According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), enticing key staff members to stay on will be the top business aim of 2010 for most companies.

As the economy turns around, it is expected to bring with it a huge increase in recruitment activity as companies begin hiring again. A high number of top-performing employees who remained in their position to weather the storm of the recession may take this opportunity to move elsewhere.

Albert Ellis, CEO of Harvey Nash Group, commented: “As conditions improve, the retention of top talent is likely to play an increasingly important role in returning our economy to growth and confidence … If 2009 was the year of remuneration alignment, 2010 could very easily become the year of talent retention.”

Those employers who were forced to axe jobs in the face of the recession may also have problems with retention. The 2009 IRS benchmarking research on the impact of redundancies found that almost half (46.6%) of employers stated that they were not confident that they would be able to retain key employees during and after job-loss programmes, even though the workers in question were not selected for redundancy.

Rewarding employees who remain with the company once economic conditions improve is the traditional way to boost retention amongst these employees.

This highlights just how crucial pay awards will be in 2010. Employers will have to ensure that their decisions are based on the most up-to-date and reliable benchmarking data, both for the good of their own organisation and for the wider benefit of the economy as a whole.

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