Human Resources: Committed Employees A Company’s Greatest Asset in an Economic Downturn

New York, NY --When times are bad, the companies that will ultimately prevail are those that hang on to their top talent by continuing to garner their loyalty every day. While many companies may believe an economic downturn will automatically motivate employees to stay and perform at the highest levels, principally to save their jobs, that’s not true nor what data and case studies show. Even in the worst of times, companies need to continue to keep their employees engaged and motivated.

“We hear about companies divesting themselves of workers, millions of them, as an avenue to survival and even success. But that’s not a reasonable tactic for long-term sustainability, or competitive advantage,” says David Russo, author of 17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent: Why Engaged Employees are Your Greatest Sustainable Advantage (FT Press, ISBN 13: 978-0-13-714670-3, $22.99, hardcover 208 pages, February 2010), “The most powerful strategy for long-term success is to create a corporate brand that tells your top talent that their best career choice continues to be an ongoing investment of their innovation, dedication, creativity, and enthusiastic contributions to your enterprise. They are your greatest competitive advantage now. And they will continue to be so when your market turns around. So, you must be sure you’re doing everything you can to find them, retain them, and keep them engaged, regardless of what’s going on in the economy.”

So how do you go about initiating a winning plan to attract and keep the best and most well-suited employees for your company? Author David Russo, SPHR, CEO of consulting practice Eno River Associates and former VP of HR for SAS Institute, provides leaders and managers with the rules to help retain and attract top employees. Whether hi-tech, low-tech, large organization or small, readers will learn what great companies do differently when it comes to managing their people. They’ll learn to apply those lessons in virtually every aspect of their organization from resourcing and compensation to leadership development and corporate culture.

When economic recovery does begin, you want to make sure your top workers stay and you continue to attract top quality prospective employees into the fold. In order to ensure that this happens, great leaders need to have the right strategies and tactics in place in good times and bad times.

Following are excerpts from five chapters of the “17 Rules” provided by David Russo:

Rule #3- Cultivate Leadership- Executives should look for leadership qualities in their people, and begin to concentrate time and money on those who have a natural talent and interest in leadership. You can train a person to be a manager, but you can only develop inherent leadership qualities already in the possession of individuals.
Rule #5- Demand Contribution; Be Worthy of Receiving it-the only way to effectively demand contribution is to show employees where their contribution adds to the big picture, where an employee’s contribution adds to the organization overall goals.
Rule #9-Cultivate Trust- Leaders have to communicate the truth while being clear about what they expect from people. Organizations should have transparent financials, processes, and decision making. That’s a key element for fostering teamwork, trust and camaraderie.
Rule #13- Treat Employees as Volunteers- Employees are far more willing to consider other work options, all the time. They are willing to risk their skills and aptitudes in the marketplace, including the skills you taught them. Any hint of “plantation mentality” on the part of management is justification for the employee to seek work elsewhere.
Rule #15- Understand Change- Whether change is perceived positively or negatively is often a matter of how change is communicated and experienced. The response to the change can be managed, if the reason for and benefits of the change are carefully articulated, and the expected outcome is seen in the light of these benefits.

17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent is about developing outstanding employees and getting them to stay. It’s about building a workforce that’s truly engaged, committed, aligned with strategy, and capable of incredible performance.

Check out the book online, including an excerpt
http://www.ftpress.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0137146701

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Russo is Principal and CEO of Eno River Associates, Inc http://www.eno-one.com/ a consulting practice that helps executive teams build high-performing organizations by developing win-win relationships with the workforce. Russo is perhaps best known as the architect of the famously engaged culture that has made SAS Institute the most successful privately held software company in the world. In the 19 years he was the Vice President for HR of SAS, and since, that company’s extraordinary culture attracts accolades from even such places as CBS’ 60 Minutes. Even today, with all of Russo’s original programs and philosophies still very much in place at SAS, this “great place” achieved the coveted Number 1 spot on Fortune’s annual list of Best companies to Work For.

ABOUT FT PRESS
FT Press (www.ftpress.com), an imprint of Pearson, publishes high-quality books in the areas of General Business, Finance and Investing, Sales and Marketing, Leadership, Management and Strategy, Human Resources, and Global Business. Our brand is built on the concept of signing and publishing the world’s best minds on the most relevant topics.

ABOUT PEARSON
The global leader in educational and professional publishing, Pearson is home to such respected brands as FT Press (www.ftpress.com), Wharton School Publishing, Addison-Wesley Professional, Cisco Press, Exam Cram, IBM Press, Prentice Hall Professional, Que, and Sams Publishing, which have as their online publishing arm, InformIT (www.informit.com) -The Trusted Technology Learning Source. Pearson is also co-founder, with O'Reilly Media Inc., of Safari Books Online (http://safari.informit.com), the premier on-demand technology content library providing thousands of expert reference materials through a single point of contact, including expert technology, creative and design, industry and management resources in video, audio and written formats. Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent: Why
Engaged Employees are Your Greatest Sustainable Advantage, by David
Russo $22.99, Hardcover, 208 pages February 2010