New Hires Quitting Early: Can We Deduct Training Costs from Their Salary?

Off late in my company, we have had numerous instances wherein we have new recruits resigning within one month of joining. The Management spends a considerable amount of time and money to train them for the first 15 days. Sometimes the new recruits are sent to different locations for various product training. Having imparted this, the new recruits resign stating frivolous reasons.

My query is: Can we adjust their one-month salary against the cost of training incurred by the Company? Can we add this as a clause in the Appointment Letter? If yes, then does this have to be supported by any document? Please advise.

Raga1628:icon6:

Dear Raga,

Recovering training costs is an illegal practice because training is a crucial part of employment for job enrichment. By imparting training, employers enhance the skills of employees, which is a business imperative. Otherwise, you can hire people from straight jackets, which means paying higher remuneration for experienced employees.

However, in order to save on the investment required to hire experienced employees, employers may prefer to hire less experienced or inexperienced employees and save money by investing a portion of these savings in training the employees.

You cannot justify this kind of approach and find fault with employees who leave the organization due to low salary for a job that has a higher market value as a result of training. When an employee's job becomes more valuable due to training, there is an appreciation in their market price, leading employees to seek better opportunities and eventually leaving the organization because it does not offer market-competitive compensation.

In this scenario, as an HR professional, you need to explain to your management that there is something wrong with the HR strategy. You must change the HR strategy to retain the best talent by offering not only training but also remuneration at par with the market price for the job. Instead of viewing training as charity and expecting a return on investment, it is essential to align with market trends for certain jobs.

Regards,

Partho

First training must be worth it. Are the skills transferable? Will the target audience buy the proposal? If yes, then training could be a profit center and a breeding ground for self and other players.

Secondly, don't adopt unethical moves.

If your organization is facing this problem frequently, then it's high time to do introspection. Otherwise, there is no need to panic.

I have something to add to the views expressed above. Any organization, whether employing freshers or experienced candidates, spends time and money on such employees during the initial period of employment—whether we call it training or on-the-job experience for the employee. When the employee leaves suddenly, with or without reason, the company has to employ another person, and again the process of acquainting with the job costs the company time and money. Whether the company should bear this loss or the employee is anybody's guess.