Identifying and retaining HiPo employees is one of the difficult tasks for top management. The high-potential (HiPo) employees in organizations constitute only the top 5% of the entire workforce of a company. And even the top 5% have many opportunities in the talent market; therefore, identifying HiPo employees and nurturing them should be one of the topmost business strategies. If not, companies risk losing their high potential employees to their competitors. 

According to the Pareto principle, 20% of the workers contribute to 80% of the organizational results. That does not mean that it is exactly the 80-20 ratio; the math only implies that there always a few employees who contribute more to the organization. Companies should be able to identify these employees and nurture them to create an organization with dynamic leadership. The HiPo employee definition as per Josh Bersin is the one who aspires, is able, and has potential.  

According to Chandan Chatterjee, President of Human Resources at UFlex group, says, “The HiPo has something extra that sets them apart and makes them hold promise for future. They are the ones the leadership team believes can take up a senior leadership role. So, it is clear that while identifying HIPO, the primary focus is on potential, the performance is considered as eligibility criteria and as a differentiator to be included in the list of employees to be assessed.” The high-performers might not be aspiring and ready to take up big responsibilities other than the assigned roles. Therefore, organizations should not confuse performance with potential and mix up with the developmental plans of high potential and high-performing employees.  

Characteristics of High potential (HiPo) Employees 

Organizations find it harder to identify high potential employees. There are certain behaviors of HiPo employees which the companies should have in their notes before trying to identify them.  

Source: Mettl 

Right Mindset. HiPo employees will always have a growth mindset. They never develop a defensive attitude when constructive criticism is given by their peers or superiors. They always look for opportunities to learn and thrive, making them receptive to feedback and additional knowledge. 

Seeking Additional Responsibilities. HiPo employees always seek additional responsibilities to test their own capabilities and find ways to excel at work. For example, a HiPo employee when working as an email marketer grabs the opportunity to manage social media marketing too, thus filling the position until another employee replaces the previous employee. 

Skills and Abilities. The high potential employees, in their learning process, would have gained knowledge about other processes too. If they are giving valuable ideas or showing aptitude on processes that are not actually their work, but just related to them, there are high chances of them being HiPo employees. 

Learning Opportunities. HiPo employees are always on a lookout for more learning. If they find an opportunity that offers them learning, they grab it though it comes with additional responsibilities as mentioned earlier. 

Engagement through communication. HiPo employees are great at exchanging ideas and working as a team. They will be able to communicate their ideas clearly and also will be great listeners to novel ideas. They are employees who live out the values of the companies in their routine work life, and also will be engaged in the company’s activities and show leadership skills. 

How to Retain High Potential Employees 

According to CBE, around 25% of HiPo employees are planning to resign within the next year. According to Josh Bersin, “The total cost of losing an employee can range from tens of thousands of dollars to 1.5-2x their annual salary.” If losing an employee costs so much, imagine the loss to the company in losing HiPo employees. “Employees first, customers second,” is a brilliant strategy because if employees are engaged and happy, the customers interacting with those employees will also be satisfied and the customer retention rate will also increase.  

Here are a few ways to increase the retention rate of HiPo employees. 

Progression over Promotion. Employees do not focus on the pay anymore but on progress and growth opportunities, particularly with the influx of millennials and the increase in the opportunities in the talent market. The competitors are always scouting for your high potential employees. To not lose your employees, you have to provide them the right developmental plans and learning to help them reskill and upskill. The talents should be able to move within organizations to develop their skills further. Only when such freedom is offered to the employees, they would consider a future with the company. 

Rewards and Recognition. HiPo employees can be engaged and nurtured when the managers take a direct part in recognizing their efforts rather than HR. HiPo employees feel really valued when the managers nominate them and recognize their efforts whenever they exceed the expectations of the organization. Besides, when managers act as mentors to the employees, they learn the aspirations of their team members and can reward them accordingly, either monetary benefits or learning opportunities. 

Giving Them Autonomy and also Tougher Tasks. Organizations should give challenging projects to HiPo employees to increase the success rate of the project and also feed the inquisitive minds of the employees. The challenges make them better decision-makers and allow them to test their leadership skill. The one thing that all employees hate is being micromanaged, and the high potential employees hate it the most because they cannot implement their ideas and creativity in carrying out a task. Giving autonomy builds mutual trust, which in turn, makes them engaged, and also the project will be completed with flying colors. 

Continuous Check-ins. If there is no communication between the employees and managers, the employees will be disengaged after a while as there is no human connect in their work. They also consider leaving the company as they see no improvement in their work quality. Therefore, managers should act as a coach and conduct frequent meetings with HiPo employees to help them improve their work quality and assist them in new projects. Continuous check-ins increase the engagement rate of employees. 

In this pandemic, it is highly significant to plan strategies to retain your HiPo employees to bounce back as a stronger power than before. Build an effective strategy and keep your high potential employees engaged.