Andres Moll (NBS People Consulting) : HR, it is all about listening
With more than 25 years of experience in international Human Resources, NBS People offers tailor made HR (strategic and operational) support to small entreprises who need strategic HR help.
How can companies (and Luxembourg) attract candidates to Luxembourg ?
Luxembourg’s image changed significantly in the last couple of years. The world is seeing that the standard of living is high, that it is a safe place and offers great benefits such as free public transport. But, it needs to be careful not to become victim of its own succes. There are not enough houses available and the cross border commute is getting more and more difficult. These issues need to be addressed on the short term. Having said that Luxembourg needs to continue its efforts to promote its unique selling points internationally. Missions conducted by the government, ALFI, LPEA, Luxembourg House of Finance, to name a few have proven to be very successful. As for employers; multinationals could use their internal talent pool supported by their international mobility strategies to attract talents to Luxembourg.
“Management should use HR as their strategic partner to facilitate this growth at an early stage.”
How can companies reduce their staff turnover ?
It is important for a company to understand why their staff are leaving. Money, career progression, leadership style, company culture, lack of vision? One way of doing this is by conducting exit interviews, it will give the company a lot of valuable information and implement solutions. But exit interviews are held too late, the employee has left. Companies should hold “Stay” interviews, especially with their key talents and people in key positions on all levels. In order to reduce staff turnover, management should know the engagement levels of their staff which can be done by holding face to face sessions with employees. Not all employees dare to speak up and often short and frequent Engagement Surveys focussing on specific themes and the Nett Promotor Score are used instead. Afterwards, ideas can be identified and further developed. Doing this with a group of employees will help in the design and implementation.
How can HR help companies grow ?
Studies show that typical growth mechanisms are linked to the size of the organisation. Small companies limit their HR to payroll and admin, and as the company grows the HR need evolves. Management should use HR as their strategic partner to facilitate this growth at an early stage. HR really can add value to the growth of the company by understanding the business model and the growth strategy and translate this into a People Plan. This People Plan should cover not only recruitment, but also identify what kind of profiles are needed, the impact on the organisational structure, how talents are identified and developed, how people should be remunerated and many more topics. HR should also ensure sound onboarding processes where all internal stakeholders are responsible for the smooth introduction of a new employee.