Sign On Bonuses

Many neophyte HR professionals in Las Vegas make the mistake of offering the ’sign on bonus’ as a way to attract talent from their competitor down the street.  What they don’t understand is that ‘what goes around - come around.’  Literally.  It is just a matter of time before that company offers a larger sign-on bonus or even higher wages to attract the talent right back.  And there goes the merry-go-round or the ‘talent revolving door’ as we know it.  Wages continue to increase, unnecessary sign on bonuses are offered to combat the wage war, retention levels hit the gutter and at the end of the day, the quality of service you are offering your clients goes down.    

What we all need to understand is that it is a Supply/Demand issue….nothing more.  We (Nevada) simply do not have the supply of the talent that we need.  Therefore it is necessary for us to attract talent from other markets.  Let’s use ‘teachers’ as an analogy.  Each year the Clark County School District needs (demand) around 3,000 teachers.  UNLV and Nevada State College supply approximately 600.  There is a surplus demand for 2,400 more teachers.  Because there is not another school district in Southern Nevada for CCSD to recruit from - they must recruit from other states.  It is that simple.  Nursing is no different.  Engineers are in demand.  Technology professionals are in demand.  Senior level managers are in demand. 

The answer…..Recruit from out of market.  Stop the sign on bonuses.  People move to Nevada for the quality of life - not the bonus.