Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Recruitment & retentionRetention of staff

Businesses should look to Britain’s Got Talent for inspiration

by Personnel Today 2 Jun 2009
by Personnel Today 2 Jun 2009

Business owners should look to Britain’s Got Talent for inspiration, says Lesley Meechan, director of Learning and Development at one of Britain’s largest business support organisations, GO Group.

The best staff are often the first to jump ship during a recession; choosing to search for a new post that is more secure, better paid or with more prospects. Not too dissimilar to the adventures of some of the best loved contestants on ITVs Britain’s Got Talent.

Take Susan Boyle for instance. She came, she sang and left to go on to bigger and better things – ending up on Oprah’s sofa is a step up from Blackburn, some might say. But will she stay loyal to the talent competition that made her? Will Simon Cowell retain his surprise singing sensation? Only time will tell.

But there’s a lesson here for not only Simon Cowell, who’s going to want to make a buck or two from the lovely “SuBo”, as Boyle is now referred to, but also a lesson for business owners, big and small, across Britain who have talented staff of their own.

For many SMEs, losing ‘high potential’ staff can have a devastating effect on the way their business runs – especially if the staff switch their allegiance to a competitor.

So in these tough times, what can businesses do to retain their top staff in order to survive? Well, Susan Boyle was granted a stylish make-over, received media training and guidance from a team of experts and has been given countless opportunities to put her new skills in to practice.

Many companies however, believe that the way forward is to cut costs, which applies to some areas of business, but can be fatal in others.

Take learning and development for example, cutting back on your staff development budget during tough economic times is an easy way to save money, granted. But is it a false economy?

Research by the Federation of Small Businesses indicates that businesses that reduce or stop learning and development are 2.5 times more likely to fail during a downturn than those who invest.

No matter what you believe, the downturn will not discourage ambitious and able employees from seeking to further their careers elsewhere. If your best staff choose to leave, they will take skills, experience and even the confidence of the remaining staff with them. So what is the solution?

It is more important than ever that businesses instil confidence and optimism in their workforce. Ensuring staff that they have a bright future is the first step to retaining them (confidence = Oprah, which = success, remember).

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The recession means that many organisations will not grow this year, and that staff may have to remain in position, without promotion or pay rise, for longer than anyone expected. So re-energising your staff is the key. Confirm your commitment to them, making it clear that they have a future with the company.

Remember, the recession won’t last forever. What would you do when this is all over and your best staff are working for your competitor. Think how Simon Cowell would feel if Susan Boyle switched her allegiance to BBC’s Tonight’s The Night.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Age discrimination and redundancy selection: Rolls Royce v Unite
next post
Retail chiefs call on HR to help develop talent

You may also like

Gen Z are in ‘work situationships’ with employers

19 May 2025

Workers ‘wait and see’ as companies struggle to...

16 May 2025

So what does the election of a new...

9 May 2025

Rumours during recruitment: how should HR respond?

9 May 2025

Teacher apprenticeship route to be tied to school...

9 May 2025

British Steel to resume recruitment

8 May 2025

M&S pauses hiring as it deals with cyber...

2 May 2025

Top 10 HR questions April 2025: increases to...

2 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

Succession planning now ‘more of a priority than...

24 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+