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paper presented in international conference in jiims delhi march 2010

Problems & strategies of retaining employees in the current scenario By Mohsin Margoob
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 the employee. According to Get Les McKeons employee retention is define as effective employee retention is a systematic effort by employers to create and foster an environment that encourages current employees to remain employed by having policies and practices in place that address their divers needs. Also of concern are the costs of employee turnover (including hiring costs. productivity loss). Replacement costs usually are 2.5 times the salary of the individual. The costs associated with turnover may include lost customers, business and damaged morale. In addition there are the hard costs of time spent in screening, verifying credentials, references, interviewing, hiring, and training the new employee just to get back to where you started. According to Right Management, a talent and career management consulting firm, it costs nearly three times an employees salary to replace someone, which includes recruitment, severance, lost productivity, and lost opportunities. Life Work Solutions , a provider of staff retention and consulting services, provides the following turnover facts and rates: Over 50 % of people recruited in to an organization will leave within 2 years. One in four of new hires will leave within 6 months. Nearly 70% of organizations report that staff turnover has a negative financial impact due to the cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a replacement employee and the overtime work of current employees thats required until the organization can fill the vacant position. Nearly 70 % of organizations report having difficulties in replacing staff. Approximately 50% of organizations experience regular problems with employee retention. From these statistics its clear that its important to develop a retention plan to retain employees and keep turnover low. Employees today are different. They are not the ones who dont 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 dont, they would be left

with no good employees. A good employer should know how to attract and retain its employees. Retention involves five major things:

1. 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, bonuses, benefits, prerequisites, stock options, bonuses, vacations, etc. While setting up the packages, the following components should be kept in mind: Salary and monthly wage: It is the biggest component of the compensation package. It is also the most common factor of comparison among employees. It includes Basic wage House rent allowance Dearness allowance City compensatory allowance

Salary and wages represent the level of skill and experience an individual has. Time to time increase in the salaries and wages of employees should be done. And this increase should be based on the employees performance and his contribution to the organization. Bonus: Bonuses are usually given to the employees at the end of the year or on a festival. Economic benefits: It includes paid holidays, leave travel concession, etc. Long-term incentives: Long term incentives include stock options or stock grants. These incentives help retain employees in the organization's start-up stage. Health insurance: Health insurance is a great benefit to the employees. It saves employees money as well as gives them a peace of mind that they have somebody to take care of them in bad times. It also shows the employee that the organization cares about the employee and its family. After retirement: It includes payments that an Employee gets after he retires like EPF (Employee Provident Fund) etc. Miscellaneous compensation: It may include employee assistance programs (like psychological counselling, legal assistance etc), discounts on company products, use of a company cars, etc. 2. Growth and Career

Growth and development are the integral part of every individuals career. If an employee can not foresee his path of career development in his current organization, there are chances that hell 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: The work profile on which the employee is working should be in sync with his capabilities. The profile should not be too low or too high.

Communications skills Technical skills In-house processes and procedures improvement related skills C or customer satisfaction related skills Special project related skills Need for such trainings can be recognized from individual performance reviews, individual meetings, employee satisfaction surveys and by being in constant touch with the employees.

3. Support
Lack of support from management can sometimes serve as a reason foremployee retention. Supervisor should support his subordinates in a way so that each one of them is a 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. Management can support employees by providing them recognition and appreciation. Employers can also provide valuable feedback to employees and make them feel valued to the organization. The feedback from supervisor helps the employee to feel more responsible, confident and empowered. Top management can also support its employees in their personal crisis by providing personal loans during emergencies, childcare services, employee assistance programs, counselling services, et al. Employers can also support their employees by creating an environment of trust and inculcating the organizational values into employees. Thus employers can support their employees in a number of ways as follows: By providing feedback By giving recognition and rewards By counselling them By providing emotional support

4. Relationship
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. There are times when an employee starts feeling bitterness towards the management or peers. This bitterness could be due to many reasons. This

decreases employees interest and he becomes de-motivated. It leads to less satisfaction and eventually attrition.

5. Environment
It is not about managing retention. It is about managing people. If an organization manages people well, employee 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 the work done Ample opportunities to grow A friendly and cooperative environment A feeling that the organization is second home to the employee Organization environment includes Culture Values Company reputation Quality of people in the organization Employee development and career growth Risk taking Leading technologies Trust

Types of Environment the Employee Needs in an Organization


Learning environment: It includes continuous learning and improvement of the individual, certifications and provision for higher studies, etc. Support environment: Organization can provide support in the form of work-life balance. Work life balance includes: Flexible hours Telecommuting Dependent care Alternate work schedules Vacations Wellness Work environment: It includes efficient managers, supportive co-workers, challenging work, involvement in decision-making, clarity of work and responsibilities, and recognition. Lack or absence of such environment pushes employees to look for new opportunities. The environment should be such that the employee feels connected to the organization in every respect.

Importance
Now that 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 no. Its 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. The process of employee retention will benefit an organization in the following ways: 1. The Cost of Turnover:The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of thousands of 2. Loss of Company Knowledge: When an employee leaves, he takes with him valuable knowledge about the company, customers, current projects and past history (sometimes to competitors). Often much time and money has been spent on the employee in expectation of a future return. When the employee leaves, the investment is not realized. 3. Interruption of Customer Service: Customers and clients do business with a company in part because of the people. Relationships are developed that encourage continued sponsorship of the business. When an employee leaves, the relationships that employee built for the company are severed, which could lead to potential customer loss. 4. Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee terminates, the effect is felt throughout the organization. Co-workers are often required to pick up the slack. The unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff. 5. Goodwill of the company: The goodwill of a company is maintained when the attrition rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join the organization. 6. Regaining efficiency: If an employee resigns, then good amount of time is lost in hiring a new employee and then training him/her and this goes to the loss of the company directly which many a times goes unnoticed. And even after this you cannot assure us of the same efficiency from the new employee

What Make Employees Leave


Employees do not leave an organization without any significant reason. There are certain circumstances that lead to their leaving the organization. The most common reasons can be: 1. Job is not what the employee expected to be: Sometimes the job responsibilities dont come out to be same as expected by the candidates. Unexpected job responsibilities lead to job dissatisfaction. 2. Job and person mismatch: A candidate may be fit to do a certain type of job which matches his personality. If he is given a job Which mismatches his personality, and then he wont be able to perform it well and will try to find out reasons to leave the job. No growth opportunities: No or less learning and growth opportunities in the current job will make candidates job and career stagnant. Lack of appreciation: If the work is not appreciated by the supervisor, the employee feels de-motivated and loses interest in job.

Lack of trust and support in coworkers, seniors and management: Trust is the most important factor that is required for an individual to stay in the job. Nonsupportive coworkers, seniors and management can make office environment unfriendly and difficult to work in. Stress from overwork and work life imbalance: Job stress can lead to work life imbalance which ultimately many times lead to employee leaving the organization. Compensation: Better compensation packages being offered by other companies may attract employees towards themselves. New job offer: An attractive job offer which an employee thinks is good for him with respect to job responsibility, compensation, growth and learning etc. can lead an employee to leave the organization.

Employee Retention Strategies


According to strategic planning consultant Leigh Branham, SPHR, 88% of employees leave their jobs for reasons other than pay: However, 70% of managers think employees leave mainly for pay-related reasons. Branham says there are seven main reasons why employees leave a company: 1. Employees feel the job or workplace is not what they expected. 2. There is a mismatch between the job and person. 3. There is too little coaching and feedback. 4. There are too few growth and advancement opportunities. 5. Employees feel devalued and unrecognized. 6. Employees feel stress from overwork and have a work/life imbalance. 7. There is a loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.

These practices can be categorized in 3 levels: Low, medium and high level. <Low> 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 Wedding gifts <Medium > <High>

Anniversary gifts New born baby gift Scholarships for employees children Get well cards/flowers Birthday cards, celebrations and gifts Providing benefits Home insurance plans Legal insurance Travel insurance Disability programs Providing perks: It includes coupons, discounts, rebates, etc Discounts in cinema halls, museums, restaurants, etc. Retail store discounts Computer peripherals purchase discounts Providing workplace conveniences On-site ATM On-site facilities for which cost is paid by employees laundry facility for bachelors Shipping services Assistance with tax calculations and submission of forms Financial planning assistance Casual dress policies Facilities for expectant mothers Parking Parenting guide Lactation rooms Flexi timings Fun at work Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, promotions, etc Holiday parties and holiday gift certificates Occasional parties like diwali, holi, dushera, etc Organize get together for watching football, hockey, cricket matches Organize picnics and trips for movies etc Sports outings like cricket match etc Indoor games Occasional stress relievers Casual dress day Green is the colour day Handwriting analysis

Tatoo, mehandi, hair braiding stalls on weekends Mini cricket in office Ice cream Fridays Holi-Day breakfast Employee support in tough time or personal crisis Personal loans for emergencies Childcare and eldercare services Employee Assistance Programs ( Counseling sessions etc) Emergency childcare services

Middle level Appreciating and recognizing a well done job Special bonus for successfully completing firm-sponsored certifications Benefit programs for family support Child adoption benefits Flexible benefits Dependents care assistance Providing conveniences at workplace Gymnasiums Athletic membership program Providing training and development and personal growth opportunities Sabbatical programs Professional skills development Individualized career guidance High level Promoting Work/Life Effectiveness Develop flexible schedules Part-time schedules Extended leaves of absence Develop Support Services On-site day care facility etc. Understand employee needs: This can be done through proper management style and culture Listen to the employee and show interest in ideas Appreciate new ideas and reward risk-taking Show support for individual initiative

Encouraging professional training and development and/or personal growth opportunities: It can be done through: Mentoring programs Performance feedback programs Provide necessary tools to the employees to achieve their professional and

personal goals Getting the most out of employee interests and talents Higher study opportunities for employees Vocational counselling Offer personalized career guidance to employees Provide an environment of trust: Communication is the most important and effective way to develop trust. Suggestion committees can be created Open door communication policy can be followed Regular feedbacks on organizations goals and activities should be taken from the employees by: Management communications Intranet and internet can be used as they provide 24X7 access to the information Newsletters, notice boards, etc. Hire the right people from the beginning: employee retention is not a process that begins at the end. The process of retention begins right from the start of the recruitment process. The new joiners should fit with the organizations culture. The personality, leadership characteristics of the candidate should be in sync with the culture of the hiring organization. Referral bonus should be given to the employees for successful hires. They are the best source of networking. Proper training should be given to the managers on interview and management techniques. An internship program can be followed to recruit the fresh graduates.

Retention Myths
The process of retention is not as easy at it seems. There are so many tactics and strategies used in retention of employees by the organizations. The basic purpose of these strategies should be to increase employee satisfaction, boost employee morale hence achieve retention. But sometimes these strategies are not used properly or even worse, wrong strategies are used. Because of which these strategies fail to achieve the desired results. 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. These myths prevent the employer from successfully implementing the retention strategies. Let us learn about some of these myths. 1. Employees leave an organization for more pay: Money may be the motivating factor for some but for many people it is not the most important factor. Money matters more to the low-income-employees for whom its a survival issue. Money can make an employee stay in an organization but not for long. The factors more important than money are

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job satisfaction, job responsibilities, and individuals skill development. The employers should understand this and work out some other ways to make employees feel satisfied. When employees leave, management tries to retain them by offering more money. But instead they should try to figure out the main reason behind it. Issues that are mainly the cause of dissatisfaction are organizations policies and procedures, working conditions, relationship with the supervisor and salary, etc. For such employees, achievement, growth, respect, recognition, is the main concern. Incentives can increase productivity: Incentives can surely increase productivity but not for long term. Cash incentives, volume work targets and speed awards are old management beliefs. They can generate work speedily and in volumes but cant boost employee commitment. Rather speed can hamper the quality of work produced. What really glues employees to their work and organization is quality work, meaningful responsibilities, recognition, respect, growth opportunities and friendly supervisors. Employees run away from responsibilities: It is a myth that employees run from responsibilities. In-fact employees feel more responsible if they are given extra responsibilities apart from their regular job. Employees look for variety, greater control on the processes and authority to take decisions in their present job. They want opportunities to learn and grow. Management can assign extra responsibilities to their employees and appreciate them on the completion of these tasks. This will induce a sense of pride in the employee and will improve the relationship between the management and the employee. Loyalty is a thing of the past: Employees can be loyal but what they need is an employer for whom they can be loyal. There is no reason for the employee to hop jobs if hes satisfied with the employer. Taking measures to increase employee satisfaction will be expensive for the organizations: The things actually required improving employee satisfaction like respect, career growth and development, appreciation, etc. cant be bought. They are free of cost. An employer or management that reacts well to the employees ideas and suggestions is enough for the employees to be retained.

Managing Retention
The task of managing employees can be understood as a three stage process: 1. Identify the cost of employee turnover 2. Understand why employee leaves 3. Implement retention strategies Identify the cost of employee turnover : The organizations should start with identifying the employee turnover rates

within a particular time period and benchmark it with the competitor organizations. This will help in assessing the whether the employee retention rates are healthy in the company. Secondly, the cost of employee turnover can be calculated. According to a survey, on an average, attrition costs companies 18 months salary for each manager or professional who leaves, and 6 months pay for each hourly employee who leaves. This amounts to major organizational and financial stress, considering that one out of every three employees plans to leave his or her job in the next two years. Understand why employees leaves : Why employees leave often puzzles top management. Exit interviews are an ideal way of recording and analyzing the factors that have led employees to leave the organization. They allow an organization to understand the reasons for leaving and underlying issues. However employees never provide appropriate response to the asked questions. So an impartial person should be appointed with whom the employees feel comfortable in expressing their opinions. Implement retention strategy: Once the causes of attrition are found, a strategy is to be implemented so as to reduce employee turnover. The most effective strategy is to adopt a holistic approach to dealing with attrition. An effective retention strategy will seek to ensure: Attraction and recruitment strategies enable selection of the right candidate for each role/organization New employees initial experiences of the organization are positive Appropriate development opportunities are available to employees, and that they are kept aware of their likely career path with the organization The organizations reward strategy reflects the employee drivers The leaving process is managed effectively

How to Increase Employee Retention


Companies have now realized the importance of retaining their quality workforce. Retaining quality performers contributes to productivity of the organization and increases morale among employees. Four basic factors that play an important role in increasing employee retention include salary and remuneration, providing recognition, benefits and opportunities for individual growth. But are they really positively contributing to the retention rates of a company? Basic salary, these days, hardly reduces turnover. Today, employees look beyond the money factor.

Employee retention can be increase by inculcating the following practices: 1. Open Communication: A culture of open communication enforces loyalty among employees. Open communication tends to keep employees informed on key issues. Most importantly, they need to know that their opinions matter and

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that management is 100% interested in their input. Employee Reward Program: A positive recognition for work boosts the motivational levels of employees. Recognition can be made explicit by providing awards like best employee of the month or punctuality award. Project based recognition also has great significance. The award can be in terms of gifts or money. Career Development Program: Every individual is worried about his/her career. He is always keen to know his career path in the company. Organizations can offer various technical certification courses which will help employee in enhancing his knowledge. Performance Based Bonus: A provision of performance linked bonus can be made wherein an employee is able to relate his performance with the company profits and hence will work hard. This bonus should strictly be productivity based. Recreation facilities: Recreational facilities help in keeping employees away from stress factors. Various recreational programs should be arranged. They may include taking employees to trips annually or bi-annually, celebrating anniversaries, sports activities, et al. Gifts at Some Occasions: Giving out some gifts at the time of one or two festivals to the employees making them feel good and understand that the management is concerned about them.

Conclusion
When asked about why employees leave, low salary comes out to be a common excuse. However, research has shown that people join companies, but leave because of what their managers do or dont do. It is seen that managers who respect and value employees competency, pay attention to their aspirations, assure challenging work, value the quality of work life and provided chances for learning have loyal and engaged employees. Therefore, managers and team leaders play an active and vital role in employee retention. Managers and team leaders can reduce the attrition levels considerably by creating a motivating team culture and improving the relationships with team members. This can be done in a following way: Creating a Motivating Environment: Team leaders who create motivating environments are likely to keep their team members together for a longer period of time. Motivation does not necessarily have to come through fun events such as parties, celebrations, team outings etc. They can also come through serious events e.g. arranging a talk by the VP of Quality on career opportunities in the field of quality. Employees who look forward to these events and are likely to remain more engaged. Standing up for the Team: Team leaders are closest to their team members. While they need to ensure smooth functioning of their teams by implementing management decisions, they also need to educate their managers about the realities on the ground. When agents see the team leader standing up for them,

they will have one more reason to stay in the team. Providing coaching: Everyone wants to be successful in his or her current job. However, not everyone knows how. Therefore, one of the key responsibilities will be providing coaching that is intended to improve the performance of employees. Managers often tend to escape this role by just coaching their employees. However, coaching is followed by monitoring performance and providing feedback on the same. Delegation: Many team leaders and managers feel that they are the only people who can do a particular task or job. Therefore, they do not delegate their jobs as much as they should. Delegation is a great way to develop competencies. Extra Responsibility: Giving extra responsibility to employees is another way to get them engaged with the company. However, just giving the extra responsibility does not help. The manager must spend good time teaching the employees of how to manage responsibilities given to them so that they dont feel over burdened. Focus on future career: Employees are always concerned about their future career. A manager should focus on showing employees his career ladder. If an employee sees that his current job offers a path towards their future career aspirations, then they are likely to stay longer in the company. Therefore, managers should play the role of career counsellors as well.

References
Books and reports ACAS. (2003) Managing attendance and employee turnover. London: ACAS. Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk INCOMES DATA SERVICES. (2008) Improving staff retention. HR Studies, No 863. London: IDS. TAYLOR, S. (2002) The employee retention handbook. Developing practice. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Journal articles LAWLER, E.E. (2008) Why are we losing all our good people? Harvard Business Review. Vol 86, No 6, June. pp.41-46,48,50-51. MACAFEE, M. (2007) How to conduct exit interviews. People Management. Vol 13, No 14, 12 July. pp42-43. RANKIN, N. (2008) The drivers of staff retention and employee engagement. IRS Employment Review. No 901, 1 July. 13pp. RANKIN, N. (2009) Labour turnover rates and costs in the UK in 2008.IRS Employment Review. No 920, 4 May. 10pp. TAYLOR, S. (2006) Are you keeping your employees happy? The HR Director. No 28, September. pp8-13.

www.google.com www.yahoo.com www.rediff.com www. retention.naukrihub.com www. humanresources.about.com\ www.highretention.com www.employeeretentionstrategies.com www.retentionconnection.com

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