Harvard Business Review on Finding & Keeping the Best People

What It Means to Work Here

by Tamara J. Erickson and Lynda Gratton

IT’S THE HR EQUIVALENT OF keeping up with the Joneses: In their quest to find and retain top talent, businesses often try to match competitors’ offers, ensuring that their compensation schemes, health care benefits, training programs, and other talent-management practices are in line with the rest of the industry’s. While this strategy may be useful for bringing job candidates to the door, it’s not necessarily the most effective way to usher the right people across the threshold—great employees who will be enthusiastic about their work and fiercely loyal to the organization and its mission.

Nor does marching in lockstep with industry standards prompt companies to consider what’s ...