Hi friends,
Attrition costs the company. In order to cut costs on attrition, recruitment, and training new employees, attrition occurs due to stress, lower monetary benefits, and bosses (people don't leave companies but leave their bosses). What are the innovative ideas possible to retain the employees? Please share your ideas; each one will have different innovative ideas. Let's work as a team in finding out new ways to retain our employees.
Let me start - I think we can offer flexible work timings, three days leave in a week, easy-going managers, awards for brand-loyal employees, and an increment of some percentile calculated for every year employees complete in the same company to be paid at the end of the year. I am sure this posting will bring more innovative ideas. Participate and make; let's make this post active.
Regards,
Ajithaa
From India, Madras
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40Attrition costs the company. In order to cut costs on attrition, recruitment, and training new employees, attrition occurs due to stress, lower monetary benefits, and bosses (people don't leave companies but leave their bosses). What are the innovative ideas possible to retain the employees? Please share your ideas; each one will have different innovative ideas. Let's work as a team in finding out new ways to retain our employees.
Let me start - I think we can offer flexible work timings, three days leave in a week, easy-going managers, awards for brand-loyal employees, and an increment of some percentile calculated for every year employees complete in the same company to be paid at the end of the year. I am sure this posting will bring more innovative ideas. Participate and make; let's make this post active.
Regards,
Ajithaa
From India, Madras
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Hi Ajithaa,
Maybe we can make a more comfortable environment as in our company, we have WORLDspace music playing all the time. Our company is an IT company where people talk less and work more. This setup helps to some extent in relaxing. We have lunch together as our office is divided into many floors and offices, so we gather around one table to have lunch together and enjoy our break time with managers, team leaders, and everyone else.
Is this what we do?
Cheers,
From India, New Delhi
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Maybe we can make a more comfortable environment as in our company, we have WORLDspace music playing all the time. Our company is an IT company where people talk less and work more. This setup helps to some extent in relaxing. We have lunch together as our office is divided into many floors and offices, so we gather around one table to have lunch together and enjoy our break time with managers, team leaders, and everyone else.
Is this what we do?
Cheers,
From India, New Delhi
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Dear Ajitha,
It's one of the most discussed topics in HR. Hiring talent is not a big question; retaining them is really a big burden for HR professionals. I don't believe that having lunch together, making the environment musical, and chit-chatting can help us retain the talent. I also disagree with your point asking for three days leave.
In an Indian context, the most important factor I find for retaining talent is Employer branding/Brand Building. Look at a few Giant Companies like IBM, Infosys (Attrition is not a burden for them). I would like to start with a recent post "Brand building to attract and retain the best talent" in the words of Punita Jasrotia from New Delhi.
The IT industry, being people-oriented, differentiates the best from the rest through the "quality of human capital" in every organization. While there is plenty of talent available, the challenge lies in finding the talent that best fits the organization. Potential employees seek to associate themselves with companies that have a brand of success, leadership, people development initiatives, and instill a deep sense of pride and commitment.
Not much effort has been made by organizations to improve their corporate image internally. However, with increasing global competition and a more mature work environment, Indian IT companies have also started looking at this facet of branding.
Employer branding is all about the company's value in the market, a timeless process that has gained even more significance in today's scenario. It is essentially a combination of the organization's reputation, the career offer, and the corporate culture existing in the company.
Typically, there are two types of employer branding exercises: one for prospective employees and the other for the current set of employees. In the case of the former, employer branding initiatives target building mindshare in potential recruits about the company as a preferred place to work. This can be in the form of communication through advertisements, third-party endorsements through the media, or campus visits. "Internal employees might not know about all the product or solution offerings of the company, and it becomes necessary to inform and educate them," says Mita Brahma, the head of Nucleus Software's corporate HR department.
Employer branding has become more critical in today's times, as most professionals are looking for a stable career and to establish a long-term relationship with the company. D K Srivastava, the vice president of HR at HCL Comnet, says, "It is said that an unsatisfied customer tells ten people about his experience while an unsatisfied employee tells a hundred. Employer branding reflects the work culture in an organization. Therefore, it is of much significance."
A survey conducted by Hewitt Associates reveals that more companies are focusing on employer branding to "attract employees" and keep them engaged. There is a direct correlation between an effective employer brand and achieving business success. It helps in retaining current employees, increasing employee satisfaction, attracting job candidates, and motivating employees in their work, leading to excellent business gains. The purpose is to use the internal brand as the seedbed for aligning their people programs to deliver significantly improved business results.
This is evident from some of the recent initiatives taken by organizations to make the workplace more employer-friendly and implement development concepts like "spiritual quotient" and "value-building". Some companies have gone even further and appointed "internal branding consultants" to have a better relationship with their employees. For example, Texas Instruments, whose brand mantra is "conscious" and "consistent", which get reflected in all their activities, be it company journals, awards, or regular meetings. HCL Comnet, whose brand value signifies "exuberance", has developed a "Force of One" campaign that signifies an innovative attitude and the ability to individually make a difference. Or Cognizant, whose employer brand is "Celebrating Work", which gets reflected in its participative, empowering, and transparent work environment.
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, on the other hand, emphasizes both internal and external customers. "Paying attention to what matters to employees, and then delivering on that promise, keeps CGE&Y at the top of the list for the most talented employees," says Atul Srivastava, who heads people relationship management at the company. "The greatest goal of Cap Gemini Ernst and Young is to be the 'Employer of Choice', a company that can deliver a wide range of career opportunities, a company known everywhere for its ability to develop top professional talent delivering work of top professional quality. We have used Maslow's hierarchy of needs as the basis for categorizing retention programs and selecting a broad range of programs which can best address employee motivation and satisfaction issues," says Atul Srivastava, the head of people relationship management at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
Commenting on the changing scenario, Arun Tadanki, the chief executive officer of Monsterindia.com, says that it also gets reflected in the kind of advertisements taken out by companies. "Till recently, employment ads were just showing the job description of the vacancy. The focus in the last two to three years has shifted and is largely driven by the IT & ITES employers, to create a powerful image for the organization as a 'dream place to work'. In the ITES industry, the job of a customer service agent is more or less the same irrespective of the company he is working in. What differentiates one ITES company from another is largely its employer brand image. This depends on a whole host of factors like how successful the company is perceived to be; what is the vision and mission; what kind of work culture they have; what kind of career growth opportunities they offer, etc," he says. On the contrary, Srivastava of HCL Comnet has a different viewpoint: "We expect to see more innovation within organizations to improve our corporate image. Training programs, motivational classes, employee career plans have become a common phenomenon nowadays. These things are employee deliverables. What organizations would be aiming towards is not employee satisfaction but employee delight!"
Roadblocks
Pramode Sadarjoshi, the director of Human Resources at Cognizant Technology Solutions, points out that employer branding is not an easy task as it is a long-term process. "It takes tremendous effort and a strategic blend of logic and intuition in the brand-building exercise. The company has to have superior leadership, operational excellence, customer focus, and most importantly, people-orientation in a genuine way, for the branding exercise to be successful," he adds.
Companies have been focusing more on advertising than making concentrated efforts in building relationships. According to the "Riding the Wave" survey conducted by the Career Innovations Research Group, the future might be in danger for those companies that otherwise invest too much in mass media and little in personal contact programs. As per the survey, the most believable forms of communication are not the advertisements, literature, and websites, but the behavior of employees and accounts of their own work experience. Srivastava of HCL Comnet states, "I believe that the most credible forms of communication are not the ads, literature, and websites, but the behavior of one's own employees and accounts of their own work experience."
Employer branding is part of the overall branding strategy of a company. For this to happen, the HR department should ensure a constant flow of communication within the organization, and there should be no conflict regarding internal and external image. Both these factors are very significant. "Every single employee should buy into the vision, commitment, and ethics of the company and should be a walking advertisement for the company. Doing a major employer branding exercise would be nothing if the company's own employees do not believe what is being said," says Sadarjoshi. R Shekar, the senior vice president and head HR, corporate strategy, and business excellence of Polaris Software, agrees: "An organization must adopt a concerted and focused approach to building and maintaining its reputation as a 'Best Workplace' and constantly work towards reinforcing this branding through continuous exercises."
A typical branding exercise would involve identifying the USP (unique selling proposition) of the company and articulating the DNA of the company, highlighting the competitive advantages of this DNA, and creating a consistent brand language across the organization in all forums for all constituencies. Says DK Srivastava, the vice president of HR at HCL Comnet, "The most significant aspect of any organization is to realize its inherent values and the image that it would like to project to its audiences. The next step is to evolve the right messages and reinforce those values again and again. And the most important part is to act on what you say. Plain words can't build a brand. A brand has to be built on action."
Employer branding, however, is limited to bigger companies, with very few initiatives taken by smaller players.
Future course
As companies come up with innovative branding exercises, this trend is expected to be very popular in the future. It would entail a lot of effort from the top management. "What we have seen so far is just the beginning. Every company, no matter how small or new, would want to come out with a 'niche' image, brand, product, or service. So there will be intense competition among all the players to get branded for something unique," says Sadarjoshi.
Experts point out that the next couple of months will witness companies engaged in innovative methods to stay ahead in the race. These may include hiring image building experts to enhance the brand value, providing competitive compensation, enabling foreign postings with dollar salaries and stock options, or offering challenging work environments in cutting-edge technology areas.
Employer branding
Employer branding is a derivative of the following factors:
- Impressive and consistent track record in business leadership.
- Demonstrated investment in growth through future products, R&D spend, articulation of the roadmap ahead, and viable strategies.
- The organization should be perceived as a place where every employee could learn and develop skills in the latest technologies, concepts, and knowledge areas.
- Aggressive, competitive compensation and benefits package.
- Transparent and merit-oriented performance management
From China
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It's one of the most discussed topics in HR. Hiring talent is not a big question; retaining them is really a big burden for HR professionals. I don't believe that having lunch together, making the environment musical, and chit-chatting can help us retain the talent. I also disagree with your point asking for three days leave.
In an Indian context, the most important factor I find for retaining talent is Employer branding/Brand Building. Look at a few Giant Companies like IBM, Infosys (Attrition is not a burden for them). I would like to start with a recent post "Brand building to attract and retain the best talent" in the words of Punita Jasrotia from New Delhi.
The IT industry, being people-oriented, differentiates the best from the rest through the "quality of human capital" in every organization. While there is plenty of talent available, the challenge lies in finding the talent that best fits the organization. Potential employees seek to associate themselves with companies that have a brand of success, leadership, people development initiatives, and instill a deep sense of pride and commitment.
Not much effort has been made by organizations to improve their corporate image internally. However, with increasing global competition and a more mature work environment, Indian IT companies have also started looking at this facet of branding.
Employer branding is all about the company's value in the market, a timeless process that has gained even more significance in today's scenario. It is essentially a combination of the organization's reputation, the career offer, and the corporate culture existing in the company.
Typically, there are two types of employer branding exercises: one for prospective employees and the other for the current set of employees. In the case of the former, employer branding initiatives target building mindshare in potential recruits about the company as a preferred place to work. This can be in the form of communication through advertisements, third-party endorsements through the media, or campus visits. "Internal employees might not know about all the product or solution offerings of the company, and it becomes necessary to inform and educate them," says Mita Brahma, the head of Nucleus Software's corporate HR department.
Employer branding has become more critical in today's times, as most professionals are looking for a stable career and to establish a long-term relationship with the company. D K Srivastava, the vice president of HR at HCL Comnet, says, "It is said that an unsatisfied customer tells ten people about his experience while an unsatisfied employee tells a hundred. Employer branding reflects the work culture in an organization. Therefore, it is of much significance."
A survey conducted by Hewitt Associates reveals that more companies are focusing on employer branding to "attract employees" and keep them engaged. There is a direct correlation between an effective employer brand and achieving business success. It helps in retaining current employees, increasing employee satisfaction, attracting job candidates, and motivating employees in their work, leading to excellent business gains. The purpose is to use the internal brand as the seedbed for aligning their people programs to deliver significantly improved business results.
This is evident from some of the recent initiatives taken by organizations to make the workplace more employer-friendly and implement development concepts like "spiritual quotient" and "value-building". Some companies have gone even further and appointed "internal branding consultants" to have a better relationship with their employees. For example, Texas Instruments, whose brand mantra is "conscious" and "consistent", which get reflected in all their activities, be it company journals, awards, or regular meetings. HCL Comnet, whose brand value signifies "exuberance", has developed a "Force of One" campaign that signifies an innovative attitude and the ability to individually make a difference. Or Cognizant, whose employer brand is "Celebrating Work", which gets reflected in its participative, empowering, and transparent work environment.
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, on the other hand, emphasizes both internal and external customers. "Paying attention to what matters to employees, and then delivering on that promise, keeps CGE&Y at the top of the list for the most talented employees," says Atul Srivastava, who heads people relationship management at the company. "The greatest goal of Cap Gemini Ernst and Young is to be the 'Employer of Choice', a company that can deliver a wide range of career opportunities, a company known everywhere for its ability to develop top professional talent delivering work of top professional quality. We have used Maslow's hierarchy of needs as the basis for categorizing retention programs and selecting a broad range of programs which can best address employee motivation and satisfaction issues," says Atul Srivastava, the head of people relationship management at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
Commenting on the changing scenario, Arun Tadanki, the chief executive officer of Monsterindia.com, says that it also gets reflected in the kind of advertisements taken out by companies. "Till recently, employment ads were just showing the job description of the vacancy. The focus in the last two to three years has shifted and is largely driven by the IT & ITES employers, to create a powerful image for the organization as a 'dream place to work'. In the ITES industry, the job of a customer service agent is more or less the same irrespective of the company he is working in. What differentiates one ITES company from another is largely its employer brand image. This depends on a whole host of factors like how successful the company is perceived to be; what is the vision and mission; what kind of work culture they have; what kind of career growth opportunities they offer, etc," he says. On the contrary, Srivastava of HCL Comnet has a different viewpoint: "We expect to see more innovation within organizations to improve our corporate image. Training programs, motivational classes, employee career plans have become a common phenomenon nowadays. These things are employee deliverables. What organizations would be aiming towards is not employee satisfaction but employee delight!"
Roadblocks
Pramode Sadarjoshi, the director of Human Resources at Cognizant Technology Solutions, points out that employer branding is not an easy task as it is a long-term process. "It takes tremendous effort and a strategic blend of logic and intuition in the brand-building exercise. The company has to have superior leadership, operational excellence, customer focus, and most importantly, people-orientation in a genuine way, for the branding exercise to be successful," he adds.
Companies have been focusing more on advertising than making concentrated efforts in building relationships. According to the "Riding the Wave" survey conducted by the Career Innovations Research Group, the future might be in danger for those companies that otherwise invest too much in mass media and little in personal contact programs. As per the survey, the most believable forms of communication are not the advertisements, literature, and websites, but the behavior of employees and accounts of their own work experience. Srivastava of HCL Comnet states, "I believe that the most credible forms of communication are not the ads, literature, and websites, but the behavior of one's own employees and accounts of their own work experience."
Employer branding is part of the overall branding strategy of a company. For this to happen, the HR department should ensure a constant flow of communication within the organization, and there should be no conflict regarding internal and external image. Both these factors are very significant. "Every single employee should buy into the vision, commitment, and ethics of the company and should be a walking advertisement for the company. Doing a major employer branding exercise would be nothing if the company's own employees do not believe what is being said," says Sadarjoshi. R Shekar, the senior vice president and head HR, corporate strategy, and business excellence of Polaris Software, agrees: "An organization must adopt a concerted and focused approach to building and maintaining its reputation as a 'Best Workplace' and constantly work towards reinforcing this branding through continuous exercises."
A typical branding exercise would involve identifying the USP (unique selling proposition) of the company and articulating the DNA of the company, highlighting the competitive advantages of this DNA, and creating a consistent brand language across the organization in all forums for all constituencies. Says DK Srivastava, the vice president of HR at HCL Comnet, "The most significant aspect of any organization is to realize its inherent values and the image that it would like to project to its audiences. The next step is to evolve the right messages and reinforce those values again and again. And the most important part is to act on what you say. Plain words can't build a brand. A brand has to be built on action."
Employer branding, however, is limited to bigger companies, with very few initiatives taken by smaller players.
Future course
As companies come up with innovative branding exercises, this trend is expected to be very popular in the future. It would entail a lot of effort from the top management. "What we have seen so far is just the beginning. Every company, no matter how small or new, would want to come out with a 'niche' image, brand, product, or service. So there will be intense competition among all the players to get branded for something unique," says Sadarjoshi.
Experts point out that the next couple of months will witness companies engaged in innovative methods to stay ahead in the race. These may include hiring image building experts to enhance the brand value, providing competitive compensation, enabling foreign postings with dollar salaries and stock options, or offering challenging work environments in cutting-edge technology areas.
Employer branding
Employer branding is a derivative of the following factors:
- Impressive and consistent track record in business leadership.
- Demonstrated investment in growth through future products, R&D spend, articulation of the roadmap ahead, and viable strategies.
- The organization should be perceived as a place where every employee could learn and develop skills in the latest technologies, concepts, and knowledge areas.
- Aggressive, competitive compensation and benefits package.
- Transparent and merit-oriented performance management
From China
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Mr. Deepak,
Every company has its own strategy for employee retention, and every individual has a different perception. Therefore, we strive to make our employees comfortable at work since they spend most of their time in the office – our second home in professional terms.
Thank you.
Dear Ajitha,
It's one of the most discussed topics in HR. Hiring talent is not a big question; retaining them is a real burden for HR professionals. I don't believe that having lunch together, creating a musical environment, and chatting can help us retain talent. I also disagree with your point about requesting three days of leave.
In the Indian context, the most crucial factor I find for retaining talent is employer branding and brand building. Look at giant companies like IBM and Infosys; attrition is not a burden for them. I would like to begin with a recent post titled "Brand building to attract and retain the best talent" by Punita Jasrotia in New Delhi.
Cheers,
From India, New Delhi
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Every company has its own strategy for employee retention, and every individual has a different perception. Therefore, we strive to make our employees comfortable at work since they spend most of their time in the office – our second home in professional terms.
Thank you.
Dear Ajitha,
It's one of the most discussed topics in HR. Hiring talent is not a big question; retaining them is a real burden for HR professionals. I don't believe that having lunch together, creating a musical environment, and chatting can help us retain talent. I also disagree with your point about requesting three days of leave.
In the Indian context, the most crucial factor I find for retaining talent is employer branding and brand building. Look at giant companies like IBM and Infosys; attrition is not a burden for them. I would like to begin with a recent post titled "Brand building to attract and retain the best talent" by Punita Jasrotia in New Delhi.
Cheers,
From India, New Delhi
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All,
After going through your thoughts, I can see that we are talking about how to retain talent. Lately, this issue of attrition is the talk of business, and the leaders across forums are citing this as reasons for business performance.
My suggestion is, instead of looking at why people leave, focus on the longevity factors of an employee within an organization. Look at the story within and the rewards that they have reaped due to their association with the organization.
Employees join and leave managers, not their jobs or companies. If every manager understands this, then retention will improve.
Even though your data may show that people who left received huge salary hikes, those who stay are not necessarily motivated by good salaries but by the good work they are doing. Respect them better, and they will bring in more ideal people for the company.
It's tough to do, but you can still try.
Regards,
Ranganathan V
From India
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After going through your thoughts, I can see that we are talking about how to retain talent. Lately, this issue of attrition is the talk of business, and the leaders across forums are citing this as reasons for business performance.
My suggestion is, instead of looking at why people leave, focus on the longevity factors of an employee within an organization. Look at the story within and the rewards that they have reaped due to their association with the organization.
Employees join and leave managers, not their jobs or companies. If every manager understands this, then retention will improve.
Even though your data may show that people who left received huge salary hikes, those who stay are not necessarily motivated by good salaries but by the good work they are doing. Respect them better, and they will bring in more ideal people for the company.
It's tough to do, but you can still try.
Regards,
Ranganathan V
From India
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Agreed with your points that every organization has its own way to retain talent, but there are certain tools, methods, and techniques that are really popular and used by the most reputed companies in the world. These tools/methods have been developed by some of the best HRM experts, and I believe a company should at least once apply these tools/methods until they don't get good output towards retention. Once the application goes in the wrong way, of course, you have your own choice/rights to raise your voice against this and implement new tools that you feel can work.
Have a nice day!
Ciao...
From China
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Have a nice day!
Ciao...
From China
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for those wonderful thoughts. I have been an active member of citehr for only a couple of months, so I really don't know that it is the most discussed topic. Deepak, I accept your views, and that was my perception - three days leave where people are stressed and others, and the ultimate aim is to make the employee satisfied with the firm from which we can attract new employees (word-of-mouth marketing). "It is said that an unsatisfied customer tells ten people about his experience while an unsatisfied employee tells a hundred." If I have misunderstood your concept, please revert. This is a learning process, so I really welcome suggestions that will groom me in my career.
Thanks,
Regards
From India, Madras
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Thanks for those wonderful thoughts. I have been an active member of citehr for only a couple of months, so I really don't know that it is the most discussed topic. Deepak, I accept your views, and that was my perception - three days leave where people are stressed and others, and the ultimate aim is to make the employee satisfied with the firm from which we can attract new employees (word-of-mouth marketing). "It is said that an unsatisfied customer tells ten people about his experience while an unsatisfied employee tells a hundred." If I have misunderstood your concept, please revert. This is a learning process, so I really welcome suggestions that will groom me in my career.
Thanks,
Regards
From India, Madras
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Hi Ajitha,
I also don't agree with the three days leave option. Since all of us are aware of the kind of workload we have in every organization these days, three days of leave would only lead to a more chaotic situation.
I would like to suggest a tool here that works two ways:
1. Curb Attrition
2. Performance Assessment.
You can assign every employee in your company a particular rank depending on their performance, quality of work, and discipline. This approach would create healthy competition among employees and help in reducing attrition. Employees who rank at the top of the scoreboard could be rewarded, while those at the bottom can receive guidance from their managers to become top performers. Through this activity, employees can gain more confidence in their performance and focus on enhancing their work quality rather than complaining about the system, thus helping to control attrition.
In addition to this, I believe better HR policies can also prevent attrition. Policies that, in some way, support employees' families, such as offering an additional zero balance account for parents or spouses, inviting families to the company's annual day, or financing a laptop on behalf of the company, can make a positive impact.
I hope you like the idea.
Have a nice day.
Regards,
Eram
From India, New Delhi
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I also don't agree with the three days leave option. Since all of us are aware of the kind of workload we have in every organization these days, three days of leave would only lead to a more chaotic situation.
I would like to suggest a tool here that works two ways:
1. Curb Attrition
2. Performance Assessment.
You can assign every employee in your company a particular rank depending on their performance, quality of work, and discipline. This approach would create healthy competition among employees and help in reducing attrition. Employees who rank at the top of the scoreboard could be rewarded, while those at the bottom can receive guidance from their managers to become top performers. Through this activity, employees can gain more confidence in their performance and focus on enhancing their work quality rather than complaining about the system, thus helping to control attrition.
In addition to this, I believe better HR policies can also prevent attrition. Policies that, in some way, support employees' families, such as offering an additional zero balance account for parents or spouses, inviting families to the company's annual day, or financing a laptop on behalf of the company, can make a positive impact.
I hope you like the idea.
Have a nice day.
Regards,
Eram
From India, New Delhi
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Also required to focus on Health, so a Yoga program for all employees. If an employee's spouse is working elsewhere, they can join lunch at one of the same places or any of the organization's facilities so that during the day, both the husband and wife can see each other and feel safe in their personal relationship. This can help prevent marital disputes that may arise from extramarital affairs, which have been observed over the years.
From India, Ahmadabad
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From India, Ahmadabad
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The article is very informative but all it does is shed light on problems which are very evident and solutions which are already applied.
We need to think beyond this.
From India, Pune
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We need to think beyond this.
From India, Pune
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Well, I think today the attrition rate is high because of more job opportunities, stress, unsatisfactory working conditions, people looking out for more challenging jobs, and better packages, of course.
To retain employees, reduce the attrition rate, and cut costs, what I personally feel is companies should conduct yoga and meditation classes, sports activities, and take their employees out for adventurous activities like river rafting and paragliding. These activities help in reducing stress levels.
The most important thing is that they should hire the right candidate for the right job based on their potential and personality match.
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To retain employees, reduce the attrition rate, and cut costs, what I personally feel is companies should conduct yoga and meditation classes, sports activities, and take their employees out for adventurous activities like river rafting and paragliding. These activities help in reducing stress levels.
The most important thing is that they should hire the right candidate for the right job based on their potential and personality match.
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Hi friends,
Attrition costs the company. In order to cut costs on attrition, recruitment, and training new employees, attrition occurs due to stress, lower monetary benefits, and bosses (people don't leave companies but leave their bosses). What are the innovative ideas possible to retain the employees? Please share your ideas; each one will have different innovative ideas. Let's work as a team in finding out new ways to retain our employees.
Let me start - I think we can offer flexible work timings, three days leave in a week, easy-going managers, awards for the brand loyal employees, and an increment of some percentile calculated for every year employees complete in the same company to be paid at the end of the year. I am sure this posting will bring more innovative ideas. Participate and make; let's make this post active.
Regards,
Ajithaa
Hi friend,
No person works without motivation unless one gets motivated towards something he/she never thinks about that. Am I right? If yes, you got the solution. Put a fire of motivation in your employees; they will perform something that cannot be measured on your performance scale. Instead of giving 3 days off, give 2 but according to their convenience, make flexible but mandatory office timings, make a policy that is acceptable by everyone, inform all "best will be rewarded and least will be reprimanded," but just professionally, not personally. And it's up to one who wishes to give monetary benefits. But I think words are more powerful than money. Don't hurt; it's better never to wake up anybody's ego; this harms the environment as well as work. All is one that starts with EMP and ends with human asset. Bye. Waiting for a reply.
From India, Pune
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Attrition costs the company. In order to cut costs on attrition, recruitment, and training new employees, attrition occurs due to stress, lower monetary benefits, and bosses (people don't leave companies but leave their bosses). What are the innovative ideas possible to retain the employees? Please share your ideas; each one will have different innovative ideas. Let's work as a team in finding out new ways to retain our employees.
Let me start - I think we can offer flexible work timings, three days leave in a week, easy-going managers, awards for the brand loyal employees, and an increment of some percentile calculated for every year employees complete in the same company to be paid at the end of the year. I am sure this posting will bring more innovative ideas. Participate and make; let's make this post active.
Regards,
Ajithaa
Hi friend,
No person works without motivation unless one gets motivated towards something he/she never thinks about that. Am I right? If yes, you got the solution. Put a fire of motivation in your employees; they will perform something that cannot be measured on your performance scale. Instead of giving 3 days off, give 2 but according to their convenience, make flexible but mandatory office timings, make a policy that is acceptable by everyone, inform all "best will be rewarded and least will be reprimanded," but just professionally, not personally. And it's up to one who wishes to give monetary benefits. But I think words are more powerful than money. Don't hurt; it's better never to wake up anybody's ego; this harms the environment as well as work. All is one that starts with EMP and ends with human asset. Bye. Waiting for a reply.
From India, Pune
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Hi Ajitha,
Encourage higher learning, create opportunities for your key performers to learn and grow. Provide educational leaves/flexi work hours during their exams. Recognize outstanding achievements, commend small contributions, and make it a fun place. Celebrate birthdays, arrange surprise lunch buffets, sports days, etc.
Thank you.
From India, Hyderabad
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Encourage higher learning, create opportunities for your key performers to learn and grow. Provide educational leaves/flexi work hours during their exams. Recognize outstanding achievements, commend small contributions, and make it a fun place. Celebrate birthdays, arrange surprise lunch buffets, sports days, etc.
Thank you.
From India, Hyderabad
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Hi Friends,
Here are few additions:
Ways to Retain Generation X’ers
1. Let them know that you are committed to helping them achieve their goals within the context of the company’s goals. Don’t mention climbing the corporate ladder or paying their dues. Too many X’ers have seen their parents lose their jobs after years of ladder climbing and dues-paying.
Let them know that you will provide as much training as possible to help them develop new skills while they are there. Allow them some input into what training they will receive.
Tell them you will challenge their creativity, and then keep your promise by giving them a challenging assignment or problem to solve.
Provide opportunities for them to work in spirited team situations, but with opportunities for individual achievement and recognition.
Make the work environment fun and informal. Introduce them to others and encourage the development of workplace friendships.
Allow them to experience a daily sense of tangible achievement.
Give them opportunities to reinvent themselves within the organization by learning new skills, moving cross-functionally, redesigning their jobs, reporting to a different mentor, working different hours, or working from a new location.
Open a dialogue with them on their first day about how you want to keep them and how you are willing to work with them to make that happen.
Look for opportunities to engage them in short-term, goal-oriented projects.
When X’ers says they want to leave, give them the option of continuing to contribute as a part-timer, flex-timer, telecommuter, periodic temp or consultant.
Like in the war conditions, we HR professionals must have a red book on key staff as how to retain and motivate them to stay on with the organization. One must maintain the file on their growth and achievements and also the possible growth options and assignments within the organization. Here one must be aware of the possible poaching by rival companies and therefore one must be attuned to the market movements.
Remember the maxim – that the key relationship in retention is the relationship between the employee and his/her Manager. Get it right and acceptable retention is assured. Get it wrong and everything else would count for nought.
There are varied reasons for the same and the major reasons for attrition rate are(based on author’s sample study):-
· Money - 10%
· Night shifts - 35%
· Monotonous/boring job – 30%
· Others - 25%
If you differ in this percentage please specify so that we can find out reasons and solution for the same.....
From India, Madras
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Here are few additions:
Ways to Retain Generation X’ers
1. Let them know that you are committed to helping them achieve their goals within the context of the company’s goals. Don’t mention climbing the corporate ladder or paying their dues. Too many X’ers have seen their parents lose their jobs after years of ladder climbing and dues-paying.
Let them know that you will provide as much training as possible to help them develop new skills while they are there. Allow them some input into what training they will receive.
Tell them you will challenge their creativity, and then keep your promise by giving them a challenging assignment or problem to solve.
Provide opportunities for them to work in spirited team situations, but with opportunities for individual achievement and recognition.
Make the work environment fun and informal. Introduce them to others and encourage the development of workplace friendships.
Allow them to experience a daily sense of tangible achievement.
Give them opportunities to reinvent themselves within the organization by learning new skills, moving cross-functionally, redesigning their jobs, reporting to a different mentor, working different hours, or working from a new location.
Open a dialogue with them on their first day about how you want to keep them and how you are willing to work with them to make that happen.
Look for opportunities to engage them in short-term, goal-oriented projects.
When X’ers says they want to leave, give them the option of continuing to contribute as a part-timer, flex-timer, telecommuter, periodic temp or consultant.
Like in the war conditions, we HR professionals must have a red book on key staff as how to retain and motivate them to stay on with the organization. One must maintain the file on their growth and achievements and also the possible growth options and assignments within the organization. Here one must be aware of the possible poaching by rival companies and therefore one must be attuned to the market movements.
Remember the maxim – that the key relationship in retention is the relationship between the employee and his/her Manager. Get it right and acceptable retention is assured. Get it wrong and everything else would count for nought.
There are varied reasons for the same and the major reasons for attrition rate are(based on author’s sample study):-
· Money - 10%
· Night shifts - 35%
· Monotonous/boring job – 30%
· Others - 25%
If you differ in this percentage please specify so that we can find out reasons and solution for the same.....
From India, Madras
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Hi friends,
I also think team outings can be arranged after one to four weeks once a couple of new joiners have joined. This will create team bonding and help facilitate communication between the new joiners and others. The experienced team members and new joiners will get to know each other better, which can help reduce conflicts in the workplace to some extent.
From India, Madras
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I also think team outings can be arranged after one to four weeks once a couple of new joiners have joined. This will create team bonding and help facilitate communication between the new joiners and others. The experienced team members and new joiners will get to know each other better, which can help reduce conflicts in the workplace to some extent.
From India, Madras
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I feel that one has to deal with this on a case-by-case basis and see what the root cause of dissatisfaction is. Marcus Buckingham's book "Put Your Strengths to Work" is all about how to make work more interesting and fulfilling from an individual's perspective. It also says that the percentage of people who may be extreme cases and have to leave their jobs is as high as 31%, which is quite significant. The most important thing, to my mind, is fulfillment at work - Make your passion your profession (Work prisoners and students).
From India, New Delhi
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From India, New Delhi
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Hi all,
I really appreciate the views and suggestions put forward by Deepak and Ranganathan. I do appreciate the participation of all in this discussion as it is an important issue that has to be attended to immediately.
Overall, one important aspect is that the hierarchy of needs always plays an important role in the mobility of human beings. Physical needs are the lowest strata of the motivation ladder; hence, they cannot be the motivator at all times.
The participatory approach of management and appreciation of individual effort always keep employees engaged with the organization.
Nowadays, material needs along with emotional needs need to be addressed by the organization to keep the attrition rate at a lower level.
In a nutshell, a career graph with varied skill exposure and an understanding of human behavior are two key factors to retain employees in any organization.
From India, Hyderabad
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I really appreciate the views and suggestions put forward by Deepak and Ranganathan. I do appreciate the participation of all in this discussion as it is an important issue that has to be attended to immediately.
Overall, one important aspect is that the hierarchy of needs always plays an important role in the mobility of human beings. Physical needs are the lowest strata of the motivation ladder; hence, they cannot be the motivator at all times.
The participatory approach of management and appreciation of individual effort always keep employees engaged with the organization.
Nowadays, material needs along with emotional needs need to be addressed by the organization to keep the attrition rate at a lower level.
In a nutshell, a career graph with varied skill exposure and an understanding of human behavior are two key factors to retain employees in any organization.
From India, Hyderabad
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Agreed that this is a problem. Gone are the days when employees and (if I may say, employers) value the "loyalty" factor - today it is money. People change jobs over a few thousand rupees just across a lunch table.
While we have many interesting suggestions coming up, I believe attempts to address "attitude" issues through soft skills, especially at the induction time, could be tried out. All technocrats or IT specialists need not necessarily be good "managers" with the ability to address human relations issues, whereas their job demands such skills. If people are hired based only on their "technical" skills and the "human relations" skill is not up to the mark, we face problems of day-to-day conflicts. I agree that a certain percentage of attrition may be because people are leaving bosses and not organizations!
From India, Delhi
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While we have many interesting suggestions coming up, I believe attempts to address "attitude" issues through soft skills, especially at the induction time, could be tried out. All technocrats or IT specialists need not necessarily be good "managers" with the ability to address human relations issues, whereas their job demands such skills. If people are hired based only on their "technical" skills and the "human relations" skill is not up to the mark, we face problems of day-to-day conflicts. I agree that a certain percentage of attrition may be because people are leaving bosses and not organizations!
From India, Delhi
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Hai deepak this is nithya, iam working as a assistant HR Manager in a software company, can you suggest me some new ideas to keep our employees with satisfaction, apart from salary.
From India, Madras
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From India, Madras
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When s/he feels comfortable in his/her work, its more than any other monetary, fringe benefit to an employee. Comfort in the sense pleasant physical and stress free work environment :). Regards Hari
From India, Hyderabad
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From India, Hyderabad
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Hi All, Thanks for your valuable suggestions however i also feel that the management must concentrate more on employee engagement and build a trust and positive approach towards the employees.
From India, Madras
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From India, Madras
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Hmm... my view is, instead of doing an exit interview, we could do an "exist interview." I hope this will give the real picture. We would get to know what they really need, and this will create an ideal path to retain people.
More views please...
From India, Mangaluru
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More views please...
From India, Mangaluru
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Hi Ajithaa,
I have another idea with me. To retain an employee, they have to be given constructive stress. I name the following as constructive stress:
1. Music at the office.
2. Encourage them in book reading habits.
3. Provide them a musical concert occasionally in one evening.
Regards,
Vimal. D
9902832605
From India, Bangalore
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I have another idea with me. To retain an employee, they have to be given constructive stress. I name the following as constructive stress:
1. Music at the office.
2. Encourage them in book reading habits.
3. Provide them a musical concert occasionally in one evening.
Regards,
Vimal. D
9902832605
From India, Bangalore
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