Manage your people as well as you manage your business

Employee recognition will go a long way in ensuring high-quality performance from staffers

Updated: May 11, 2016 08:42:13 AM UTC
recognition
Support from the existing buddy - hand holding of the new joiners helps settle them in their expected enhanced profiles (Photo: Shutterstock)

Being in the HR profession for the past 21 years, I have realised that taming the shrew called “attrition” is one of the biggest challenges across industries, especially the ITES industry. So questions that arise are - what are we doing wrong? Are we playing the game with the right moves at the right time to create a talent pipeline? Are we providing experiences for our people to increase their stick-ability? Are we providing a ‘WOW’ to our new joiners? Being in HR, I am expected to create a ‘wow’ experience at every stage of the employee life cycle. All that needs to be done to engage and retain my employees can be summarised under the umbrella of the Employee Value Proposition.

Encourage a sense of pride When a new employee joins, be it a fresher or a candidate joining from another company, the aim is to give them an experience that lasts a lifetime. Providing an employee with a sense of pride, and a sense of belonging is critical. New employees working alongside the best people, practices and environment in the world adds to their sense of pride. We strive towards an ecosystem that applauds and recognises their contributions and constructive guidance is essential, they need to be led by values and examples, where leadership not only preaches but also walks the talk.

Encourage senior management connect:
Connecting leadership with employees on shop floors gives them a sense of meaning, direction and ‘what’s in it for me’; providing an  impetus to be motivated. A programme where senior managers mentor college grads for a period of 12 months of their joining supports them professionally as they will be guided, listened to, understood, and coached in a direction that still enhances their unique thinking and creativity. This has helped improve retention by over 20 percent. Further, support from the existing buddy – hand-holding of the new joiners helps settle them in their expected enhanced profiles. The last thing we want is for our fresh graduates to be lost in the corporate jungle.

recognition

Encourage Learning – ‘Careers for Life’:
Creating learning opportunities that enable folks to skyrocket their career is something that would both give them domain depth and also an enticing outlook towards their roles in the organisation. The challenge is in creating attractive learning platforms for Gen X, Y, Z and baby boomers. Managing and maintaining programmes for these various categories is easier said than done. Precisely why my boss’ mantra of ‘different strokes for different folks’ makes it even more challenging, and that’s why blended learning programmes are vital.

Bored with classroom learning? Access learning on your e-learning platforms or on your mobile for ‘anywhere, anytime learning’ and certifications with university tie-ups for employees who want to study but can’t go back to college. Not only does this support in creating a culture of learning but adds to incentivising the programme both ‘monetarily and non-monetarily’; for learning and completing certifications.

Encourage opportunities galore:
One big reason people leave is also because folks are bored of what they are doing. I recall a somewhat concocted perception of the new gen; ‘if you are at the same position for more than two years, your market value goes down by 40 percent’. Providing challenging opportunities within the organisation further motivates an employee to take on new horizons. An employer who commits to the employee, that more than 70 percent of job opportunities are available for folks further excites an employee. They can see growth and opportunities galore.

Encourage recognition:
If you have to engage employees and make them passionate about their jobs, then the human element of caring for them, thanking them, recognising them in public can have a huge effect on their level of happiness and their stick-ability.

Encourage them to take on projects that they are passionate about. A lot of employees today are enthusiastic in spending weekends for a social cause. Giving them autonomy and appreciating them for their outcomes gives them a big high. Encourage them to engage with clients and go down to shop floors. Recognise their ideas and help them experience the importance of their point of view. Recognise them for working in a team and for their cross functional achievements. And finally recognise them for networking in the industry and for providing best practices within and outside the industry.

As Bill Conaty and Ram Charan state in their book ‘The Talent Masters’, “If businesses managed their money as carelessly as they manage their people, most would be bankrupt.”

Let’s ensure that we manage people better, I am confident our business outcomes will display fantastic and unbelievable results.

- By Clifford Mohan Pai, AVP - HR Business Leader and Head - Employee Relations

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.

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