Creative Solutions to the Brain Drain
03/Jun/08 13:48 Filed in: Brain Drain
I've just returned from a weekend retreat with
executives and had the opportunity to talk to one
person in particular about what her organization is
doing to combat the approaching "brain drain." In
addition to ramping up succession planning, the
municipality she works for is getting creative about
filling the trades positions.
They have partnered with a local high school where the population historically takes up more trade-type positions after graduating, and has created a training/mentoring program for their students to learn the trades needed in the municipality. Brilliant!
This serves several purposes:
1) Proactively finding candidates for these positions ("pull" technique).
2) Creating a "push" to their organization from within this population as more students realize their opportunities by watching classmates.
3) Creating a community of young people in the organization by hiring friends and colleagues from the same population - with Gen Y this increases loyalty.
4) Ensuring that valuable expertise gained by those who have been in the job for years is passed on to the next generation.
5) Developing positive community connections by engaging the organization in helping the school and students to succeed in life.
This is exciting stuff and I can't wait to learn more ways that companies and people are solving these issues!
They have partnered with a local high school where the population historically takes up more trade-type positions after graduating, and has created a training/mentoring program for their students to learn the trades needed in the municipality. Brilliant!
This serves several purposes:
1) Proactively finding candidates for these positions ("pull" technique).
2) Creating a "push" to their organization from within this population as more students realize their opportunities by watching classmates.
3) Creating a community of young people in the organization by hiring friends and colleagues from the same population - with Gen Y this increases loyalty.
4) Ensuring that valuable expertise gained by those who have been in the job for years is passed on to the next generation.
5) Developing positive community connections by engaging the organization in helping the school and students to succeed in life.
This is exciting stuff and I can't wait to learn more ways that companies and people are solving these issues!