Last week we welcomed a group of smart #TorontoHR folks to Lighthouse Labs for a conversation about whether it was more important to recruit or retain talent.

Since we work with amazing organizations every day to help them retain their people, we fall heavily into the retain camp. And there are a number of reasons:

1. People are the best but also the most expensive thing about your business. With nearly two-thirds of annual operating budgets spent on people, that investment is at risk if you don’t understand empirically what makes people tick, whether they’ll stay, go, or do the job they are paid for or recommend your company as a great place to work
2. 80% of what makes your company valuable lies intangibly in the people you currently have
3. It’s three times as expensive to replace an employee as it is to hire a brand new one

That said, the question is actually rhetorical. To build an irresistible culture you need to do both: recruit and retain talent. We were privileged to assemble a panel of experts last night who each offered tactical, practical take aways on achieving a balanced approach to talent management:

• When looking to hire, we're all tempted to find the seasoned professional. Chris Leabeter of Lighthouse Labs made the argument that you shouldn’t overlook junior staff.
• Ray Kanani, Co-Founder of Quartermaster, warned that since a frightening amount of new hires voluntarily leave within the first 6 months that onboarding is a critical (that’s with a capital C!) component of delivering on the promise you made when recruiting.
• The amazing Marsha Forde, Director of Human Resources at Workopolis shared perspectives on what Canada's largest platform for job seekers does to ensure their own people don't seek greener pastures. It all centres on culture and employee involvement.
• Penny Farinha, Director of Human Resources for ecobee shared insight and amazing examples on how to create work environments that are irresistible for new hires and long tenured employees alike because they’re about community and doing meaningful work.

A recurring theme in the presentations and the dialogue with our audience was culture. It was acknowledged that culture is critical but an often overused and misunderstood word. How convenient since that’ll be the topic of our next Toronto HR Meetup on August 24. If you’re in #TorontoHR, you can save your seat now by registering here: http://events.tembostatus.com/august