Article#22. Of Talent Attraction and Retention in MSMEs
By Victor PM Nyasulu
Last week, I hinted at the use of life assurance products as a tool for helping Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises-MSMEs to retain top talent in the business. To be clear any strategy to reduce labour turnover cannot be implemented for purely keeping people in the business when they are ‘dead wood’!
Today, I mention and briefly discuss Talent Attraction and Retention in MSMEs who indeed have real challenges in that space especially in Zambia.
MSMEs often face stiff competition from larger corporations, making it tough to lure top talent. When one adds to that talent competition limited resources and budgets, the challenges compound real quick. In a country where affordable commercial finance is virtually impossible, how can an MSME offer competitive salaries and benefits?
But here’s the thing: MSMEs can actually offer something that bigger companies can’t – a more personal, flexible work environment and opportunities for growth and innovation. To attract the right people, MSMEs need to focus on showcasing their unique culture and values, and highlighting opportunities for professional development and career advancement. MSMEs can hire and retain top talent by focusing on:
- Clear job descriptions: Please define roles, responsibilities, and expectations to attract the right fit way before you ask the first person to help you headhunt anyone.
- Cultural fit: Ensure that cultural alignment by new hires mesh with your values and work style.
- Competitive offers: In the unlikely event that as an MSME you have provided adequate working capital for a 6 months or more, paying attractive salaries, benefits, and perks that match industry standards would a great start in attraction and retention of top Talent for your MSME.
- Growth opportunities: Offer training, mentorship, and career advancement paths to keep talent engaged and make it difficult for tempted top Talent to leave.
- Employee recognition: Regularly acknowledging and rewarding employees’ contributions and achievements even with very little financial investment is perhaps the most significant way out of the challenge at hand. Zambian MSMEs must be maximise on this strategy for sure!
- Flexibility and work-life balance: Offer flexible schedules, remote work options, or wellness programs to support employees’ personal lives. The Gen-Z workforce are not just fixated on the pay check as they are at a time in their lives whereby they are getting married, building family homesteads and so on and so forth. This is another strategy to really attract and retain employees that are looking for more than pay in the workplace. It (this strategy) must be exploited by MSME owners too.
- Open communication: Foster an open-door policy, encouraging feedback and idea-sharing are key for the modern generation that seem allergic to instruction-taking and ‘commands’ from the boss. With the right strategy, employee attraction and retention is not only crucial but possible for discerning business owners regardless of size.
For MSMEs it is doubly important given their growth stage and legacy.
Naluta mafumu!
The Author of VICTOR NYASULU Consult-VNc is also Partner at NS-CGMA +260 955 746 997. vpmn69@gmail.com
