Retaining Valuable Employees: What Strategies Do You Use to Tackle This Challenge?

Hi everyone :) I am Sneha Chinnamma. I am pursuing my MSc in Psychology (HRDM). I am conducting a small research. When I interviewed a few Employee Relations Managers, I found out that one of the major issues they face is retaining valuable employees in the organization. I would like to receive some strategies from all of you that can be used to solve these problems. Thank you :)

Hi Sneha,

I think it is really difficult to retain employees nowadays in organizations due to the increasing opportunities and better benefits offered by other companies. The only way to retain them is by making them feel like a part of the organization, giving them responsibilities, and addressing their needs within the organization. These actions help them feel valued within the organization, leading to their happiness and dedication to their work.

Hi Sneha, I hope it will be useful for you. Some of the ways to retain employees can be: Employee engagement activities in which the employees should be engaged so that it will bring responsibilities to them, by giving them continuous feedback, giving them rewards, and bringing a sense of belonging so that they feel recognized in the organization. Providing opportunities to learn and develop, for example, giving them online courses to attend so that it is added to their skills.

Hi Sneha,

I believe one of the best ways to retain employees is by understanding their difficulties, guiding them, and helping them overcome their challenges. Managers should take on an active role in understanding and motivating their employees, fostering a positive environment. It is essential for managers to handle employees with care.

Theories of Employee Engagement and Retention

There are a number of theories pertaining to employee engagement and retaining talented employees. Unfortunately, most of these are purely academic in nature and do not have any practical value. When we say that employees should be motivated, we often forget to explain how they get motivated. Similarly, when we suggest that employee engagement should be improved by continuous feedback and rewarding activities, we overlook the potential downside: it may become a routine, and employees might engage only when they receive rewards. Making employees feel part of the organization or giving them more responsibilities often has a short-lived effect.

Factors Influencing Employee Motivation

I feel that reward, recognition, and security are perhaps the factors that would motivate employees to stay with an organization. The degree of influence of these factors on employee engagement or retention may change depending on the nature of the industry and the level of employees. For low-grade workers, reward factors and job security might be primary concerns, whereas being part of a branded company could be the basic criterion for managerial personnel, as it provides a sense of pride and recognition. The "I am safe" attitude is always present, but hypocrites may not openly admit their desire for security.

Industry Variations in Employee Engagement

The degree of employee engagement varies from industry to industry. It cannot be accurately measured using technology, even though some HR organizations claim they can conduct surveys to get results. These results may not be perfect, especially in organizations where the majority of employees are not highly educated. Conversely, in fields like IT, where we expect that 99% are highly educated, we often find the most disgruntled employees. Ironically, these are the organizations that proclaim, "Ours is an employee-friendly organization." In fact, companies that make such claims often exhibit a high degree of employee disengagement.

Observations and Recommendations

The above are a few of my observations from my own experience and from sharing thoughts with various employees and managers through citehr.com. These insights may not have academic importance, but for the purpose of your study, if you visit and meet employees from different sectors, you will understand if there is any match between what you were taught in college about employee engagement and what you experience live. If you really wish to do the project or research, you should not fully accept the theories but should conduct a survey involving different types of industries and different categories of employees. While conducting the survey, consider the values of the organization and whether these are reflected in employees in the form of rewards, recognition, etc.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Retaining Talent: A Personal Approach
The first step towards retaining talent is to treat them as human beings, not as resources. Every individual differs from others and has different needs and issues, so HR needs to take a personal approach to each of its employees.

Basic Employee Expectations
I believe these are the basic issues an employee expects from their employer:
- Fair compensation
- Continuous development programs
- Being treated with respect and dignity
- A safe workplace

If we can address these basic issues, we may be able to retain our talent. Madhu sir has rightly explained, and we should apply that. Everyone is requested to share their ideas.

Regards

There's only one magic formula to retain employees, which begins at the selection level. Ask a candidate or even an employee in mid-stream, "Why did you decide to join this company?" This is to understand if the candidate or employee is motivated by the core values the company is trying to deliver, which goes a long way in creating a "shared vision" between the employee and the organization.

Every company must ensure that the candidates are motivated to join because of the culture it has built that makes the company a suitable fit for their work-life balance. Employees are an investment and not a cost; therefore, the greatest asset a company can have is an employee that views the organization's corporate persona with a sense of belonging as a team member, or in advanced cases of lifetime employment, as a member of one family. It is this sense of team achievement with a "WE CAN DO" attitude that will inculcate a sense of belonging that will take the organization forward with a culture that evolves to stay ahead.

If I am to assume your research is focused on the effectiveness of company HRDM policies on staff retention, I would suggest that you quantify by taking the employee attrition rate, which is a formula a company can use to monitor its staff turnover. Develop a questionnaire to be administered through the employee relations managers to identify a gap between personal vision and company vision to identify if a correlation exists between staff attrition and work-life balance in a sample of companies from different industries.

Good luck!

Regards, Anil