Employee
retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to remain with the
organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the
project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization as well as for
the employee. Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t
have good opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the
current employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. It is the
responsibility of the employer to retain their best employees. If they don’t,
they would be left with no good employees. A good employer should know how to
attract and retain its employees. Employee retention would require lots of
efforts, energy, and resources but the results are worth it.
Retention
involves five major things:
Compensation:
Compensation constitutes the largest part of the employee retention process.
The employees always have high expectations regarding their compensation
packages. Compensation packages vary from industry to industry. So an
attractive compensation package plays a critical role in retaining the
employees. Compensation includes salary and wages, bonus, benefits,
prerequisites, stock options, bonus, vacations, etc.
A.Growth and
Career: Growth and Development are the integral part of every individual’s
career. If an employee cannot foresee his path of career development in his
current organization, there are chances that he’ll leave the organization as
soon as he gets an opportunity. The important factors in employee growth that
an employee looks for himself are: Work profile, Personal Growth & Dreams,
Training & Development.
B. Support:
Lack of support from management can sometimes serve as a reason for employee
retention .Supervisor should support his subordinates in a way so that each one
of them reaches their success. Management should try to focus on its employees
and support them not only in their difficult times at work but also through the
times of personal crisis.
C. Importance of
Relationship in Employee Retention Program: Sometimes the relationship with
the management and the peers becomes the reason for an employee to leave the
organization. The management is sometimes not able to provide an employee a
supportive work culture and environment in terms of personal or professional
relationships. To enhance good professional relationships at work, the
management should keep the following points in mind: Respect for the
individual, Relationships with the immediate managers, relationship with colleagues,
promotes an employee based culture, individual development, etc.
D. Organization
Environment: If an organization manages people well, employee retention
will take care of itself. Organizations should focus on managing the work
environment to make better use of the available human assets. People want to
work for an organization which provides, appreciation for work done, ample
opportunities to grow, A friendly and cooperative environment, etc.
Types of
environment the employee needs in an organization: Learning environment,
support environment, work environment.
2.
Importance of Employee Retention
Now a days so much
is being done by organizations to retain its employees, why is retention so
important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a
definite. It’s not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need
of retaining employees but also the need to retain talented employees from
getting poached.
3.
What Makes Employee Leave?
Employees do not leave an organization without any
significant reason. There are certain circumstances that lead them leaving the organization. The most
common reasons can be: Job is not what the employee expected to be, job &
person mismatch, no growth opportunities, lack of appreciation, lack of trust
& support in co-workers, seniors & management, stress from overwork
& work life imbalance, better pay packages offered by other companies, new
job offer.
4.
Employee Retention Strategies
The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the
employee retention strategies are:
Ø Hire the right
people in the first place.
Ø Empower the
employees by giving them the authority to get things done.
Ø Make employees
realize that they are the most valuable asset of the organization.
Ø Have faith in employees,
trust them and respect them.
Ø Provide them
information and knowledge.
Ø Keep providing
them feedback on their performance.
Ø Recognize and
Appreciate their achievements.
Ø Keep their morale
high.
Ø Create an
environment where the employees want to work and have fun.
These
practices can be categorized in 3 levels:
Low level:
Appreciating and recognizing a well done job, Personalized well done and
thank-you cards from supervisors, Congratulations e-cards or cards sent to
spouses/families, Voicemails or messages from top management, Periodic days off
for good performance, Rewards (gift, certificates, monetary and non monetary
rewards), Recognizing professional as well as personal significant events ,etc.
Medium level:
Appreciating and recognizing a well done job, Special bonus for successfully
completing firm-sponsored certifications, Benefit programs for family support,
Flexible benefits, Dependents care assistance, Medical care reimbursement,
Providing training and development and personal growth opportunities,
Professional skills development, Individualized career guidance, etc.
High level:
Develop flexible schedules, part time schedules, and extended leaves of
absences, develop support services, and understand employee needs, listen to
the employee & show interest to their ideas, appreciate new ideas &
reward risk taking, show support for individual initiatives, encourage
employees creativity, encouraging professional training and development/personal
growth opportunities, provide an environment of trust, regular feedbacks on
organization’s goals & activities.
5.
Retention Myths
The process of retention is not as easy as it seems.
There are so many tactics and strategies used in retention of employees by the
organizations. There are many myths related to the employee retention process.
These myths exist because the strategies being used are either wrong or are
being used from a long time. They are as follows, Employee leave organization for more pay,
incentives can increase productivity, and employee runs away from the
responsibilities, taking measures to increase the employees’ satisfaction will
be expensive for the organizations.
6.
Retention success MANTRAS
I. Transparent Work Culture
II. Quality of Work
III. Supporting Employees
IV. Feedback
V. Communication between employee & employer
CONCLUSION:
Finally, No doubt
retention levels are proving to be a serious problem for organizations.
Concerted efforts to keep retention on tight leash will definitely help. In
this context, attrition management has become the strategic focus and
compelling necessity of businesses today. Thus, ignoring the problem of
mounting attrition level can have devastating consequences for the business. Organization can afford to ignore the problem
at own peril.
N
Mohan.
V. T.
Lecturer, Hemadri college
of
management. Tumkur
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