XChange: How To Ensure Your Employees Stay Your Employees

Educational benefits, getting to know employees on a personal level and empowering them for both their career goals and the company's vision were common choices, according to VARs at an XChange Solution Provider session in New Orleans Sunday. The Mardi Gras-inspired breakout gathering was hosted by Everything Channel Editor/News Steven Burke and Managing Editor/Technology Jennifer Hagendorf Follett and was titled "Finding and Keeping The Best Talent."

As part of the workshop, 10 tables of VARs collaborated on their own respective lists of best talent practices before sharing them with the whole crowd.

"Get to know your employees, their wives' names, their kids' names. Once you build a relationship, how hard will it be for them to leave a friend?" said Stephen Bright, CEO of FidelityMax, a Kansas City, Mo.-based solution provider.

Employees want to know they're something other than just a workforce for the organization, added Christopher Poe, technical operations director for Atrion Networking, a Warwick, R.I.-based solution provider.

"Stats show that employees don't leave companies for money. They leave if they're not happy with the organization or not connected to the organization," Poe said. "Create a shared vision. They have to have a stake in where you're going."

When it comes to recruiting talent, Arian Sohelli, managing director of Cantatus Systems Group, said it's important to find people who have a passion for what they do.

"Look on blogs and chat rooms where people speak and answer questions on their time off. They do it at work, but they also have the passion to do it outside work and share," he said.

Another tip to both recruit and retain key employees is to give them incentives and recognition within the organization, Sohelli said. "It doesn't always have to be money. It can be tickets to a game, a reference letter from a customer. Let everyone know what they're accomplishing," he said.

Kristie Beckett, vice president of staffing services at Northwest Computer Support, a Tukwila, Wash.-based solution provider, said solution providers can find talent at vendor trainings.

"Make sure you offer key engineers positions at 20 percent over what they're making now, with two more weeks vacation. Put offers on the table immediately," Beckett said.

Of course, you could also offer them BlackBerries with unlimited text and unlimited long distance. "It really works," she said.

Local colleges are also hotbeds for emerging talent, said Brian Sims, vice president of Advanced Technical Solutions, Scott Depot, W. Va. "Get involved in internships. Make sure you become a coveted member of the internship program to get their best people. Take them through the interview process, which also lets you weed out," Sims said. "The second way is through guest speaking events [at colleges]. Get your name out there, be recognized as an industry leader. Let people come to you."

"Listen, challenge and reward," said Henry Whittier, director of North American public sector enforcement, security and intelligence at Computer Sciences Corp., Falls Church, Va. "Smart people want interesting work. They want to be rewarded, recognized for it," Whittier said. "Create peer groups, especially in a big company, with program, rewards and recognition by peers."