The vital talent of Attracting and Retaining vital talent

After nine years of austerity, the market remains tight and it's more important than ever for businesses to find and keep talented employees.

Competition for skilled candidates remains fierce, and will do for the foreseeable future. The natural approach in recession-hit times is for employees to sit tight and go for job security over mobility. Result - the talent pool shrinks and the value of the best candidates grows.

Now more than ever, small business leaders are challenged with both attracting and retaining skilled people, in the knowledge that they will need to inspire their top talent to stay on when unemployment falls and the recruitment market begins to move again.

If businesses are to flourish and grow, they need to engage employees who are already delivering, as well as those who are underperforming and whose contribution can be improved. Building a workforce capable of continually changing and evolving can be the vital factor in winning that new contract or meeting that target.

HR may be the central hub, but individual line managers must stay connected to the workforce, always alert to needs, always tuned in to behavioural, performance and morale issues.

By working together, the business can achieve results in retaining and developing talented employees into a committed staff body capable of repeated success, now and in the future.

Talent is at the core of a business – sustaining it needs your continual care and attention.