10 Tips for Motivating Employees

By Margaret Steen on November 28, 2007

Almost all employees want to do interesting work, secure a good salary and earn
recognition for their contributions. But motivating employees takes more than money and
an occasional “thank-you.” It requires a strategy tailored to each worker’s needs.

In HR, you work with your company’s managers to get the most out of your employees.
Here are 10 ways to make your motivational techniques work for every employee.

1. Ask what they want out of work. Just knowing that an HR manager or boss is
interested in a worker's goals will make many employees feel better about their jobs. It
can be difficult to get a quick and accurate answer to this question, however. Some
workers may say that they want to work on a prestigious project, for example, only to
discover once they have been assigned to the project that it isn’t what they expected.

It may help to ask a more specific question. Have workers describe a previous project that
they felt good about, then see what aspects of that can be repeated, suggested Michael
Beasley, a career-development and executive coach who owns Career-Crossings in
Portola Valley, Calif.

2. Consider each employee’s age and life stage. There are exceptions to every
generalization, of course, but workers nearing the end of their careers are often less
focused on the next promotion than those who are just starting to climb the corporate
ladder. Younger workers may also be less accustomed than older ones to waiting
patiently in a job they don’t find interesting.

3. Match motivators to the company or department culture. Again, there are

exceptions, but engineers are likely to be motivated by working on cutting-edge projects.
On the other hand, sales professionals tend to use money as a way to measure how well
they’re doing.

4. Pinpoint each employee’s personality. Some people love public praise; others are
mortified by it and would much prefer a sincere, in-person “thank-you.” Make sure you
take this into account if you are planning a ceremony to give awards or other recognition.

5. Use flexibility wisely. Allowing employees to telecommute some of the time or to set
their own office hours can have big benefits. It makes employees’ lives more manageable
— and it shows them that they are trusted.

Still, as with other motivators, one size does not fit all. Some jobs simply can’t be done
effectively outside the office. And some workers actually like going in to the office to
escape the distractions of home or to preserve a line between home and work. “As long as
the commute is not bad, some people would rather go in to work,” said Marianne
Adoradio, a Silicon Valley recruiter and career counselor.
6. Put money in its place. How well does money motivate workers? The answer isn’t
simple. An employee who demands a raise might really be unhappy because his or her
suggestions are being ignored, for example. And surveys and experts offer different
answers about how important money is, depending on how the question is phrased.

Dee DiPietro, founder and CEO of Advanced-HR Inc., described money as “a baseline”:
too little of it can make workers feel unappreciated and resentful. “You don’t want
compensation working against you as a motivator,” she said. “People just don’t want to
feel like their employer is taking advantage of them.” However, motivation to work hard
rarely comes solely from money. If your employees are being paid fair salaries and still
seem unwilling to go the extra mile, throwing more money at them is unlikely to be the
answer.

7. Don’t rely on stock options. If money is an unreliable motivator, stock options are
even less likely to motivate most workers. Employee worth goes up and down with a
company’s stock price — something very few workers feel they can control.

DiPietro considers options “more of a retention tool” because they vest over several
years. But she said that most employees simply lump them together with their salary
when they consider how much they’re being paid for their work. “People tend to look at
the whole cash package,” she said.

8. Offer help with career goals. When you ask workers what kind of work they enjoy,
also find out about what they’re hoping to do in the future. Giving workers opportunities
to build the skills and make the connections they need to get ahead in their careers will
build loyalty and motivation.

9. Help employees learn. It’s very important for workers to keep learning new skills on
the job. With people changing jobs more often than they used to and companies no longer
promising long-term employment, younger workers in particular realize that continuing
to learn is the way to stay employable, said Leslie G. Griffen, managing partner of Career
Management Associates, in Overland Park, Kan.

“Kids today are really under pressure to keep adding knowledge,” Griffen said. “I think
learning is huge: the ability to gather new knowledge on the job.”

Organized classes and seminars are one way to help with this, as are tuition-
reimbursement programs. But in many cases, it’s a matter of listening to what skills a
worker is interested in acquiring, then giving the person a chance to work on a project
that will develop those skills.

10. Recognize that motivation isn’t always the answer. If your motivation efforts
aren’t working, it may not be your fault. “Not everyone can be motivated for that
particular job,” Beasley said. If an employee would really rather be doing something else,
it may be best to encourage him or her to pursue something new.
Staff turnover can cost companies dearly. Learn about one telecommunications giant's best-of-breed
staff retention approach and the many ways it's paying off for both the staff and the company.

Key employee retention plans (KERP), employee retention and bankruptcy: Balancing stakeholder
interests.
People Leave Managers, Not Companies: How To Increase Employee Retention

Retaining employees involves understanding the intrinsic motivators of them which many
organizations unable to identify. In this context organizations need to dig novel approaches to retain
the most effective manpower.
Introductory chapter, that will: Look at exactly what “employee retention” is and examine three
trends that are currently shaping employee retention strategies.

One of the foundation stones of companies which attract, retain and motivate high performing
employees is a positive and valuing attitude toward them.

Rather than fight a futile “war for talent”, leaders should “build talent” by looking within their
organisations for the critical skills, knowledge and attributes required to execute their company's
most important roles.
Retention bonuses in the context of bankruptcy: Retention bonuses, also known as pay-to-stay
bonuses, have become common practice since the early 1990's and have been heralded by courts,
debtors, and creditors alike as an important and useful way to help reorganization by maintaining
those most valuable employees.

Research indicates that the total cost of employee turnover is about 150% of an employee’s salary.
Because of this high cost of turnover, the organization that is the focus of this article sought to
understand their employee’s turnover intentions and the reasons for the potential turnover.

Executive Summary of a study. This study examines the challenges that organizations face with
employee retention in an increasingly competitive labor market.

There's no denying that money keeps tech staff in their current jobs, but competitive salaries aren't
the lone factor in reducing turnover. As this case study illustrates, other uses of the money are also
very effective.
How long do you think good, talented people stick around at places that treat them like draftees?
Not long. David Russo explains why employees are your most valuable asset -- by far. This chapter
is from the book 17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent: Why
Engaged Employees Are Your Greatest Sustainable Advantage

The question is, why are some of our best employees choosing to leave and what is being done?
Most of us believe our employees leave us for money reasons. How many times have you said, “If
only I could have paid her more, she would have stayed.” Yes, you’ve lost people because of
money, but the majority of contemporary research finds that people leave for one major reason and
several subordinate ones.

The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the employee retention strategies
are:

1. Hire the right people in the first place.

2. Empower the employees: Give the employees the authority to get things done.

3. Make employees realize that they are the most valuable asset of the organization.

4. Have faith in them, trust them and respect them.

5. Provide them information and knowledge.

6. Keep providing them feedback on their performance.

7. Recognize and appreciate their achievements.

8. Keep their morale high.

9. Create an environment where the employees want to work and have fun.

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

Retention of Key employees is critical to the long term health and success of any
organization. It is a known fact that retaining your best employees ensures customer
satisfaction, increased
product sales, satisfied colleagues and reporting staff, effective succession planning and
deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning.

Employee retention matters as organizational issues such as training time and investment;
lost knowledge; insecure employees and a costly candidate search are involved. Hence
failing to retain a key employee is a costly proposition for an organisation. Various
estimates suggest that losing a
middle manager in most organizations costs up to five times of his salary.

The BPOs in India face an enormous challenge in reducing attrition rate and this being a
nascent industry needs to draw parallels, examples from other industry practices as well
as develop innovative Employee Relation Initiatives as highlighted below. This has been
classified into three groups
1. The Corporate level

2. Managerial/supervisory level

3. Employee Recognition Initiatives

Here this article attempts to highlight the strategies for the corporate level.
Corporate Level Retention strategies:-

Relevance of Retention Strategies in the Indian BPO Industry vis-à-vis other industries is
very critical to its existence for the following reasons -

· To bring stability in business and increase customer service process.

· Nasscom has estimated that the Indian ITES industry will gross over $5.7 billion by
2005 (based on a conservative year-on-year growth of 65 percent by Nasscom).

· Staff/employee satisfaction translates directly into money quite quickly in the BPO
industry compared to other industries.

· To reduce the pressure on the recruiting process.

· Recent acquisition deals both domestic & overseas by BPOs makes it even more critical
to stabilize their back end operations to service new customers.

Before we proceed its important to understand the underlying reasons for high attrition
rates, which are pretty steep and are around 40-50%. Currently it is about 35% in non-
voice and 45% in voice call centers. About 80% of them look for better careers within the
same industry. Agents want to become team leaders. Team leaders want to become
supervisors. Supervisors want the job of the CEO. Based on my discussions with the
experts in the BPO industry, literature and data available, the following trends are seen
as below.

There are varied reasons for the same and the major reasons for attrition rate are(based on
author's sample study):-

· Money - 10% · Night shifts - 35% · Monotonous/boring job - 30% · Others - 25%

As seen above from the above data, HR Strategist at the Corporate Level of the BPO
Industry indeed have a huge challenge before them and their approach has to be proactive
and they have to develop Innovative Employee Relation Initiatives as mentioned hereon.

· A satisfied employee knows clearly what is expected from him every day at work.
Changing expectations keeps people on the edge and creates unhealthy stress. This
creates insecurity and makes the employee feel unsuccessful. An employees deliverables
at work must be communicated to him clearly and thoroughly.
· The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention.
Frequent employee complaints center on these areas.

--lack of clarity about expectations,--lack of clarity about benefits pertaining to

performance based incentives.--lack of feedback about performance,--failure to provide a
framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

· The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is
another key factor. Have meetings or dinner once a month, to share the company's vision,
the industry's growth and where they see themselves in this scheme of things.
· Using psychometric tests to get people who can work at night and handle the monotony.

· Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in
your workplace. You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the
time to tap into it

· The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important.

· When an employee is failing at work, Refer to W. Edward Deming's question, "What is

about the work system that is causing the person to fail?" Most frequently, if the
employee knows what they are supposed to do, then the answer is time, tools, training,
temperament or talent. The easiest
to solve, and the ones most affecting employee retention, are tools, time and training. The
employee must have the tools, time and training necessary to do their job well - or they
will move to an employer who provides them.

· Another important factor is focus on the process than on the person especially when the
employee is not failing at work.

· Implement Competency Models which should be well integrated with HR processes like
Selection & Recruitments, Training, Performance appraisal and potential Appraisal.

· A common complaint or lament during an exit interview is that the employee never felt
senior managers knew he/she existed. In my experience I knew the MD of a company
who knew the first names of all staff including workers to that extent he used to enquire
about the well being of the family members if it was casually mentioned that wife or
children aren't keeping well. Senior managers refer to the president of a small company
or a department or division head in a larger company. They have to take time to meet
with new employees to learn about their talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each
employee periodically. They will have more useful information
and keep their fingers on the pulse of organization. It's a critical tool tohelp employees
feel welcomed, acknowledged and loyal.

· The Senior Managers to be involved in the recruitment process if the Recruitment team
has identified potential and cultural fit candidates.
· Involve the advisors or team leaders in the interviewing panels.

· In Company presentations to potential candidates, encourage the employees to share

their experiences.

· Your staff members must feel rewarded, recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying
thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards, bonuses and gifts make the thank you
even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to accomplishments and achievements
help to retain staff.

· Select the right people in the first place through behavior-based testing and competency
screening ·

Draw lessons from the Indian Army, for their command and control leadership where the
troops are highly skilled, motivated and morale is high. The comparisons is drawn as
both(BPO & army) have large numbers of employees and army's style of leadership may
not relevant to BPOs but it
must be understood & gathered that military organizations are team oriented with
continuous training. Troops expands their skills and experience capabilities they never
dreamed possible, produces a highly motivated and efficient organization. Learning
opportunity and responsibility is the key.

· Offer an attractive, competitive, benefits package.

· Provide opportunities for people to share their knowledge via training sessions,
presentations, mentoring others and team assignments.

· Demonstrate respect for employees at all times. Treat the employees well & provide
dignity of job; follow the maxim of Mr. Marriott that "Ladies & Gentlemen serve the
Ladies & Gentlemen".

· If a key employee resigns, it should be taken up on a priority basis and kept confidential
as far as possible and the senior management should meet the employee to discuss his
reasons for leaving and evaluate if his issues bear merit and whether they can be resolved

· Exit Interviews: Outsource this process to external consultants to get a realistic and
unbiased feedback. This can be a great source of information regarding the shortcomings
in a management system.· People want to enjoy their work. Make work fun. Engage,
employ the special talents of each individual.

. BPOs should endeavour to implement work-life balance initiatives to reinforce the

retention strategies. Innovative and practical employee policies pertaining to flexible
working schemes, granting compassionate and urgency leave, providing healthcare for
self, family and dependants, etc.

Work-life balance policies would have a positive impact on:

 • Attracting high calibre recruits
• Retaining skilled employees
• Reduce recruitment costs
• Improve employee morale
• Maintain a competitive edge

Listen to employees' ideas; never ridicule them.

· Offer performance feedback and praise good efforts and results.

· Implement organizational culture measurement tools like Adversity Quotient (AQ).

· Recognize and celebrate their success.

· Staff adequately so overtime is minimized for those who don't want it and people don't
wear themselves out.

. Get them involved in social causes and fund drives like Tsunami Disaster Relief.
Provide a meaning or a cause to their lives.

· Nurture and celebrate organization traditions like Diwali, Holi,Christmas etc.

· Communicate goals, roles and responsibilities so that people know what is expected of
them and feel a part of the crowd.

· According to research by the Gallup organization, encourage employees to have good,

even best, friends, at work.

· Encourage humour & laughter in workplace to deal with stress which will ensure that
the employees are happy which gets reflected in their services especially critical in voice
based transaction.

· Feeling valued by their manager in the workplace is a key to high employee motivation
and morale.

· Reach out to the families of the potential candidates with sustained and focused
messages in the media about the excellent prospects in the BPO Industry. There is an
example of this instances- Late Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, Chairman of the
Oberoi Group in efforts to makes sure that many women joined his company went to
educational institutions and elicited
women's parents to come to the hotel. He told them " I will walk you in and show you
what your daughters will do with us, please help us to train them".

· Excellent Career Growth prospects. -

Encourage & groom employees to take up higher positions/openings. If not fulfilled then
they will look outside the organization.
Look for talents within the organization and encourage them. For instance,if a person has
the potential to be a trainer, groom & develop the employee.

· Night shifts

1. Have people from other walks of life to talk about their experiences.Other professions
like Army, Medicine, and shop floor workers also have towork in night shifts.

2. Have doctors to advise & guide them about their biological clocks and ways & means
to deal with them.

3. Dietary advice:- Do's and don'ts.

4. Create the passion that they are doing a yeomen service to the nation by bringing the
much-required Foreign Exchange.

5. They are helping people (clients) to make their life easier.

6. Special lights in the office/workplace to ensure their bodies get sufficient vitamin D.

7. One distinct disadvantage of night shifts is the sense of disorientation with friends and
family members. Concentrate on this problem and develop innovative solutions and ways
to deal with it.
· Focused Training & Development Programs-

For Associates & Team Leaders

· A session on Transactional Analysis during the induction period so that both are made
aware of the causes for Communication breakdowns & conflicts which affect their mental
behavior and stress which needs to be tackled at the earliest in the right manner.

· Those who are working on services verticals - like Banking & Financial services to be
imparted training/knowledge of Vedic Maths, which would help them, calculate the
figures quickly without using calculators.

· Creativity & Innovation- Its all about Attitude! A job can be as monotonous or exciting
as you think/believe it to be, as it is all a state of mind. Look for excitement in the job
process as it is not just answering the queries or solving the problems of customers but
learning more about the
customer through his voice accent or visualizing his environment/culture.

· Encourage the best performers to share their experiences with others and mentor others.
The emphasis is to create the desire to learn, enjoy and be passionate about the work they
do.
 · Meditation Room or deep breath exercises for Associates & Team Leaders
- the emphasis is that they should never be in the stress mode or upset while
attending calls of a customer.

· Hire outstation candidates (from small towns like Amravati, Latur,Nashik

etc) and provide them with shared accommodation.

Conclusion

It is HR's job, though not HR's job alone, to champion and shepherd effective human
resource management practices at both the strategic and day-to-day levels. That is, to be
effective, human resource management practices must be grounded in two ways. First,
they must reflect company wide commitments as to how it will manage and relate to its
employees. Secondly, HR must implement these commitments so that the ideals of the
enterprise and deeds of its agents are congruent.

HR to play a key role in the development and execution of the Business Strategy of an
Organisation. It should evolve from a transactional support role to partnering in the
organization's business strategy.

Why retention strategies often fail

Salary and perks are not the only factors that make professionals switch jobs. Renuka
Vembu analyzes the causes of attrition, the efforts made by organizations to retain their
talent and why these retention strategies do not always manage to hold on to the talent

Salvaging the talent pool is a tough task for companies and HR departments alike.
However, this is an inconvenient truth in the stark reality of attrition versus the desperate
efforts of retention. Any organization suffers when the most efficient and valuable
employee decides to part ways—be it the top notch or lower down the ranks, they create
a vacuum—either for the company in large or in their immediate frame of surroundings.

Employees are said to be a company’s greatest asset. Attracting, safeguarding, nurturing

and preserving them is a mission in itself, which takes total commitment and
endorsement. While the middle management has a career chart well in place to take on
the next position, the top hierarchy has a contingency plan laid firm. It is the group which
is lower down the ranks for whom there is no succession planning strategy in place, and
who comprise the volatile lot. They are easy targets of poaching in the competitive talent
market.

Reasons to resign

Akila Krishnakumar, COO and Country Head (India), SunGard, felt “Most often the
decision is not compensation related, but because an employee finds an ‘apparent’ right
opportunity elsewhere; apparent because this impression is based on the candidates’
understanding of a new role from the first few interactions with the other organization.
Therefore, what works best for employee retention is to ensure that employees have a
good connect with their team managers, who can guide them towards meeting their
individual aspirations within the same organization, help interpret in-house opportunities,
demystify their apprehensions, and in general, be the connection between the
organization and employees on the ground.”

In a globalized marketplace and 24/7 job function, it is imperative to stress on connecting

on a personal level with employees. While on the job, lack of communication, absence of
timely recognition and compensation, conflict with team members or boss, insufficient
perks, promotion and pay package, inconducive environment, incompatibility with the
culture, work ethics, inflexibility in the work timing, insensitivity with individual health
problems or personal issues, etc., may act as some of the reasons which force the best
players to search for better options.

The main issue is to identify why employees leave—is it with respect to a particular team
or department, a specific job function which is high pressured, a reporting manager or are
there generic issues which need to be addressed.

Vikram V Kallianpur, Director, HR, Virtusa Corporation, said, “It is the effect of
multiple causes covering engagement, growth, culture (workplace as well as
performance), and the people-touch each people manager practices in the organization.
The analysis paralysis comes with reasons such as career advancement, compensation,
family constraints, relocation and academical pursuits. The actual ‘drivers’ of attrition
can stem from lack of goals or reviews, low employee-manager engagement, culture
contrary to values, delayed reward and recognition, conflicting communication (including
feedback), interpersonal failures, etc.”

TMI Network gave a different perspective. They opined:

• There occurs space crunches as one moves to top of the ladder, where one peer
makes it to top and the subordination issue creeps up
• Bringing a new boss in between
• Professional freedom ceiling—one may hit the ceiling of growth and they may
look for larger companies to get more space to grow
• Re-organization

While average performers can be replaced, the Herculean task is finding a replacement
for exceptional performers who leave an organization. Companies are increasingly
engaging in retention strategies which are gaining prominence, and are as important as
recruitment and training. Retention plans need to be phased out bearing in mind not only
the job requisites of an individual, but the surrounding environment as also gaining an
insight into an individual’s personal life.
Iti Kumar, A.V.P. People Development, GlobalLogic Inc., voiced, “Management of the
company must ensure that effective retention strategies are well practiced at both
strategic and day-to-day levels. HR strategies must evolve from a transactional support
role to partnering in the organization business strategy. HR needs to take steps to be
aware of employee problems proactively and try to solve them creatively. Valuable
employees always consider themselves to be brand ambassadors and stakeholders;
therefore it is really essential for the management to provide long term strategy and
vision.”

Venkatesh Subramanian, VP and Head, IT Careers, TMI Network, believed that

amendments in the form of compensation correction, both in salary and benefits like
stocks, role betterment, group movement like reporting to another boss, promotion and
location movement, even onsite posting will help resurrect the situation and retain
dissatisfied employees.

Angelo Apollos, Director, HR, CA India, explained, “Designing jobs and assigning work
which is challenging, providing a framework where employees can access relevant
development opportunities, a robust mechanism to promote internal career opportunities,
flexible work policies, family-friendly services and benefits, strong lifestyle-oriented
benefits, well defined career paths backed up with the requisite training, a well articulated
and evident corporate and social culture, a respected brand name, these are the many
reasons why employees would be proud to be associated with a company.”

In an age when needs far exceed the expectations met, and when monetary benefits is no
longer the only cause of concern, the intangibles and add-ons that come with the
surrounding environment act as a motivator on the job. Effective leadership is another
key aspect for keeping the young breed motivated and shaping up their careers. This
keeps them on track and in focus; satisfied with the work and happy to be working where
they are cared for and valued by.

Ulhas Aher, HR Head, Datacraft stated, “There is no unique and uniform solution or tool
for retaining employees. They say that different strokes for different folks. Different tools
are used for different factors and it is not necessary that it will work for everyone.”

For employees to stay motivated and dedicated, and perform to the best of their ability,
engaging in fair and transparent dealings, an effective communication channel, job
rotation, ensuring a challenging role, an open-door policy, a defined career path, proper
training and skills upgradation, addressing grievances, inclusive decision-making,
employee empowerment, effective performance management and appraisal, are
mandatory. But, these are a given under any circumstance and stand as the basic
requisites. It reflects the culture of the company, its brand identity and the quality of its
workforce. They have to move out from just being a publicity mechanism or a policy on
paper to more diligent implementation for the overall betterment of the organization and
its workforce.
Pratik Surana, CEO, Quantum Infotrainers and Consultants said, “There is always an
urge for learning amongst human beings and any good cross functional training could
make an individual feel important in the organization when nominated for such programs.
It also helps in refreshing their skills which could not be exploited or unleashed to the
fullest potential. People may have various aspirational levels at various stages in life, be it
money, status, position, recognition or love needs or a combination of it makes them look
around for an effective alternative.”

What employees need and demand, and companies are increasingly trying to adopt are
innovative ways to not only make employee life easier but also to enhance it. Since there
are increasing health concerns even from a very young age, medical benefits are of
utmost importance. Similarly, in an age where commuting eats up a considerable amount
of a person’s time, any arrangement to reduce the traveling woes act as a major attraction.
Provision of concierge services reduces the tension of employees to a great extent as
additional responsibilities are taken care of by the company within its premises.
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) help build up an individual’s financial bank.
Educational tie-ups help employees upgrade their skill-sets and thereby give them a better
chance in the outside job market and improve their career scope. Flexitime policies and
telecommuting privileges are also some of the upcoming ideas that are being tried and
tested by companies. Also, in this stress-ridden age and lack of work-life equilibrium,
companies engage their employees in career and personal counseling sessions by inviting
professionals on a periodic basis. It is often the small things that make a large difference.

Vaidyanathan P, Deputy GM, HR, California Software Company, said that creating a
sense of belonging, giving them platforms to work with cutting edge technologies, and
cross training expands the role width and gives employees exposure to perform in
multiple projects.

An analysis

Retention strategies have to be carefully executed keeping in mind the people involved
because it revolves around them. Feedbacks from employees have to be worked upon,
and their inputs included in making it a success effort. The huge gap in the demand-
supply for specialized skill-sets is still widely prevalent, availability of raw talent far
exceeds that of polished skill-sets, educational system lags behind in experiential learning
and providing practical know-how. All these hindrances further act as roadblock,
affecting the chances of companies to recruit and retain the best available and polished
talent pool.

While there is a unanimous view that employee benefit programs and welfare initiatives
aimed at retaining the workforce definitely work at one level, the fact is it is not a
standalone strategy. They have to be clubbed with other areas as well for churning out the
required impact. Krishnakumar felt that strategies worked best when an organization is
successful in demonstrating the ‘what’s in it for me’ to the individual employee.
Apollos felt that these strategies worked on three levels—they provide a compelling
reason as to why an employee should stay with the company, are great tools when
attracting talent and the ROI of these strategies and initiates, if linked to the company
strategy, will deliver tangible and intangible business results.

Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, Director, e2e People Practices, voiced out, “Yes, these
strategies do help as they drive a high productive culture because the top performers love
challenges. The company will benefit as the cost of hiring and slack in the period till the
new recruit gets accustomed in the new culture is reduced, hence saving costs. In this era
where all employees believe in an average work span of two years in a firm, retaining
valuable employees will reflect in their career as it would show their consistency and
commitment (reflecting in employee loyalty towards the organization).”

Aher stated, “Attrition to some extent is good for the organization because it gives an
opportunity to get new people and new ideas. But, beyond certain point it only leads to
losses and negative impact. Cost of replacement is not just the recruitment cost. It also
includes the cost of productivity lost, training and learning cost and most importantly it
may affect employer brand adversely. When employees stick to the organization they
become more productive and in turn get more benefits in all aspects. When people and
process are known, chances of failure are minimal as compared to a new organization
with new people, new culture and new processes.”

Objective, execution, initiative, endorsement, everything has to be aligned and be in sync

for the company to reap benefits of the program. A proactive approach is better than a
trying to design a cure at a later stage when the damage is done. This will not only give a
dent to the company’s image, but also send out the wrong signal to the existing
employees as a damage control effort will seem as a desperate attempt to save face.

The consequences

The consequences of attrition are manifold—loss of business, sulking employee morale

and team spirit, impact on productivity, improved and renewed efforts and resources of
bringing in a new person on board, etc. Also, it is a known fact that when any employee
quits, additional efforts, time and resources are spent on searching for the appropriate
replacement, and then molding them to represent the organization, and making them a
perfect fit for the defined job role. HR take with them years of experience, knowledge
and skill-sets. Apollos added, “Attrition is one of the most significant hidden costs in a
business and can amount to as much as six months salary and there are also other costs
such as the negative impact to company’s employment brand. When a company loses
large or significant numbers of employees it becomes more difficult for that company to
attract high quality talent to replace those that have left the company.”

Ramaswamy pointed out that the work environment would be disturbed as the employees
may associate themselves with the failure and disregard the upcoming initiatives from the
firm. It may also reflect in the business prospects as the firm may not have employees
with the appropriate skill set required for the respective job. “This issue is mainly faced
by SMEs as sourcing talent at the appropriate cost and time is always a concern,” he
added.

A future together

With changing ways of working, the mechanisms to cope up with attrition and retention
also vary. Raj Bowen, MD (India), Personnel Decisions International (PDI), asserted,
“When the stated and implemented strategy of an initiative is just to retain employees,
most often, it fails. There has to be a larger and more evolved purpose that is linked to
both—the growth and success of the individual and that of the enterprise. Unless there is
a fundamental integrity that seeks to engage a team for building a future together, and the
team buys into the dream, results remain suboptimal. At the end of the day, the challenge
boils down to that of building effective leadership at every level, as they form the glue
that sticks the organization together.”

Similarly, attempts at pulling the strings on employee attrition are not a temporary
survival tactic. They have to be substantiated with long-term goals for the employee, as
also establishing a credible relationship with them.

Kallianpur summed up, “Organizations that focus on consistently investing in people

practices, systems and ‘walking-the-talk’ get the leverage to better retention. Traditional
views of staff retention are no longer effective or appropriate in the current talent market.
There are no quick fix solutions to staff retention, but being constantly aligned with the
people aspect to business enables mapping solutions for problems getting resolved. The
senior management commitment to encouraging the ‘people’ function as a strategic
partner to business with ‘right funding’ for systems, training and development enables
higher people touch which in turn helps in retention.” Making the retention strategy work
is one of the greatest challenge for every organization.

HOTELS

Hotels are amongst the most visible and important aspects of a country's infrastructure.
Hotel industry is a closely linked one to the tourism industry. A number of factors like
promotion of tourism and rapid industrial progress have given a boost to Hoteliering. The
recent liberalization of trade and opening up of economy will further lead to
revolutionary growth in this sector.

With increasing globalization, career opportunities in this field are not only limited
within the country but there are chains of hotels which operate internationally providing
scope of a career abroad. It is a glamorous profession which has a bright future. With the
growth of hotel industry propelled by foreign and domestic tourism and business travel,
the demand for well trained quality personnel too has grown impressively.

Hospitality sector is growing at a very fast rate in India. The sector is growing at a rate of
approximately 8%. This sector can be classified into hotel industry, travel and tourism,
restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars, contract catering, and aviation. Other than that,
opportunities also exist in universities, sporting venues, exhibition centers and smaller
events management companies.

The major challenge of this sector is shortage of skilled employees along with the
challenge of attrition rate. Skilled chefs and managers are in great demand. Managers
require huge range of competencies such as, people management, viable skills, business
insights, analytic skills, succession planning, and resource development in order to get
success in this sector. In addition to that, employees are not enough trained on Business
Etiquettes, Courtesy, and Business Communication. Hospitality is all about handling
people. So an employee must have right attitude, tolerance, and listening skills in order to
move up the hierarchy. There is still a long way to go to inculcate good public relation,
interpersonal skills.

Problems of manpower in hotel industry

1. Shortage of skilled employees:- One of the greatest challenges plaguing the

hospitality industry is the unavailability of quality workforce in different skill levels. The
hospitality industry has failed to retain good professionals.

2. Retaining quality workforce: Retention of the workforce through training and

development in the hotel industry is a problem and attrition levels are too high. One of
the reasons for this is unattractive wage packages. Though there is boom in the service
sector, most of the hotel management graduates are joining other sectors like retail and
aviation.

3. Shortage of rooms: The hotel industry is facing heavy shortage of rooms. It is

estimated that the current requirement is of 1, 50,000 rooms. Though the new investment
plan would add 53,000 rooms by 2011, the shortage will still persist.

4. Intense competition and image of India: The industry is witnessing heightened

competition with the arrival of new players, new products and new systems. The
competition from neighboring countries and negative perceptions about Indian tourism
product constrains the growth of tourism. The image of India as a country overrun by
poverty, political instability, safety concerns and diseases also harms the tourism industry

5. Customer expectations: As India is emerging as a destination on the global travel

map, expectations of customers are rising. The companies have to focus on customer
loyalty and repeat purchases.

6. Manual back-end: Though most reputed chains have IT enabled systems for property
management, reservations, etc., almost all the data which actually make the company
work are filled in manual log books or are simply not tracked.

7. Human resource development: Some of the services required in the tourism and
hotel industries are highly personalized, and no amount of automation can substitute for
personal service providers. India is focusing more on white collar jobs than blue collar
jobs. The shortage of blue collar employees will pose various threats to the industry.

Outcome of attrition on organization

1. The Cost of Turnover: The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of thousands of
money to a company's expenses. While it is difficult to fully calculate the cost of turnover
(including hiring costs, training costs and productivity loss), industry experts often quote
25% of the average employee salary as a conservative estimate.

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

Techniques foe employee engagement in hotel industry

Provide variety: Tedious, repetitive tasks can cause burn out and boredom over time. If
the job requires repetitive tasks, look for ways to introduce variety by rotating duties,
areas of responsibility, delivery of service etc.

Conduct periodic meetings with employees to communicate good news, challenges and
easy-to-understand company financial information. Managers and supervisors should be
comfortable communicating with their staff, and able to give and receive constructive
feedback.

Employee Scheduling- Poor scheduling of work may result in employees who either are
overloaded with work or don't have any work at all. For the purpose of engaging
employees effectively, managers follow the workforce scheduling process
Employee scheduling refers to the assignment of tasks between the employees. It is a
difficult and a time consuming process. It involves producing detailed daily (or monthly)
schedules for individual employees while taking the organization's goal into
consideration.

Employee Empowerment - Employees' previous assignments so as to ensure that

maximum work duration does not exceed in the current month or quarter., Skill and
proficiency level required for each activity type, Company skills to develop, employees
designated for training in these skills, 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.

Providing Retention Bonus - Higher attrition rates within a particular industry have
forced companies to use some innovative strategies to retain employees. Retention Bonus
is one of the important tools that are being used to retain employees. Retention bonus is
an incentive paid to an employee to retain them through a critical business cycle.

Retention bonuses are becoming more common in the corporate world because
companies are going through more transitions like mergers and acquisitions. They need
to give key people an attractive incentive to stay on through these transitions to ensure
productivity Retention bonuses have proven to be a useful tool in persuading employees
However, some companies pay in installments as on when the business cycle completes.

Role of HR Manager in Retention

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 don't 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.

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 don't 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
counselors as well.

Talent management integrates traditional talent-related functions that were considered as

"administrative" functions into routine business processes. By "embedding" people
management processes into standard business processes one can force line managers to
think of recruiting, retention, development, etc. as essential activities that make a
significant contribution to any manager's business results and success.

The Indian aviation sector is moving at a faster pace. At present, Airports Authority of
India (AAI) operates 127 airports including 13 international airports and 25 civil enclaves
in the country. In 2007, 36.47 per cent growth was registered in domestic segment. The
domestic aviation sector is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 20% over the next five years. The number of air travelers also increased by a record
38.5 per cent in 2006-07. Cargo traffic is also growing at a fast pace at these airports.
From the current volume of 1.6 million, cargo growth is expected to reach 9 million MT by
2020, growing at a CAGR of 14%.

By 2020, Indian airports are estimated to handle 100 million passengers, including 60
million
domestic passengers and Cargo traffic of 3.4 million tonnes per annum. Year 2007 was
marked by no accidents, a landmark in seven years. However, certain factors have been
hampering the growth of Indian Aviation Sector like high aviation turbine fuel prices,
shortage of skilled labors, rapid fleet expansion, and infrastructure constraints. Some key
players of the sector are JetLite, Air India, Kingfisher Airlines, GoAir, SpiceJet, and
Paramount Airways.

Employment: The Indian aviation sector is likely to generate nearly 2.5lakh jobs by
2010 as fleet expansion is on the rise. As a consequence of commonwealth games,
approximately 10million tourists will be visiting India by 2010. There is a growing demand
for training 1,500 pilots every year due to the phenomenal growth in the civil aviation
sector. With such a robust growth, the sector would be facing a dearth of qualified
commercial pilots, expats and technicians. It is estimated that a requirement of 40,000
cabin crew members will arise in coming five years.

Attrition: Skilled employees are leaving their companies on a large scale thus, resulting
in dearth of talented professionals in the companies. The attrition among pilots and cabin
crew is as high as 46 per cent. Moreover, maximum attrition is observed in employees in
age group of 26 to 30 years with experience of two to four years.

Compensation: The key players are paying hefty salaries to their employees in order
to retain them with the company for long. The salaries offered are at par with the
competitors. For example, the ground staff get salary ranging between Rs 10,000 to Rs
15,000. Similarly, the pay packets of pilots and cabin crew range from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.6
lakh per month. There is little difference in the pay packages of state run airlines and
private players. Engineers of both carriers are paid between Rs.1 lakh and Rs.2 lakh per
month. While some private airlines are even paying their engineers Rs.3 lakh a month so
as to retain talent.