How Can I Improve Employee Satisfaction When Pay Isn't the Issue?

Hi All, Our company is an IT company. Our Company's MD feels that employees are not happy with their jobs. I have joined the said company from Monday. As an HR manager, I have noticed that employees do not have any grades. They are happy with their salary, which is actually at par. Timings are pretty okay, i.e., 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Sat-Sun off.

Although the company was registered, it didn't have the Shop Act, which I brought to the notice of the MD, and soon after, we applied. Now we will have PT and VPF. No Gratuity as there are only 8 employees. No ESI as everyone is getting more than 30k (no one is getting below 15k).

I strongly feel that there are no fun activities at all, no team-building. The MD thinks he is paying employees well, so employees should put their 100% and be productive enough. He believes employees are leaving because the market is booming.

He wants me to take steps that will change employees' attitudes.

Help me, seniors...

Regards,
Nikhil

Hi Nikhil, I feel that the employees need a morale boost. For that, you could introduce challenging tasks; you could even organize some team activities or have some time-out sessions for them. This will improve the organizational culture of the company as well.

Regards, Ms. Ramneet (Not a senior but just an HR enthusiast)

Thank you for the prompt reply. I did tell my MD; however, he was not convinced. He thinks something has been fishy. I did have words with the employees at lunch (an informal way to understand employees' expectations). They told me the same things which I have mentioned in my previous posting.

Regards,
Nikhil

In that case, you can try convincing your MD to pilot this scheme. If the results align with his expectations (which I believe they will), he can proceed with it. Additionally, you can conduct a comparative analysis of the costs associated with attrition and those incurred in an employee engagement program.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Ramneet

Do you think I didn't try to convince him? I did try. He himself knows what he wants, which he is not ready to disclose. All the time, he says I need to read between the lines. No employee wants to leave. During lunch, I ask such questions to them to know their future plans. Everybody wants to continue with their present job. I am in great trouble now.

My comments on a certain extract of your post are as follows:

Employee Satisfaction Concerns

Our Company's MD feels that employees are not happy with their jobs. If there are only eight employees, then your MD should have found out the cause of their unhappiness.

I have joined the said company from Monday. As an HR manager, I have noticed that employees do not have any grades. You can create various grades and prepare proper job descriptions as well.

They are content with their salary, which is actually at par. Have you conducted any salary surveys? If yes, what was the sample size of your study? Otherwise, your comment that salaries are at par with the market is just your perception. It may be true or may not be.

Legal Compliance Issues

Although the company was registered, it didn't have the Shop Act in place, which I brought to the notice of the MD, and shortly after, we applied for it. This doesn’t directly impact employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction. However, it does show that your MD might not be very conscious of legal compliance. There might be similar loopholes related to taxation as well.

Workplace Environment and Team Building

I strongly feel that there are no fun activities at all, no team-building. While it may be doubtful if fun activities are necessary to build a team of eight, I agree that having fun in the workplace is essential.

Performance and Growth Opportunities

The MD believes that he pays employees well, so they should give their 100% and be productive enough. Has your MD defined the performance measures for your staff? If not, how can their performance be assessed regardless of whether they give their 100% or not?

He thinks employees are leaving because the market is booming. Employees will leave the company because the company needs to grow as well. Once the company grows, it grows its people. If there are no growth opportunities, then obviously people will leave. Who would want to remain a fish in the aquarium forever?

Changing Employee Attitudes

He wants me to take steps that will change employees' attitudes. Attitude cannot be changed so easily. However, start operating as if your company has a staff strength of 800. But even then, you may not find relief from attrition. That is the curse of being "small" or an "SME."

Ok...

Regards,
Dinesh V Divekar

Thank you for your kind inputs. I totally agree with what you have written, especially regarding the Shop Act license, because you can't go for PT and VPF without the Shop Act license.

Yes, I did conduct a salary survey, and my findings were quite surprising. Here, employees are getting a direct hike of 8k-10k within a 6-month period. Now, I am in big trouble.

Dear Nikhil,

You mentioned that "Yes, I did conduct a salary survey, and my findings were quite surprising... here, employees are receiving a salary hike of 8k-10k directly within a 6-month period."

There is nothing wrong with providing a salary increase of 8k to 10k every six months, but it is essential to link this increase to their performance metrics. Create a policy where 'X' performance results in a "---" salary increase, for 'Y' performance, "---" increase, and so on.

Ok...

DVD

Dear seniors,

We are planning some fun in the office. Can anyone suggest some indoor games where we all can participate?

Regards,
Jaya

Mr. Dinesh,

Try to understand, ours is a small-scale company. Technologically, we are at par. We pay a salary between 4 and 6 lakhs per annum. Office timings are from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, and we do follow in and out time. There are no deductions in salary for leave. Every month, we have a pizza party. Additionally, we gift an iPod on the anniversary.

Thank you.

Nikhil, your MD (and you too, to a certain extent) believe that motivation and job satisfaction are directly linked to compensation. For a start, I recommend that you and your MD watch the following: [YouTube - RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc). Please revert once you have gone through it. 

Regards,
Shaan

Firstly, I don't understand why your company is spending such a fortune on a small-sized team. Even an iPod as a gift for an anniversary seems a bit expensive. I'm not against it, but the organization should be prepared for any kind of situation in the future. If, in the future, your company is not earning as expected, then these employees will be accustomed to receiving such compensation, gifts, or perks (whatever you call them), and they might oppose any changes.

This is beside the point; I think I am digressing. Coming to the issue, I suggest developing KRAs and assessing the performance of each employee. This way, there will be documentary evidence of the performance of your employees that could be shown to your MD, and necessary action could be taken depending on the findings to determine who is on the right track.

Thank you.

Greetings, I read your inputs to understand the situation. To begin with, keep your expectations right in terms of the employee life cycle. Every individual has their own concept of their career path. They may work in smaller firms doing specialized jobs and then move to bigger players to build brand credibility. It's difficult to understand the time they have allocated to such roles, but it's not impossible to figure that out. A talent who has worked in a large firm for a long time and felt stagnated might join your company for a specialized role and stay for three years to build credibility. Whereas a fresher might join you and work for two years before joining a bigger firm. You will find talent who come with the vision to work in one company for a long time and grow with it. It requires a very high level of patience and conviction to achieve it.

Monotony is one of the reasons why talents start thinking about a job change. Day-to-day friction is another invisible factor. You must have seen them being admonished for an error made. Do you have a similar system to soothe them and ensure they don't start updating their resumes on job portals?

I can understand why your MD mentions the booming market. He must have seen this happening in many cycles.

Do continue with the employee engagement programs that you have. Spot the eagerness in your employees and involve them in running programs such as employee newsletters, CSR-based programs, etc. Start a newsletter and have one of your employees run it along with you.

Still, at the end, keep your expectations right.

Wish you all the best,

Regards