How TESCO hangs onto its Top Talent
It’s been reported that Tesco has found an ingenious way of holding onto its Top Talent. Under headhunting rules search companies and consultants will always sign an “off limits” agreement with clients. In effect this restricts anyone from poaching people from their clients when engaged by a rival company to fill a job vacancy. Tesco, it is alleged by some parts of the media, have engaged every headhunter it knows in a move to prevent Top talent being headhunted to Sainsbury or Marks & Spencer.This is all very well but if Tesco’s competitors also use this strategy then staff could well be “locked in” to their current firm and with little movement at all.
Well we doubt that, in reality, staff will not be moving from one superstore to another it but it’s an amusing thought to consider all that talent in Tesco’s, Sainsbury and M&Ss head office wondering why their phones don’t ring with job offers anymore!!
This is a great story, but I doubt that there is much substance to it. New recruitment agencies would simply move in to fill the vacuum. The other supermarkets would see to that. I can’t see Sainsburys or Asda allowing themselves to be barred from headhunting Tesco’s staff.
Howard Wright
Withers & Rogers LLP
Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys
Stephen,
What a great story. I wonder how much Tesco have paid out in retainers to make this work.
I remember a headhunter who would end unsuccessful cold calls with the line “you know, if you’re not a client, you’re a target”. He has obviously found his niche.
Ian Boyd-Livingston
Howard,
One of the questions that I ask clients when beginning work with them is what headhunters or search companies they use. he reason for doing so is to identify the competitor’s firms that they are “Locked out” from.
Whislt I accept that it would not be possible to stop all headhunting activity, hiring a number of the better search firms would be a reasonable tactic to adopt in the war for talent.
I think it’s interesting that recent press reports say that Tesco will be bringing in staff to the UK from Eastern European countries in order to plug their own skills and talent gap. Or is this a cost saving exercise?
Philip
I think your comment is interesting
I suspect that this is a cost saving exercise, however there is no doubt that Tesco, along with other retailers such as Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer are concerned over their talent being lost or stolen.
If these large stores have identified a potential shortage then other high street retailes will soon begin to feel the pain as well.