Poaching, also know as headhunting, is the practice of recruiting people from other companies by offering inducements. Poaching costs businesses good staff, drives up employment costs and causes bitter disputes between competitors. Candidates love it because it is good for their ego, but for employers who engage in it, it has the potential to backfire. If you engage in poaching, you leave yourself open for recruiters, even the recruiter that may have placed the candidate, to poach from you.

The law offers little protection and many recruiters will tell you that if you do not do it, you just cannot get the candidates. Some even go as far as stating it is good practice!

Frontline Recruitment does not poach or headhunt, it flies in the face of our code of ethical behaviour. Firms that 'poach' or 'headhunt' from clients estrange their clients as the tables can turn very quickly. “The industry may not have any regulation but at Frontline, we do. We value the relationships we have with our clients and our candidates and we strongly believe that if you service them both honestly and ethically that they will continue to use your company,” said Peter Davis, Managing Director, Frontline Recruitment Group.

Legally, there is little you can do about competitors tempting your best employees. You can try to persuade your employee to stay and take measures to limit the possibility that poaching will affect your company. Here is our advice when it comes to dealing with poaching:

Identify the problem

If the first you know is your employee handing in their notice, it may be too late to keep them. Even so, you should try to find out why they are moving on; changing jobs involves upheaval and people rarely leave a job they enjoy, so the departure of a talented member of staff could be a symptom of a deeper problem in your business.

Invite them for an informal chat off the premises and probe their reasons for wanting to leave – are they related to the working environment, rewards and opportunities or personalities within the company.

You might find their obstacle to staying with you is easy to remove; but you might also discover that you have a serious problem, such as bullying, bad management, or lack of opportunity, which could drive other staff out, too. If so, you should find a remedy, fast.

Financial incentives

Your employee is likely to be offered more money by your competitor. Assuming you pay the market rate, you should only match the offer if they really are worth it, or if losing them to this particular rival will cost too much, in terms of business lost and knowledge, contacts and expertise transferred.

Offering a higher salary alone will not address the underlying reason for your employee’s unhappiness and will only delay their departure. It could also provoke pay demands from other staff. The way to keep your employee is to address the cause of their dissatisfaction.

Other monetary benefits like retention bonuses where cash incentives are linked to the number of years in service can retain employees. Employees can also be given reporting bonuses where those approached by recruiters with attractive offers decide to stay on and are rewarded handsomely. Monetary incentives like deferred benefits or stay-on bonuses are methods adopted by companies to retain talent.

Contractual options

There is little you can do in law to limit poaching. Some firms insert restrictive covenants into employment contracts that state that an employee cannot leave to work for a rival, or solicit business from their former customers, and so on. However, clauses such as these may be considered a restraint of trade and will only stand up in court if you can prove that the restriction is integral to the operation and health of your business. You can specify in a contract that staff cannot remove commercially sensitive information, such as customer details.

But the best protection against poaching is to make yourself a more attractive employer than your competitors. This may mean creating staff-development plans, introducing performance incentives and fostering a vibrant workplace culture – after all, if your employees enjoy being with you, why would they work for a rival?

Reduce the risk

Headhunters use a catalogue of ruses to persuade companies to part with the names of their top staff. At one extreme, some headhunters send contractors into companies to steal their internal phone directories, or pose as journalists or staff from an overseas branch to get contact details. Employers can cut down the risk of headhunting significantly by ensuring that secretaries, receptionists and other public-facing staff are trained in some simple anti-headhunting techniques. “The first thing we recommend is to train reception staff to identify headhunters and screen calls. A lot of them are not aware of the dangers," said Peter Davis.

Headhunters are able to compile staff lists by telephoning company voice mail systems after hours. People often leave their mobile phone numbers or numbers of colleagues on the system

Websites are another threat. Some employers make the mistake of listing all of their staff, sometimes with biographies, on their company websites. Others have thanked their staff by publishing their names in full-page adverts in the newspaper. It is just this information headhunters are interested in.

But the fact remains that no measure can stop recruiters or companies from approaching employees. The crux of the matter is employees will be happy to work longer in an organisation that meets their career aspirations and when the work keeps them happy and motivated. Employees of such organisations will keep poachers at bay.

Please feel free to contact us at Frontline Retail. with any recruitment requirements - we are here to help.