Learn from the best!
No one knows the value of employee retention better than TATA GROUP OF COMPANIES. No one knows better and no one deals better!
“ People are our greatest asset” –Suresh Tripath (Head of HR at TATA STEEL)
He further added ‘At TATA Steel, the prime focus of HR practices is on people’s development, growth and employee relation which is imbibed in the culture of caring for our people.’
Why is it important to retain the team? Isn’t infusion of new blood beneficial?
Hiring new employees is necessary for the development of the business as well as for the growth of the country. But those employees who have been hired to replace other experienced employees do not benefit much. Hiring employees in short intervals cost businesses in time and productivity. Not to mention the loss of experienced employees. Training new employees are equivalent to starting all over again. In order to meet the obligations of the new employees, the whole team has to start afresh. Although, infusion of new blood is highly recommended it should be kept in defined parameters.
Why do people leave their jobs?
Come to think of it, Who would want to leave the job and sit idle at home? Who would not want to take the fixed salary coming their way? Everyone knows the pain and struggle of finding a job. And the effect constantly changed jobs have on CV’s. There has to be a reason why an employee leaves a company.
For instance, Rohit is a hardworking employee and belong the to lower middle-class family. He has a job in XYZ firm and he earns a good five figures sum. Even though he cannot afford to lose the money he earns, he considers resigning every single day. When asked he said, he isn’t satisfied, he doesn’t feel happy about it.
What can be the reasons behind Rohit’s dissatisfaction?
- The job is probably not what he expected it to be.
- There are few growth and advancement opportunities.
- He may feel stressed because of overwork.
- Lack of communication and loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.
- There is not much of training and feedback.
- He feels devalued and unrecognized.
- His personal needs are not fulfilled. He experiences a work/life imbalance.
- He doesn’t feel any sense of belongingness towards the company.
What tactics can be used to satisfy employees like Rohit?
Employees will only be satisfied when their needs are fulfilled. Those needs can be understood using Maslow’s need hierarchy theory.
This is where the company needs The HR department or The management. Their motive is to make sure that the employees are satisfied in their jobs. Their task is to give importance to employee’s growth and personality development. Tactics that can be used in order to retain the team are as follows:
- Financial incentives: Provide employees financial incentives such as raises, bonuses, and stock options. These will help employees fulfill their basic needs.
- Job security: when employees have a sense of job security. They will be more capable of experimenting.
- Benefit packages: Offer them competitive benefits package including Health and life insurance and retirement plans.
- Small perks: Provide some small perks like free tea or coffee and free lunch on Fridays etc. These efforts represent that the company cares for their employees.
- Reward employees: Use events, contests, and Incentives to help employees feel motivated and rewarded.
- Foster employee development: Train them for a new skill or job. Help them in personality development, so that, they are able to cope with the dynamic environment.
- Conduct “Stay Interviews”: In addition to conducting exit interviews, conduct stay interviews to ask longer-tenured employees why they stay.
- Communication: Promote formal as well as informal communication modes. This will help fulfill social needs of the employees.
- Belongingness: Communicate the business mission with your employees to tie them mentally and emotionally with the company. This will develop a sense of belongingness in the employees towards the organization.
- Transparency: Be transparent with employees. Make sure that the employees know what you expect of them. Let them know that they are an important part of the organization.
- HR department: Hire a Human Resource professional. HR managers are more up-to date on employment laws and trends. It helps in supervising the employee structure and processes.
- Avoid micromanaging. Give employees space to grow and be creative and innovative. Do not try to crowd their will.
- Performance appraisals: Performance based rewards and recognitions.
- Provide facilities: Like TATA, Provide high standards of amenities and facilities (housing, education, medical, recreation and social support).
If employees are satisfied, they will work up to the best of their abilities. And this will help the company grow.
Hiring employees is just a start of creating a strong workforce and is probably the easier part. Next, you have to make sure they stay.
Top 5 best known Indian companies to work with in 2017
- Intuit India: It is a fully owned subsidiary of Intuit Inc. USA. It was started in 2005 and now has around 1000 employees working with it. Employees at Intuit enjoy the get together’s and parties. They say that for a big company Intuit does fairly well and they try to hold these social gatherings at least twice a month. The company is very much keen about their employee’s health. They have gone an extra mile for women health as they give 26 weeks of maternity leave to the mothers.
- American express: Also known as Amex. Its employee strength is around 12,000. One of the ex-employees of Amex said, “The best thing he finds about their work culture is that the employees can easily maintain work life balance. No one expects you to work unnecessarily for late hours or no one calls you at odd times with something work related.”
- Google India: Google engages around 2,000 employees and all these employees seem happy to work. Some of the benefits that Google employees get are free food, gym facility with the private instructor and yoga classes, holiday gifts, travel reimbursements and parties with free booze. Google is very particular about health facilities provided to the employees.
- Lemon tree hotels: The employee strength of the company is around 3,500. Employees say that they learn to handle pressure and work beyond their limits under the guidances of their seniors. They believe they have achieved extraordinary results and they enjoyed while learning. The only thing is the alarming rate of gender diversity which is 1:9.71. We expect this is due to the industry the company is a part of. Hospitality industry seems to have attracted less of women than men.
- SAP Labs India: The company was founded in 1998 and now has around 5,500 employees. They believe the reason behind success is innovation and SAP Lab’s open and transparent culture.
http://www.greatplacetowork.in/best-companies/indias-best-companies-to-work-for
