Tactics to retain staff!
``CHIEF FUN OFFICER' is rather an unusual designation for a person who runs the company; but that is how Vijay Thadani, co-promoter of NIIT, prefers to be known. He considers himself as someone whose main responsibility is to ensure that the staff enjoy their job and have fun working for the organisation.
According to one survey, more than a quarter of the Fortune 500 companies have a manpower turnover rate in excess of 10%; at least 55% of CEOs consider recruitment and retention of talent the no.1 problem confronting their organisation. Another survey indicates that one out of every six employees would be contemplating to quit his current job, within a year. The statistics may astound a layman, but companies have long been aware that it is not going to remain an employers' market and have launched an all out effort to woo and retain the finicky new age knowledge worker. Having come to terms with the fact that it takes more than a fat pay packet to motivate and retain talent, companies are coming up with increasingly creative policies and practices that cater as much to the needs of individual employees as to the staff in general. Significantly, these practices are often developed and delivered within the context of a programme that is designed to address a specific issue or deliver a major transformation within the organisation.
In fact, both biggies as well as the small outfits in the corporate arena are trying to outdo each other in coming up with solutions to tackle hurdles in areas such as employee satisfaction, staff retention and overall business profitability. Here is a peek into some of the more innovative practices and policies adopted by organisations - big and small - in the quest.
Companies use flexi-spending accounts, stock options and bonuses to stem the turnover and gain an edge over the competition. One company has a 'restricted stock option' scheme, where high-end shares are transferred directly to the employees as a reward for superlative performance. These 'shares' carry bonuses and dividends like any of the other shares, but they cannot be transferred and are liable to be forfeited if specific conditions are not fulfilled, say for example, if the person resigns from the organisation within the next one-year. Infosys has created encashable 'knowledge currency units' that can be accumulated by employees for their contribution towards knowledge sharing.
Flexi-timings and home office concepts too are fast catching up. Companies are increasingly allowing its employees to work from home or choose their own working hours; and this trend is not merely restricted to creative or IT fields. According to one report, popularly adopted flexi time options include the flexi-tour option, where the employee chooses his own starting and stopping time for work and adheres to these timings regularly; gliding schedule, where you can vary your arrival and departure times on a daily basis, under the condition you work 8 hours a day; and the variable day option, where you work a total of 40-48 hours a week, but the number of hours worked each day may vary.
Many companies have online learning centres that sponsor bright and talented youngsters. Infosys, for example, has tie-ups with leading universities whereby selected students are trained in specific areas at the organisation as part of their project work and are absorbed full time on successful completion of training. Most software companies offer bonuses and incentives to employees who recommend friends or relatives for jobs within the company and schemes to keep in touch and re-recruit people who have left the organisation.
Organisations today consider training to be an investment that adds value to their greatest assets - their people - and are coming up with integrated, in-house orientation programmes for all its employees in domains such as leadership development, decision making and behavioural training, apart from extensive training on the technical front. Total performance management is another concept that is fast catching on. The idea is to spread the moolah evenly, even while letting the crème de la crème float to the top. In its endeavour to focus on the relationship between individual performance and business success, Wipro has developed an integrated performance appraisal scheme where salaries are differentiated on the basis of job role and job performance at one level and compared it based on a component analysis of the salary structure at another level.
Meanwhile, company culture as a key business asset plays a significant role in maintaining the health and vitality of an organisation as also in the implementation of HR functions. Companies are actively promoting a cosmopolitan work culture and equal opportunity employment in an effort to court talent from all strata of society, irrespective of nationality, culture or gender. As one HR executive sums it up, 'there is a greater emphasis on being successful than on being profitable; needless to say, a company that takes good care of its people is bound to be successful!'
BINDU SRIDHAR
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