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Attracting new talents for a start-up project has never been considered an easy task (Jones 2000). Start-ups launch are often associated with multiple concerns of various natures, ranging from purely technical to the legal ones. However, the most important issue which is to be addressed by the managers of the newly formed company is the aspect of human resources (Yang and Papazoglou 2000). Considering the fact that financial resources are limited, it is strongly advisable to employ different unconventional strategies to attract, retain and motivate the taskforce of the company. For some startup companies financial resources are not a problem, but the operations require highly skilled upscale professionals (Ries 2011), which should be somehow allured to work for the company.
This case study deals with the business unit that operates in the electronic distribution of books, movies, sound records and other types of information. This market, led by the unequivocal leader Amazon.com, is known to be among the most competitive ones. Therefore, in order to succeed and accomplish the strategic goals of the enterprise, the most skilled teammates should be assembled and motivated (Lamm & Gordon 2010).
The objective of this paper is to provide a descriptive insight into how the teammates will be recruited, what strategies will be followed to ensure that they stay with the company and how they will be motivated in order to produce the most successful and beneficial performance
Workforce Needed
With regards to the complexity of the project implementation, it is necessary to highlight that professionals from different areas should be recruited. Multifaceted nature of the project necessitates that it should be served by the technological workers, marketing specialists, lawyers, accountants and managers. At the first stages of the project launch, it is desirable to have several software developers to make the site architecture, Web designer to construct an interface and other relevant issues, search engine optimization specialist, tester of the application and graphic designer. The management team should most indispensably include several managers and marketing specialists, with relevant experience in electronic commerce. In addition, specialists in electronic transactions capable of processing all types of online payments should be hired as well. The support office must include lawyers, tax consultants and accountants.
Hiring support office specialists and managerial divisions should not be viewed as problematic issue (Pinson 2004). However, the recruitment of the technological division seems to be a task of particular complexity, primarily due to the high demand on the specialists. Therefore, in order to create collaborative employment conditions, financial aspect should be reinforced by other attractive cooperation conditions
Attraction Methods
As far as workforce attraction options are concerned, several methods are available. The efficiency of these solutions has been proven by the positive experience of Evernote, Twitter and Salesforce.com companies, which initially commenced their existence as startups, and eventually evolved into full-fledged business corporations headquartered and registered in different jurisdictions. Their solutions included the obtainment of the newly issued shares, significant parts in the revenues accrued by the companies, the opportunity to cultivate one’s skills and talents without any limits, and total deviation from the traditional labor practices.
First and foremost, apart from providing competitive salaries and other condensate payments, the workers should be guaranteed to obtain significant portions of the company revenues upon the completion of the financial year (Lines 2005). This practice is welcomed by the high-profile technological specialists and is contemporarily employed by Microsoft and Apple. Although it may seem financially unfriendly for the newly formed company, there is no other viable alternative to attract the brightest talents to contribute to the growth and development of the startup in question.
Secondly, it must be guaranteed that the employees will have the opportunity to work without any limits imposed by the managerial divisions. Considering the high competitiveness of the industry, this practice may be successful. The managers may not necessarily comprehend the most effective opportunities, while the technological workers are expected to do so. Recent academic studies on the subject precisely indicate that the major reason that induced developers and graphic designers to be employed by companies was the excessive intervention and supervision from the managers (Siegel et al 1993). In other words, the technological department should be set at full liberty to decide how the programs will work and what design to choose, on condition that their decisions fit the general course of the startup in question.
Motivational Solutions
The first division implicates that competitive salaries, wages and bonus payments are to be paid to the newly hired associates of the project, not to mention that the technological staff should be additionally invigorated by the share revenues. Moreover, the employment contracts of the task force should not contain any payment limits connected with the company performance. It is considered as normal industrial practice that at the first stages of commercial development, the startup will not be profitable (Lines 2005). Negative financial statements are likely to be encountered during the first months, or even years. The workforce must feel safeguarded and protected. However, extra bonus payments should be provided for successful performance, which exceeds the financial projections of the management team. This solution should be particularly attractive to the marketing specialists, whose expertise will be the determinant of the effective financial performance of the unit.
With regard to the available nonfinancial approaches of staff motivation, accelerated promotion procedures, the opportunity to launch spinoff startup projects and corporate events should be most indispensably provided. The teammates should be ensured that their successful performance in the pledge of their career growth. Moreover, developers are usually creative people, and the idea to create their own startup initiative within the frameworks of the ongoing project may suddenly come. Therefore, the employment contracts should contain a provision regulating spinoff projects, which should be favorable to the company and to the creators as well.
The promotion of corporate events has become a traditional part of business conduct nowadays. Regular parties and other teambuilding initiatives should be carried out in order to invigorate the employees and find rapport between the managers and the subordinates. The efficacy of this practice has been many times proven by the commercial evidence, as well as by relevant scholarly researchers.
Retaining Solutions
Several unsuccessful startup initiatives collapsed because the managers failed to retain their task force. It is easy to get bored completing routine and uncreative assignments; therefore, specific steps are expected to be taken in order to keep the team on track. First of all, the needs of the employees and their priorities should be permanently monitored by the human resources department. When a specific urgent necessity arises, it should be immediately satisfied, even if it is minor and seems insignificant.
Secondly, bipartisan activity of the major competitors human resources scouts should be timely identified and effectively averted. Technological employees are needed and the most subtle tactics to entice them.
Conclusion
To conclude, a careful and effective methodology should be used to recruit and motivate the employees, especially those involved in development and marketing activities. Furthermore, scrutiny is to be always exercised in order to retain the attracted and duly motivated taskforce.