Nando’s HR director has insisted that rival businesses trying to poach staff are “more of an insult [to employees] than a worry” for the restaurant chain.
Julia Claydon told delegates at the annual Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) conference that competitors who try to steal staff from other companies lose integrity. She outlined one example where a rival sent a fax to all 190 Nando’s offices hoping to attract staff to their organisation.
But the chicken eaterie would never use such aggressive tactics as it went against their company values of remaining integral, Claydon said. She later told Personnel Today that if HR achieve high levels of employee engagement, people were less likely to want to leave anyway.
She said: “If you’ve got good engagement of your employees and they are engaged with the company, [poaching] is more of an insult [to employees] than a worry. People that do that [poach], devalue the integrity of organisations.”
The news contrasts the worries of other HR directors in the hospitality industry, who have previously told Personnel Today they were worried about staff being pinched from rival businesses, particularly in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012.
However, Claydon admitted the sector was struggling with staff turnover, particularly in the current economic climate.
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“The economic factors might make people think ‘for an extra couple of thousand pounds I can go [work] there’,” she said.
Legal Q&A: Staff poaching measures
