All Business is People Business; Retaining Employees

 
All organizations strive to excel in their business, they want to expand and grow in volume and revenues. Businesses are run by people and most organizations and the managements understand the role of People in the business. Having profound impact on the business, Employee sustained foundation has direct influence on the overall improved quality of the services rendered. It helps grow customer base and keep those clients loyal. But if your key people keep on leaving, service quality will be downgraded and you will start to lose your name and business.

Employee retention is a major challenge for any business, however not much emphasis is exercised to see what makes their key people leave at an early date. Although top managers in the companies want employees to stay for sufficient longer periods as they understand that in this way employees become more capable and beneficial towards company’s continued business success, what they don’t comprehend is why they keep on leaving. 

There are certain grounds and motives why employees become unhappy or disassociated with their work and start looking for opportunities outside their work place at an early stage.

Salary matters for Fresh Candidate and Present Employee: 

Although salary is not the top cause for dissatisfaction in all cases, it is one of the foremost reasons why employees think it is not justified and plan to move on.

• Low salary as compared to what is being offered in the market for a similar set of skills

• Low salary as compared to what is being paid to similar positions in the same organization

Managers should take precaution while offering or setting salary standards for fresh joiners. They have got to be aware of the market standards and then carefully set some guidelines to chalk out salary brackets based upon their own company’s strategies and future growth plans.

Apart from suitability of the candidate for the intended job, you should get a feel of what candidate is expecting in terms of salary, during an interview process. This will give you a hint how close or far you are from the expectation. You can then make certain adjustments in the final offer. One thing that you should be very careful about is never try to drag the candidate down to your salary bracket if candidate’s expectation is too high for you to meet. Because in this way you would probably be making false statements, commitments just to take the intended candidate on board. Even if the candidate agrees somehow to a salary which is  less than they expected, their motivation level will also be down right from the start and they are very likely to start looking quite soon for further opportunities which matches their expectation.

Present Employee and Performance Appraisal

Present employees are looking for high pay raises on annual performance appraisal which also becomes a tricky situation. If you do not handle this situation in an impeccable manner, chances are that the employees see this as a point of taking a decision whether to continue or start to explore new job opportunities. Since performance and salary increments are discussed at this particular point, its important to listen to your employee and then give them honest feedback, appreciate good work and point out areas of improvement, share ideas for the future challenges, set new targets and justify the increment offered. Being transparent and candid will win you the trust and sufficient satisfaction level.

Micromanagement 

One of other management styles that inculcates mistrust, demotivation in the employees is ‘Micromanagement’. Although at times it becomes necessary to micromanage the work of your team if things are getting out of control but generally going into details and calling explanations should be avoided. Let people do the work, make decisions and empower them so that they can learn and grow professionally during the process. People look to their managers, not just to assign them a task, but to define for them a purpose. And managers must organize workers, not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results.

Appreciation of work

Most of the managers don’t believe in appreciating good work done rather they like to point out mistakes all the time to keep the employee under the radar. One word of appreciation and encouragement can do wonders. You must appreciate all the good work of the team verbally, by email, by a reward gift or a certificate. This uplifts worker’s spirits and even motivates others as a healthy competitive environment is created through this.   

Sharing Company Objectives 

Occasional sharing of company progress and future plans with the team makes them feel connected with the company objectives and shows them their place and importance of work they are doing. 

Training and learning programs

Regular training programs strengthen employees’ confidence in their organization that she is helping them upgrade their skills hence more loyalty is seen.

Job Description and Role

Detailed and True JD is utmost necessary and it must not change frequently. An employee should clearly understand what their basic job assignments and role is. Avoid at all costs to drastically alter the employee’s role.

Employee Handbook

Transparent policies / Employee handbook also a must and should be with each employee so that they know what are their eligibilities and limitation. 

Growth Opportunities 

Priority should be given to existing employees whenever there is an opportunity created. Try to promote an existing employee to a newly vacant position, if you can find the talent within the organization.

An employee will feel more secure when they see these qualities in their company and management. They would like overall work environment and see a long term career with the company which in turn will enhance their productivity and loyalty.