In an industry with more vacancies than good people to fill them, a consulting firm had to take urgent action to retain its good staff - and attract new ones.
| Entrepreneur |
Andrew Meerman, General Manager |
| Company |
Noel Arnold and Associates |
| Business type |
Corporate and environmental risk assessment |
| Founded |
1984 |
| Employees |
120 |
| Head office |
Head Office in Box Hill, Victoria. Branches in Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney |
| Contact details |
+61 3 9890 8811 |
Key Learning Points |
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Staff retention
Key staff need to know where the company is headed - and what their role could be.
Incentives
Make bonus payments a frequent and lucrative part of the salary package. Quarterly bonuses are better than annual ones.
Training
Make your business a learning centre for your industry.
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The Noel Arnold And Associates Story
A chill-out room with comfy sofas, bowls of fresh fruit delivered daily, weekends at the snow and an annual day off called Noel Arnold Day are just some of the perks enjoyed by staff at Noel Arnold and Associates (NAA), a corporate risk-management company. It has grown rapidly despite fierce competition. But it has had to fight hard to keep senior consultants in an industry with more job vacancies than good people to fill them.
The company was founded by its Managing Director, Noel Arnold, in 1984 to provide asbestos risk-management services to property owners (asbestos in buildings was then emerging as a pressing public concern). It has become a multi-disciplinary consultancy with 120 staff and an annual turnover of $13 million. Its core work is business risk management, occupational health and safety, environmental risk management and property risk consulting.
The Challenge
NAA's general manager, Andrew Meerman, has worked for the company for nearly two decades. He says it has been a challenge to adjust to the new workplace ethic of employees who hop between companies, adding skills and experience to their career portfolios.
Staff retention became a critical issue when a senior employee moved to work for a competitor. Fearing that other staff would follow, NAA was forced to thoroughly review its retention and recruitment strategies.
The Solution
NAA has developed five key strategies to aid staff retention and attract good staff: better incentives, training opportunities, clear career paths, workplace variety and aggressive recruiting. Meerman says that career planning has been essential. "We needed to ensure that senior people could see their career progression in the firm. We needed to give them a good understanding of where we're going as a business and where they can fit in. And we talk about that with them frequently."
Performance bonuses are regular and central to total remuneration packages. Quarterly bonuses are paid to consultants who exceed their financial targets. Meerman says: "We regularly get 25–30% of our staff receiving quarterly bonuses."
NAA has also established an active graduate training program for employees in courses that can benefit the business in technical and managerial disciplines such as MBAs. In some years, three or four employees are studying the same course. They form study groups and work together.
About 25% of staff are doing post-graduate study. NAA supports them financially and with study leave. One female employee is studying a Masters in Fire Safety Engineering. She is paid for five days but works four in the office and has a day each week to attend her course and study. In return, she is contracted to stay with the company for two years.
Another attraction for staff is the broad range of services NAA offers. Staff are not pigeon-holed into narrow career paths; they are actively encouraged to be multi-disciplinary.
Senior female employees who leave to have babies are welcomed back. They still have to meet targets but can do it flexibly, such as by working from home. Meerman says: “Other women in the company see that it can work and feel secure about taking leave to have children.”
Aggressive recruiting is essential to attract the best and brightest graduates. The company has established relationships with staff at post-graduate schools in risk management, health and safety, property and engineering. Students are invited to the NAA office for an afternoon of presentations by consultants – and NAA has a chance to assess which students might be offered positions when they graduate.
The Result
Keeping good staff is central to NAA’s success. Meerman says: “We have cultivated a culture of trusted partner rather than 'grubby subby [sub-contractor]’. This higher value work attracts higher fees and better staff who are more likely to stay.” The staff retention effort is paying off: staff losses have fallen and some young graduates who left to work for competing companies have enthusiastically returned to the Noel Arnold and Associates fold.