Facing Labor Shortages: How Can We Keep Skilled Workers from Leaving?

Addressing Labor Force Retention in the Company

I am going to take up a Graduation Project for my MBA in HR. I approached the company, and the manager (quality control) informed me that one of the major problems our company faces is a shortage of labor force. We have been dealing with this issue for the last two years. We train the laborers with the aim of improving the organization's productivity, but they leave the company once they acquire skills. How can we retain these laborers to leverage their skills and talents? I want to work on this issue for my project.

Please guide me on the steps that should be taken to retain the labor force.

Thank you,

Visu

Retaining Labor: Challenges and Solutions

Retaining labor has two angles. It is very easy to retain non-performing labor, but it is very difficult to retain performing labor. Although the establishment's work culture and climate have a direct impact on retaining good manpower, bad manpower can be retained even with a very bad work culture. Therefore, a generalization about it is not always possible.

I have seen that where social security and care are given to the employees, the attrition is less. At the same time, where industrial relations (IR) are poor, attrition is very high. It is evident where bosses are egocentric and have gained their positions through means rather than ability. This means that employees leave 'managers' and not the organization.

Therefore, if you maintain good industrial or employee relations, you can retain labor. Otherwise, there may be a monopoly.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K