47 H iring and keeping star employees is every organization's goal and comes with sever- al challenges. Perhaps the biggest of which is just that -- it's ev- ery organization's goal. What's more, 51% of currently employed adults in the U.S. say they are searching for new jobs or watching for new job opportunities, according to Gallup's State of the American Workplace report. That number climbs to six in 10 for millennials. That means you're in a battle to keep stars and to find them. You need a competitive edge now more than ever. In the fight for talent, most human resource de- partments spend considerable time maximizing employee lifecycles from a process standpoint. And hiring managers and recruiters typically attempt to attract and keep candidates by ap- pealing to their rational minds, luring them with promises of practical benefits. But we've all ignored one key area. We forgot to study and try to understand the employee experience, starting with hiring and onboarding, through the lens of emotions. It's a simple case of heart over head. Researchshowsthat70%ofdecision-makingis emotional and 30% is rational. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio fathered this research by studying people with damage in the area of the brain that is responsible for emotions. Damasio discovered something remarkable: not only were subjects unable to experience emotions -- they were also unable to make even the simplest decisions. Emotions drive decisions. GALLUP How to Hire and Onboard to Engage Star Employees by Robert Gabsa (Gallup) - permission received to reprint