Poaching high performers is a common – and costly -- occurrence on Wall Street. A global investment banking and advisory firm seeking to grow significantly and sustainably needed to reduce turnover of its experienced professionals and strengthen its unique high-performance culture.
After a comprehensive assessment of human resources practices and the supporting infrastructure, Axiom developed a detailed two-year roadmap to empower the HR function as an essential contributor to the firm’s growth strategy. Actions included:
- Creating clarity firm-wide about strategy and future direction.
- Establishing a "career ladder" so that employees understand the competencies they need to advance in their careers.
- Improving performance management and development processes to promote employee advancement.
- Revising the processes associated with assigning staff to opportunities where they can make the most valuable contributions,
- Improving hiring and onboarding processes so new employees more quickly become productive contributors in implementing the firm's strategy.
- The bank has enjoyed a period of record financial performance since human resources practices have been improved.
- Turnover of key executives dropped to zero in the first 15 months after new programs were put in place.
- New hires are onboarded more quickly and efficiently, which enables them to contribute to profitability in shorter time frames.
- Management reports that staff are now utilized more appropriately so that the right people are doing the highest value work at the right time.