Talent Retention at Man Utd - Fergie Style

by The Watcher

Talent retention and talent selection are key processes that underpin how any business and organisation will perform. What to do when a star employee has his or her head turned by a competitor? Cristiano-gate is in full swing and the outcome is still in the balance. Can an employer keep an employee who wants away against their contracted terms? If performance of consultants and professionals in recruitment and HR were visible by a league table, would staff poaching be a problem for recruitment agencies and HR consultancies?

Cristiano Ronaldo is held in extremely high esteem on the global football landscape. As Manchester United won the Champions League this year (dramatic fashion against Chelsea) he is favourite to supersede Kaka as World Player of The Year (who won the Champions League after a stellar season last year). Ronaldo has flirted shamelessly with Real Madrid and has admitted to having decided to leave Man Utd before the Champions League final. After scoring 42 goals and also winning the Premier League title this past season does he think he has nothing more to accomplish with Man Utd in the Premier League? How to keep staff happy and committed to your organisation's cause?

Ronlado has countrymen with him at Man Utd (assistant coach Carlos Queiroz and fellow player Nani) as well as Portugese-speaking Brazilian Anderson and -one would assume- a team full of chums. He is -one would assume- adored by the Utd fans and has a revered manager committed to his further development and well-being. Is the weather in Manchester and England that bad that he longs for the Spanish sun? Surely not. He claims that playing for Real Madrid is a 'dream' of his and his family...and the money on offer is none too shabby either. How can Utd compete against Ronaldo's 'dream'? I doubt that matching the Madrid money and striking a bargain with Mother Nature to make the UK as warm and sunny as Spain would keep him at Utd. He wants out and it would seem that being an ideal employer is no bar to staff disenchantment.

PR and marketing seem to be a sure way of improving the image of an employer. The better, more exciting and even fabled an employer seems, the more people will want to work there (who doesn't wasn't to work for Google for example?) and once the new employees arrive, cute and ever more innovative activities will need to be undertaken to keep these staff happy and ensure that they buy in to the business's vision, whilst clearly seeing the developing role that they will play in that business's growth. For my money, Ronaldo will be a Madrid player sooner rather than later.