The right way to attract the wrong talent
The International Institute for Management Development, a Swiss research institute known by the acronym IMD, ranked Brazil 57th in its Talent Generation and Retention Ranking.
The study included 61 countries in total, focusing on three major categories:
— investment/development;
— attraction; and
— readiness.
Within these main categories, the study evaluates factors such as learning, education, employee training, cost and quality of life, human capital flight, employee motivation, fees, taxes, language skills, and, of course, compensation.
“In Brazil, the situation is deteriorating rather than improving. It goes without saying that this trend must be reversed”, says Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center and lead researcher of the study. Brazil's best ranking was in 2005, when it reached 28th place.
The global ranking leaders are, respectively, Switzerland (score 100), Denmark (83.7), Luxembourg (78.6), Norway (78.1), and the Netherlands (77.1).
Brazil sits at a score of 10.8 on a scale of zero to one hundred. At least we rank ahead of countries such as Croatia (9.6), Peru (7.8), Venezuela (2.9), and Bulgaria (0.0).
Unfortunately, the study does not reveal where Brazilian companies are falling short in this regard. However, StartSe has a solid hypothesis:
While many business owners attempt to attract and retain talent by offering slightly above-average salaries — hoping this will "lock in" employees — there is already in Brazil a little-known model of internal culture and profit-sharing that, in addition to being responsible for transforming XP Investimentos, StartSe itself, and dozens of other companies into profitable and scalable businesses, attracts and retains the best talent in the market.
We are talking about a model that:
— Draws out the best results from each individual;
— Motivates employees to work with an ownership mindset, without the need for micromanagement;
— Creates an outstanding organizational culture and makes employees happier by granting them greater autonomy;
— Generates exponential profits for your business.
When properly implemented, this Partnership model guarantees all of these benefits and many more.
While many companies continue to keep this model closely guarded, the partners at StartSe believe that sharing this knowledge benefits the market and the economy as a whole.
Stay alert and keep moving
On the African savanna, one law reigns supreme: the law of movement. Every single animal must be in constant motion, whether prey or predator.
Zebras and lions stand on opposite sides of the survival game. They are completely different animals, yet they share one thing in common: they must keep moving to stay alive.
Every day, zebras and lions share just one certainty: they will have to run for their survival. But why am I writing about this? Because the corporate world works the same way.
Whether you run a small or a large company, every morning you face one certainty: you need to keep moving or risk being overtaken. Inertia is currently the greatest enemy of businesses.
This phenomenon also plays out, in a more specific way, within companies' HR departments. The most talented individuals are becoming increasingly selective, drawn less by money and more by purpose.
If HR fails to move quickly enough to deliver what these people want, the company ends up in the lion's mouth.
On the other side, companies are offering the “dream job.”
But new skills and behaviors are constantly being demanded, and the professional who fails to move fast enough watches the zebra pass right in front of them — and starves.
In this new landscape of ever-accelerating change, standing still is the biggest mistake of all.
HR Day, one of the largest events on the “new HR” ever held in Brazil, will address exactly this.
In the near future, traditional “HR Departments” will cease to exist. People are far too important to be managed by a single department.
“People management” has already broken through the walls of HR and will increasingly become the primary topic at the table of CEOs and company Presidents.
Remote work is the future
And speaking of innovative environments and the future of work, the trend clearly points toward remote work. A study conducted in the United States found that 5.3% of American workers already work remotely almost every day, but that number jumps to ⅔ of respondents when we consider occasional remote work.
This flexibility has been reshaping the way we work, the tools we use – especially for communication – our daily routines, and even the number of hours worked per day. It is also affecting the real estate sector, both in how properties are designed and where they are located. With this flexibility, more people are looking to live farther from urban centers.
From a corporate perspective, embracing and adopting remote work represents a recognition of the practice as a genuine benefit, aimed primarily at employee well-being and work-life balance. The impact on the real estate sector is significant, as companies no longer need to occupy as much fixed office space. This is a win for coworking spaces, which are gaining both individual and corporate members.
If You Grew Up in the 80s…
…you may already know James Rhodes.
But if you didn't, and you've watched the Marvel film series, then you definitely know him.
Of course, if you're as bad with names as I am, you probably won't remember Rhodes…
Fortunately, I have a photo of him and his best friend right here:
Rhodes is the guy on the right.
He is Tony Stark's best friend, and is also known as War Machine.
But I didn't bring these guys up for no reason…
What do Iron Man and War Machine have to do with you?
Well, first of all, it's worth remembering that they have virtually the same powers when they're wearing their suits…
But while one is the unforgettable Tony Stark, the other needs a photo just to be remembered.
That is the difference between being the lead and the supporting character
Even when they share the screen, we can always tell who the true hero is — the one who steps in, solves the problem, and saves the day.
That alone teaches us a lesson that applies just as much in the marketplace:
It is not about how remarkable the weapons at your disposal are, but rather how you use them
But wielding weapons with greater skill is not the only thing that secures Tony's leading role.
In fact, his rebellious streak, his impulsive drive to take charge, and his results-oriented mindset are the hallmarks that give Marvel stories such a compelling narrative.
It was no coincidence that Tony became the head of the Avengers…
The best of the story always goes to Tony
Beyond the leading lady's heart and the fans' admiration…
The best things always happen to Tony, even off screen…
Did you know that Marvel considered releasing a solo War Machine film?
Well, they did — but it could have compromised the budget for the next Iron Man film…
Since a supporting character never takes precedence over the lead… that film never happened.
And here, I want to know about YOU:
In your life, who gets the best of the story?
It doesn't matter what your bread and butter is.
What matters is whether you are satisfied with what you have been doing — after all, your life is passing by…
Do you feel fulfilled? Are you living the best chapter of your story?
If you think not, then you may not yet be living as a protagonist…
Taking the lead role is part of professional growth, and being a protagonist in today's market means:
— Having autonomy;
— Being recognized;
— Having authority;
— Being determined;
— Being skilled.
I can state with confidence that taking ownership of your career is one of the most defining traits of professional growth.
So, if you are tired of the pace of life you have been living and want to pursue the career of your dreams…
You need to evolve.
Do you know why?
Because the 21st century belongs to those who take the lead.
For the first time in history — which has always been governed by hierarchies — every human being with a good idea and the right tools can also become a protagonist.
On the other hand, even in the 21st century, supporting players continue to serve merely as a stepping stone to carry protagonists somewhere.
And although I do not know you personally, I sense that being just a stepping stone was not your plan when you began building your career, was it?
The beginning of the end of MBAs
Enrolments at some of the most prestigious business schools in the United States are declining at a rapid pace. The average student loss in 2019, compared to the previous year, was just over 10 percent.
And we are not talking about just any schools. Established institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, and Yale are among those losing the most students, according to the Wall Street Journal.
There is still no definitive answer as to what is causing this, but one of the most likely theories is that the programmes offered by these institutions are not delivering what executives, business owners, and entrepreneurs are looking for.
As the pace of transformation in the business world accelerates, short-duration, high-practical-value courses have become the preferred choice.
One- or two-year programmes are far too long, and the content covered can become outdated in very little time.
Meanwhile, short courses of two to five days, focused on specific topics and taught not only by academic professors but by practitioners who actually operate in the field, have grown at an extraordinary rate.
The way people relate to education will continue to transform. Not only MBAs will be affected, but also undergraduate degrees and the entire educational chain.
Companies around the world are dropping degree requirements when hiring.
Recruiters are paying far more attention to candidates' skills than to the institutions from which they graduated. It is an entirely different game.
How to attract and retain top talent
If you own a company — small, medium, or large — or work in recruitment, you have very likely faced significant challenges with two activities in 2019:
— Finding strong talent in the market;
— Retaining the strong talent you already have.
If you went through this during the year, understand that you are not alone.
At the end of this article I want to present a possible solution to this problem.
Let us take it step by step…
A global survey by Robert Half, conducted with 1,775 HR directors from 13 nationalities — including 100 Brazilians — revealed a concerning finding: Brazil currently holds the world record for employee turnover.
Staff turnover has increased in 82 percent of Brazilian companies since 2010 — more than double the global average of 38 percent.
The three main reasons cited to explain this increasingly widespread phenomenon in Brazil are:
— Low compensation and lack of recognition;
— Lack of motivation;
— Concern about the company's future.
Most strikingly, 59 percent of the HR directors surveyed believe that executives' departures are justified. In other words: they know where they are going wrong… but have no idea what to do to fix it.
Do you relate to the "pain" expressed by these interviewees?
Take your time to answer: pause for a moment and genuinely reflect on everything that has happened in your business or under your management this year…
Did you lose excellent professionals in 2019, and are you finding it difficult to find new talent to fill those gaps?
Have you ever thought — even briefly — that perhaps your best employees are becoming disengaged and may resign at any moment?
As the research above shows, the majority of Brazilian executives are suffering from this very issue right now. What most of them do not yet know is that a solution to this problem already exists — and it is easier to solve than it appears.
There is a little-known model of internal culture and compensation that not only attracts and retains the best talent on the market, but does so without your employees wanting to negotiate salary increases with you in order to stay at your company.
And without disrupting your cash flow, since you distribute only what you can genuinely afford, in line with your balanced "economics."
Although not widely publicized, this strategy has been used for a considerable time by companies such as Ambev, Goldman Sachs, and XP Investimentos. In fact, this very model has been in use at StartSe since the company's founding, four years ago.
The result is that, in addition to growing 25 times over those four years, we continue to have employees who are increasingly happy to work here.
All of this simply because we implemented a Partnership system that has already been tested and proven by other major companies and that works across any market segment.
This system was kept under wraps for a long time and, unfortunately, that is reflected today in the growing struggles of countless companies and entrepreneurs trying to attract and retain top talent in the market.
Texts by Pedro Weingertner and Starse