Amazon HR chief focused on staff retention

Amazon's HR chief is focusing more than ever on retaining staff so that when the economic upturn comes employees are less likely to leave to join rival businesses.

Wendy Mansell, HR director for UK & Ireland, said it was crucial the firm focused on retention strategies now to help employees remain engaged and loyal to the business in the long-term.

Mansell said she had introduced a clear development agenda for employees and a reward and recognition scheme since joining the firm in mid-2007, and was making sure managers continued to engage staff in both.

Amazon was also planning on introducing a graduate recruitment scheme in the retail business division by the end of the year to attract and grow internal talent, she added.

She told Personnel Today: "We have not changed the HR strategy but we are focused even more on retaining talent. We need to ensure when the market improves people still want to stay with us.

"We need to help people understand what their career paths are at the firm, by holding career workshops and guiding them through [their] development in the appraisal process".

In a speech at an HR forum organised by recruitment consultancy ResourceBank, Mansell said staff being poached by rivals was a constant threat. "Our staff are headhunted constantly. We need to constantly invest in how people can stay in the organisation".