Supply Excellence
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New Supply Risk: Losing Your Top Talent

July 20th, 2006 · by Tim Minahan · 3 Comments · skills rectruitment and development, supply management

Recognizing that new market challenges are forcing supply management executives to upskill their teams, Supply Excellence has proffered advice on recruiting and developing talent. A new study from Denali Consulting and SupplyStaff examines an even greater labor challenge: how to retain your best people.

As noted in previous posts, talent poaching has reached new heights in the supply management arena. A week doesn’t go by where I don’t hear some supply management executive grousing about losing an all-star to another internal function or a competitor. Skills particularly high in demand in today’s supply management marketplace include financial acumen, MBA degrees, engineering talent, and experience running successful supply management solution deployments.

The Denali study reports that the typical company experiences a nearly 40% voluntary turnover rate by employees. The study also warns that job satisfaction does not guarantee an employee won’t jump ship. “I like my current position,” said one supply manager participating in the study. “But I also realize I must be master of my own destiny and can’t expect my boss to facilitate or even inspire me toward my future career moves.”

So what is a good indicator of employee retention? Not surprisingly, a good salary tops the list. (As higlighted in a previous post, competitive salaries also have a direct impact on supply management performance.)

Management approach also impacts employee retention, according to the study. “Our experienced supply chain management staff needs more autonomy to drive improvements,” said one study participant. “Too many approvals and too much bureaucracy is stifling creative solutions.”

The study also found that employees prefer a work environment that continually challenges them to perform better and provides a clear career path.

So how can you hang onto your best talent? The study points to four secrets:

  1. Keep your team’s work challenging
  2. Reframe your department to nurture highly-skilled candidates
  3. Encourage and allow balance between work and life
  4. Develop mentoring programs to encourage advancement

In short, if you don’t recognize and reward your top-performing team members, someone else will. Denali’s study offers some good advice on how to ensure that you can not only transform but also sustain supply management improvements.

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3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Supply Excellence » IACCM Chimes in on the Talent Crunch // Aug 3, 2006 at 9:23 am

    [...] Thanks, Tim. Very telling findings, raising many questions about the future of the contract management profession. It seems that we may soon be facing a talent crunch as elder statesmen retire from the workforce and companies struggle to secure new recruits. Some answers to these questions may lie in a Denali and SupplyStaff study on employee retention that was recently profiled here. The study recommended the following tips for retaining your top talent: [...]

  • 2 Supply Excellence » What’s Next According to Busch: Supply Skills Networks // Aug 29, 2006 at 10:30 am

    [...] Considering the talent crunch for skilled commodity and sourcing experts, Jason’s concept is particularly intriguing and well-timed. CPO’s continually complain to me of competitors and internal departments poaching their top players and recent studies from Purchasing Magazine, ISM, and Denali Consulting place talent recruitment and retention among a supply management executive’s top challenges. Sharing category expertise or sourcing “capacity” could prove a plausible antidote to the talent shortage. This model could also accelerate attempts by resource-strapped mid-sized firms to improve their supply management performance. [...]

  • 3 Supply Excellence » Jack Welch on Attracting Great Talent // Sep 21, 2006 at 11:42 am

    [...] Previous Supply Excellence posts have highlighted the challenges of hiring and retaining skilled supply management professionals and the increase in talent poaching as a result of these issues. Last week, former General Electric chief Jack Welch and his wife, Suzy, former editor at Harvard Business Review (HBR), chimed in with simple, straightforward advice: the best way to attract great talent is to be a preferred employer. [...]

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