What is Employee Poaching & Its Importance

What is Employee Poaching & Its Importance

5-6 minutes

Understanding Employee Poaching

Employee poaching is a situation where an organization or an employer is regularly hiring or commencing the recruitment of employees already hired by another organization. The act of enticing or persuading workers away from one organization to another, with the use of greater incentives or benefits for performing their duties, is called employee poaching.

Understanding employee poaching is to fathom why companies try to ""steal"" employees from one another. It may be a case of really wanting a talented and experienced person on board. On the other hand, it will seem a bit of playing fair—whether it is right to take somebody from another team. It somehow leaves the people involved feeling a little left behind and down, and could bring consequences for the company as well, that lost an employee. So, in essence, it''s like treading between getting the best team and being square with everyone on all sides.

How Employee Poaching Works

Employee poaching is typical in technical fields like coding and programming, wherein skills are highly sought after. This means that recruiters often try to tempt employees to switch companies with promises of better wages and benefits.

For instance, a software developer in a computer systems design firm can be lured to other companies with better wages. As much as it allows professionals to earn good wages and acquire new skills, it also provides avenues for growth and working with famous employers for the enhancement of resumes for future employment. The practice acts to promote the employee in both career development and income generation maximization.

Strategies Which Companies Use to Prevent Poaching

• Good salary packages at par or above industry standards: Increase in salary, performance incentives, and handsome benefits are enough reasons for potential recruits to join the firm.
• Professional Development: Opportunities for skill development, training programs, and good career prospects no doubt attract people seeking personal and professional growth.
• Flexible Work Arrangements: Flexible hours of work, telecommuting, and compressed workweeks are all attractive advantages to people trying to balance work and personal life.
• Recognition and Rewards: Recognize outstanding performance with accolades, awards, and special privileges so that the individual feels valued and motivated enough to join a new company.
• A desirable company culture: A positive, inclusive culture allows a company to attract people who want a supportive and engaging work environment.
• Networking and Relationship Building: Events, conferences, and social networking help foster relationships with professionals in the industries that the company needs to connect and reach out to for potential employees.
• Headhunting/ Recruitment Agencies: Headhunters or recruitment agencies specialize in getting the right person for an open position. These agencies specifically look for people with certain skills and experiences.
• Employee Referrals: Employee referral programs are great sources of referrals for potential candidates. This way, one can utilize the network of people working for the company to get the right person to apply.

Remember, as much as the pool of employees has to be the best, the means by which they are acquired have to be ethical and fair. Poaching, especially through unscrupulous means, does not only affect the company doing the employment but also the industry as a whole.

Conclusion

It''s almost a double-edged sword; every company wants to hire the best talent, which is good. But we must see how it makes others feel and what happens to the old team. I mean, all''s well that ends well, right? It''s all about striking the right balance between awesome teammates and fair play toward everyone. A good vibe and fair play—such should be the motto of companies while in the game of hiring.

FAQs

What Is Employee Poaching?

Employee poaching is companies aggressively pursuing people already employed by someone else. It''s like recruiting players from other teams into yours.

How does employee poaching work?

It works by the poaching company, mostly through better incentives or perks, convincing employees from one company to join them. It''s a bit like trying to tempt someone to switch teams with promises of a better game.

Is employee poaching polite?

Although this is a somewhat common business practice, poaching employees isn''t exactly the most polite move. It''s like taking someone''s star player; with that kind of scenario, tension can arise between companies.

How does a company feel when their employees are being poached?

If there is a case of employee poaching, a company should always look after its team members'' welfare and satisfaction.

Is employee poaching legal?

It''s legal, with some variation, to recruit employees from other companies. Though, of course, there could always be some rules in place, like non-compete agreements—sort of the rules of the game that companies are required to play by.

What are your options when faced with problems related to non-compete issues?

Dealing with issues of non-compete is much like dealing with the rules of the game. The companies can either negotiate or find some middle ground or, if need be, challenge the rules.

Popular Terms