alstin communications

Seriously, how awful were Huey Lewis and the News?

Gotta get back in time
Gotta get back in time
Get back, get back
Get back Marty
Gotta get back in time
Gotta get back in time
Get back, get back

Ugh. That song, those lyrics! I apologize if I just made this your internal sound track for the day (or if you were a major Huey fan in the 80′s), but I’m gonna take you Back to the Future a little bit with today’s blog.

We’re going back to 1998. A time when Massage Mondays, Bagel Fridays, ping pong tables, free sodas and bring your dog to work days seemed to be de rigueur for attracting talent. That year McKinsey came out with a report titled “The War for Talent” and its conclusion: the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be (drum roll please) talent.

Fast Company interviewed Ed Michaels, a McKinsey director and manager of the study, who was then quoted as saying:

In the new economy, competition is global, capital is abundant, ideas are developed quickly and cheaply, and people are willing to change jobs often. In that kind of environment all that matters is talent. Talent wins.

We’re 12 years into that 20-year projection and even with masive layoffs, underemployment and a limited job market, I still say talent wins. “The Great Recession” has just created a different battlefield that requires all of us who are in recruiting to rethink our previous strategies.

This week, Towers Watson released their Global Workforce Study (GWS), a biennial survey of employee attitudes and workplace trends. One of its key findings – people are no longer “willing to change jobs often.” Eight out of 10 GWS respondents want to settle into a job, with close to half of those wanting to work for a single company their entire career. The other half overwhelmingly hope to build a work history that doesn’t exceed two or three employers. Wow.

The study also noted that these are the sorts of character traits people today are looking for in senior leaders:

• Is trustworthy: 79%
• Cares about the well being of others: 67%
• Encourages the development of talent in the organization: 56%
• Is highly visible to employees: 42%
• Manages financial performance successfully: 42%

In this era marked by instability it’s becoming very clear that a stable organization led by managers who demonstrate that they can engage, challenge, connect with and develop their teams will win the war on talent. It isn’t a seemingly endless supply of bagels.

Office perks are nice when times are flush. I can certainly attest to that. You’ll still see my hand in Alstin’s endless candy jar at least once a day, but it’s always been the work, the potential for growth and the people you interact with that matter. Now that this new era has required – or soon will require  – a magnifying glass on the core essentials that truly matter, talent will only continue to win.