Attracting and retaining skilled executive staff is a priority for many business in the current economic climate as they look to improve profitability and minimise disruption to the business. In this article we will try and offer some advice on helping business secure and retain staff. For many companies ranging from small business to large corporates finding, recruiting, training and – just as important - retaining staff is a constantly troublesome and seemingly endless task.

For businesses it can be extremely frustrating, very tedious and rather costly. Finding decent staff can be arduous enough but holding onto them can also often prove difficult. Retention of staff is all too often something which is overlooked and rarely addressed with the necessary consideration.

One of the more common problems encountered by candidates is the realisation that some of promises made during the interview are not going to be met. False promises are a pointless way of attempting to lure staff as once employment commences the truth quickly comes out. In the long run, false promises merely cost you more money in wasted time, resources and additional recruitment fees when the dissatisfied member of staff leaves.

Watford and London based executive search agency Forties People – http://www.fortiespeople.com

As well as spending money on recruiting the right person into the right role it is important to look after new employees from the moment they arrive. It is imperative to invest in training, supporting and encouraging them especially in small companies where there is not always a structure and where these things are often overlooked.

Happy staff are likely to be more productive than those who are directing all their energy into looking for a new job. People who are trying to leave will influence the attitude of other staff - unhappiness and dissatisfaction are infectious; you may find you have a "resignation-shower" on your hands if you are not careful. The result of this is that you could end up with a very weak inexperienced team made of predominantly of new staff. You will then be faced with shelling out more money on recruiting replacements, and training for more new staff.

The moral of the story is that if you address the issues facing your existing staff and you work hard at retaining them you will save money in the long term. There is no point in continually spending money on recruiting new staff, if you do not pay attention to – and address - the reasons why people leave.