Finding and Retaining Top Talent

Author: Ouyang Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: Almost everyone believes that the original contract between employers and employees no longer exists. Under that contract, companies would provide at least one form of job security in exchange for good performance and some loyalty from employees. Some management scholars argue that what we should focus on now is not traditional employment, but employability. Employability means possessing competitive skills that allow us to succeed in finding a job anywhere. However, this perspective does not clarify the responsibilities that both enterprises and employees should mutually bear. In this article, the author points out that the answer to this question is a new contract, under which employees and employers share responsibilities to maintain or even enhance the employability of each employee both within and outside the company. The responsibility of the enterprise lies in providing employees with tools, an open environment, and opportunities to assess and develop their skills. The responsibility of employees is to manage their own careers, and as long as they work for this company, they must make certain commitments to the company's goals and collective. Doing so will create employees with self-driven career development capabilities and a thriving enterprise in an era where the rapid development of skills required to maintain competitiveness is essential. If a company's employees possess self-driven career development capabilities, then the company will have a significant strategic advantage. The company can encourage employee development, change, and learning, and the result will be that the company can more effectively encourage employee development, change, and learning.