Here are some areas that I feel could be improved:
Career Growth - Different than company growth, the career growth within the company definitely varies from department to department. I work in a relatively smaller department where there has been a lot of change, but what has been the slowest to establish is additional career growth opportunities. Unlike departments such as Sales, where there is a pipeline and defined flow of progress and achievement, smaller teams from other departments don’t get nearly the same attention. For me, this is highly discouraging and can lead to talented people leaving the company for reasons that are highly preventable. From what I have heard, this is a focus for change, but it is still an opportunity to improve and I would love to see more attention given to this area company-wide.
Hiring and Retaining Top Talent - One of the biggest areas of improvement I see in Vector Solutions is hiring and retaining top talent.
When it comes to hiring talented people, I feel like there have been times when we have not been given the investment dollars we needed to hire the right talent that would have helped us achieve the goals that we set out for the department and ultimately the company. This is also an area where I have heard similar concerns from other departments.
When it comes to retaining talented people, this is the area that I am most worried about. I feel like my department has been extremely lucky in having several tenured and talented employees for as long as we have. This, in my opinion, has been because of luck more than company retention efforts. In smaller departments like mine, many people have to wear multiple hats and/or are very specialized in what they do. This is great for individuals who want to grow their skills, but it also leaves the department vulnerable to losing critical personnel infrastructure and would take a lot of time to backfill and train. Every single person and department plays a big role in the success of our company, and I think the mindset should be as such. It is very discouraging to hear or see extremely talented people that I have worked with put in their notice because they were either getting paid less than what a similar role would be paying in the industry or because we took too long in converting them to a full-time employee.
Sales/Account Management Focus - Every company needs a rockin’ Sales and Account Management team in order to be successful, but just as important are the quality of the products and services we sell. If we don’t have those, Sales, Account Management, Marketing etc. have a much harder time, which in turn makes sales and retention goals harder to achieve. The analogy I like to use is the human body. In order for the human body to function at its optimum, every part of it has to be taken care of and given the proper amount of attention. I feel like we give a lot of attention to the roles that have sales numbers tied to them but not enough to the departments that are making sure those products are the best they can be. This is shown by what appears to be a disproportionate amount of people we hire for those roles while hiring contractors, or deciding not to backfill at all, for roles like software or content development.
