[Surabhi KhannaParticipant]

A lot of talent is lost right around the time of deal announcement much prior to creating a resource retention plan. What practices have you seen deployed by companies to retain talent?

[DAWN GARRETTParticipant]

Very true, Surabhi. A possible tactic might be to include verbiage within the initial announcement alluding to a plan to retain talent. This way, NewCo employees have hope of a future with the acquiring company. Having HR involved in the very beginning can help craft this message. Many times the acquiring company concentrates only on the financial aspect of the acquisition.

[Billy Fok Kam LuenParticipant]

Some company have some great retention programs, it can be limited in scope unless the company have the foundation in a place like the culture of the company
People spend 1/3rd of their waking life at work. the company need to make them feel exhilarated, motivated, and know that they are adding value in what they do every single day. The culture embodies hiring great people at all levels, having career options, being recognized and rewarded, understanding what is expected of them and for the company to really listen to their feedback.

The best retention program for a company is a culture that unites, engages, and inspires its employees. If that is not in place, then what value would a formal retention program bring to your company? Develop a culture that brings out the best in people, not people that just come to work for the paycheck.”

Our focus clearly lies in nurturing a unique culture that attracts and retains great people.

[Nancee Roberson caldwellParticipant]

I like Dawn idea on communication in the beginning and wanting to retain the talent. Have conversations from the start on how you are going to help the employees achieve their goals and hit targets for success. Employees want to be valued. Maybe individual meetings with key employees will be key to success to maintain the best employees.

[Navdeep SinghParticipant]

You can only retain talent by communicating (correctly) and making the talent believe that there will be opportunities in the merger organisation. Including HR Business Partners clearly makes sense. In one of the deal I witnessed informal communication with the new org leaders/Line mangers helped more than HR.

[Jason KiangParticipant]

You may consider the use of stock options or ESOPs to retain key talent.

[Chris FegusonParticipant]

I agree, top talent wants to feel like they are part of successful team with opportunity for career growth. The faster you can engage the identified key resources in projects outside of just integration work, the faster they will embrace their new organization.

[Rochelle RamosParticipant]

When we did an acquisition a few years back, we were lucky to not lose any talent in the process. Right from the beginning, we made sure our message was clear and during presentations both our company and the key leadership of the acquired company was involved and remained positive during the process. We made sure to travel and meet with staff in-person, roll them into our benefits that would improve their overall compensation (we are an ESOP and extended a SERP option to them), as well as ongoing support and joint meetings. The message was that we were here to support them and support their continued success.

[Deepak kumar swainParticipant]

I think good continuous communication would help. giving clarity about their role and future growth will help a lot to bring down the anxiety/insecurity among the talents. of course announcing upfront financial benefits also help.

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