"Sign up now and you'll get this great job, a high salary, friendly coworkers, and full health benefits! Plus join our five-year plan and we'll throw in executive training and your own office with windows! But wait, there's more! You'll also get stock options, a signing bonus, and a brand new BMW convertible! Call now and we'll throw in a matching 401k plan!"

In today's competitive market, job seekers may feel as though they've entered the world of infomercials where another incentive always lurks around the corner. Employees are a precious commodity in this job-seeker's paradise, and companies know the rules of competitive advantage can change quickly and without warning. It is no longer enough to simply offer a decent salary at a good company, and the incentives are much more than a nice set of steak knives.

The realities of this ever-changing work environment are creating new challenges in the area of human resources. Companies deal with issues of recruitment, retention, outsourcing and benefits packages on a daily basis, and feel the impact these variables are having on their hiring processes and strategic plans. Business organizations face a daunting task: how to attract and retain the best employees in a "but wait, there's more" marketplace.

Recruiting in the Fast Lane

When the unemployment rate is high and the U.S. economy is weak, employers have a simple recruitment technique — a help wanted advertisement in the newspaper classified section. However, with a low unemployment rate and strong national economy, employee recruiting is more complex than ever before.

Signing bonuses are prevalent at all levels of employment, from $100 at a fast-food chain to $4,000 at a major corporation. There also is the practice of offering a large bonus that decreases in amount if the potential employee does not quickly accept the offer. In addition to the traditional signing bonus, companies are growing more creative and enticing employees with stock options and large interest-free loans.

One company, Revenue Systems, Inc., does more than offer a good place to work; they give employees a way to get there — brand-new cars. For the duration of their employment, Revenue Systems employees are given a new BMW Z3 convertible, 318i coupe or 325i sedan in their choice of color, and the company pays all leasing fees. The benefit applies to both new recruits and present employees. David Bonham, BBA '96, has been employed by Revenue Systems since September 1997 and received his dusty blue (a la James Bond) Z3 convertible this September.

This kind of incentive represents the out-of-the-box thinking companies are using to stay at the front of the recruiting race. As a small company that designs software for county government agencies, Revenue Systems has the luxury of a nontraditional work environment where every day is casual Friday. But as a member of a competitive industry — with hopes to double its company size within a year — Revenue Systems knows that attracting good employees is key to its future success.

Bonham is quick to sing the praises of his employer, automobile aside. "I was actually hired as a full-time employee the day the BMW incentive was announced, so I wanted to work here even before I knew about the car," explains Bonham, who started at the company as an intern. "But it did make my job look even better!"

He describes Revenue Systems as a fun place to work, where hierarchy is not overly apparent and each team member is responsible for successes and failures. Bonham feels strongly enough about the company to recommend it to his peers; in fact, he's already helped three Georgia State graduates secure positions at Revenue Systems.

Due to the small size of the company, employees have many opportunities to learn and enhance their skills, which makes the BMW incentive important both as a recruiting and retention tool. When a competitor comes calling, members of the Revenue Systems team are more likely to think twice about answering, since leaving would mean losing the car.

Retention:The Name of the Game

Once a company has hired qualified people in key positions, the challenge then becomes to retain and develop them in a marketplace where the competition is constantly in search of the best employees. One of the most enticing incentives today for employees to stay with a company is executive education, now considered a standard benefit in some companies. Executive education, in fact, has become a "vibrant market- worth billions of dollars, according to David Forquer, director of the Center for Executive Education in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business Administration. Universities face vibrant competition from commercial providers of executive education. Forquer has seen a tremendous demand for executive education programs at Georgia State since he joined the Center six years ago. He and some 40 faculty members from the College often travel around the country to deliver workshops for college cor porate partners.

The Center has well-developed custom educational partnerships with AmSouth, NationsBank, Siemens and Southwire. It has also just begun an open enrollment initiative that offers high-quality education to the general corporate market. Participants typically come from middle to senior management levels.

Advantages for Companies, Employees

Forquer commented that companies are devoting resources to executive education because they view it as an important means of achieving core strategic goals. He noted that once companies initiate strategic plans, they then evaluate whether or not they have the competence, i.e., technical and cognitive skills, necessary to execute the strategy. "Organizations often find they must build competencies, and executive education is a great way to do it." In addition, executive education gives companies a "bigger and quicker bang for their buck" than longer degree programs due to its highly concentrated, high-quality approach to management issues. Because programs are driven by the needs of the individual client or company, they can be customized to serve a particular segment of the market.

Dan Quinter, a marketing training manager with United Parcel Service, says, "We have used Georgia State for executive training of our corporate and field marketing groups since 1994. They have created customized training in marketing, strategy and planning that will benefit UPS managers today and in the future."

For employees, executive education presents an opportunity to interact with senior managers and develop relationships with colleagues that allow them to work more effectively as a team. Perhaps more important, employees often feel a greater commitment to the organization since they I realize that the company is investing in them. "Executive education is a signal of a company's commitment to employees," Forquer said.

Although there is not yet hard research to support it, Forquer said that there is a general acceptance that executive education does increase retention and that job satisfaction levels are higher in companies that have a serious commitment to education. Employees realize, however, that they have to take charge of their careers and seek additional training whether it's through their organizations or on their own. Receiving it through their organizations, however, increase the likelihood of more positive and lasting relationships, he noted.

To Outsource or Not to Outsource

After all the recruiting and retention techniques are mastered, there may still be gaps in the system. In the scramble to stay ahead of the game, companies cannot always afford to hire a person who can address every one of their needs. Likewise , a specific project may require the fine-tuned skills of a consultant who solely addresses those issues. The solution to some of today's business problems is to call in a "hired gun."

Within the Information Systems industry, outsourcing is more than a convenience; it is often a survival skill. With technology changing on a daily basis, few companies can afford to miss the newest development, yet their staffs may already be committed to projects or lacking in the most up-to-date training. Instead of requiring employees to shift gears and learn a new skill, companies can use outsourcing as a way of obtaining the best of both worlds.

However, outsourcing also can create problems, in addition to solving them. Although outsourcing will give you experts on a particular topic, the experts will be unfamiliar with your company's systems ard processes. They will need to learn about your existing system before they can solve any problems in it.

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