AchieveNEXT 2022 Compensation Study

KEY FINDINGS

4. MID-MARKET AND EMERGING ENTERPRISES NEED TO REIMAGINE EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION TO SUPPORT GROWTH. The fact that talent acquisition and retention are most difficult in the technical and middle ranks of enterprises points out the need for talent and culture solutions that will make the most difference to those employees— people who, because of their expertise and experience, are critical to the execution of enterprise strategy. While senior leadership and investors are obviously key to setting strategy and direction and providing the capital to support it, a strategy-execution gap will open and widen in the absence of superior, engaged, and tenured human capital to carry it out, whether in sales, operations, marketing, or back-office roles.

Executives in mid market firms point to three kinds of initiatives and action that can help arm companies to prevail in the war for talent: • Executive coaching that produces better bosses and improves employee experience and performance • Learning and development programs, accompanied by career mapping and succession planning, that excite and educate mid- level employees • Culture change that expands talent pools and releases new energy among current employees and powers recruitment The value of these actions are confirmed by our own experience and that of our partners, as well as dialogues and conversations in the CFO and CHRO Alliance peer networks. Build Better Bosses Investing in the quality and capabilities of management is not generally thought of as a tactic to attract and retain talent. Yet data from Gallup and others has long shown that bad managers

“The numbers are clear: companies want leaders who think clearly about the business and use their insights to coach people up rather than dictate down. When executives see themselves as coaches, they are 50%+ more effective at keeping the best players on their team. When they don’t, they invite another leader and another company to hire them away.” — Eric Herrenkohl, Managing Director of Executive Coaching and Executive Career Services, AchieveNEXT

are a major—some studies show the major—reason people leave companies. Finance and HR leaders in the mid-market agree that so-called “soft skills” are the ones most urgently needed in their leadership ranks. Communication skill is nearly five time more likely to be ranked as a top leadership-development priority than financial acumen is, for example. These companies too often rely on experience as the only teacher for their executive management, overlooking the value of coaching, networking, and other outside sources of knowledge. Better managers are a lever that helps retain those elusive and valuable specialist/technicians and the experienced workers on which you depend—and also an essential element in helping them do their best work. 2021-2022 Mid-Market Talent Acquisition, Executive Compensation and Culture Study — Powered by Insperity I 19

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