How to retain creative personnel.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

The company gold watch appears to have lost its appeal for creative types, a survey by The Creative Group, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based specialized staffing service providing marketing, advertising, creative, and web professionals on a project basis, suggests. Sixty-six percent of advertising and marketing executives polled said they believe the average employee in the creative profession changes jobs two to three times over a five-year period.

"For many creative professionals, the opportunity to work on innovative and diverse projects is more important than the security and benefits of long-term employment with a single company," Tracey Turner, executive director of The Creative Group, explains. Although a changing economy has made more creative talent available, firms should still try to retain their best people. "By treating staff members well when times are tough and giving a variety of challenging assignments, managers plant valuable seeds of loyalty while increasing productivity levels." Turner offers the following tips for raising retention rates:

Give thanks. If staff are working harder due to reduced staff levels or budget cuts...