Knowledge@ASB: Talent Retention: Why Global Employees are so Footloose

For global accounting firms, skills shortages are a perennial issue. The hot topic among people managers in the Big Four accounting firms is how to keep staff hanging in when there are so many opportunities to be explored worldwide. At a workshop convened by Australian School of Business researchers Steve Frenkel and Kyoung-Hee Yu, Big Four HR managers outlined the dilemmas posed by "boundaryless" international careers. Firms need more sophisticated approaches to flexibility and creative career builders for whom the role of partner, on today's terms, may hold little appeal, they determined. These days keeping talent inside the organisation definitely means thinking outside the square.