured and motivated to succeed than those facing ambiguity.

Record employee satisfaction - You should regularly monitor your team's engagement or satisfaction levels. These can often be implemented through a simple traffic light system or a 1-5 scale, gauging how your team members are feeling that day or week for example, or alternatively through a more detailed engagement survey (anonymous for teams or non-anonymous for individuals). Whatever the outcome, it's important you have an action plan ready to go if things need to be changed or tweaked. 

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Achieving a 100% retention rate is impossible as at the end of the day, we're talking about humans who each have their own unique circumstances (something even we've found a challenge here at Hyperion) but by implementing some of these methods over time, you can expect engagement levels to grow and more and more of your team members committing to the business for longer. 

Hyperion supports cleantech companies to recruit top talent, particularly at Senior and Executive level. Our comprehensive 29-step process ensures detailed due diligence, giving you the confidence that any candidate you hire is a strong match for your unique organisation, both short-term and long-term. For more information, contact me at david.beeston@hyperionsearch.com