Trap – Are you also offering the Cheese :)

Do you consider their performance only when they hand over their final paper?
Unlike trapping a mouse, retaining an employee at the last minute with a lump of cheese is not a bright idea..

"Your contribution has been valuable and has determined our success" 
"We believe you have the potential to take this organisation to the next level and spearhead our international assignments." 
Such statements are only uttered by a desperate boss who is trying to retain a deserving employee.

Sad reality, such level of recognition and acknowledgement is provided only when the person gets an offer from another company. But then again, if timely rewards & recognition were in place, the person wouldn't have chosen to leave, to begin with. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and doing the right thing at the right time doesn't seem so obvious to most people! So, let’s try to understand this phenomenon a little better and build an opinion on the same.

Cheese'em up - ;)
Being offered a better profile than your current job at the point of exiting the firm just doesn’t seem right. You come to believe that if you really did deserve it then why did your employer only realize your potential after another company recognized it and offered you something worth your salt? This is because most companies today believe in being reactive rather than pro-active. How can we correct this?

Balancing out -

The knee-jerk approach to retaining people is a reality today, and it is a challenge for every HR manager to minimize this. To begin with, one need to understand what it is that triggers attrition in an organisation. A fair salary can be managed by equitable distribution of compensation and the engagement level can be tackled by clearly defining the deliverable: what is required to be done and what is expected from the person.

Stay Interviews-
Another key driver is whether the organisation is bent towards carving out the employee’s career growth path and offers learning. The challenge for us is to therefore be in pre-emptive and not reactive mode in catering to these needs. To foresee issues and nip them in the bud is great but "why is the reactive mode so unsuccessful?" 
Trying to retain an employee after he/she has accepted another job offer is a tough task in itself. The chances of retaining him/her are pretty low because an employee who has initiated a job search has mentally ‘checked out’. The trick is to try and get to them before they begin the search.

Communication A must-
Every manager must ensure that the lines of communication between him and his direct reports are always kept open. Each manager must be held accountable for retaining his people.

Most organisations care less about digging into what their people really want, until they are disgruntled and are about to leave. The idea of last minute machinations to retain an employee who has expressed his desire to quit is flawed at the very conceptual level. The best time for re-engaging and refreshing the commitment of your employees is not when the employee resigns, but long before that.

Nurture 'em -
A good company is one that takes care of its employees right from the day they are inducted. You need to know as to what extent are your employees engaged and committed. Employees should be asked as to what they expect from the company they work for – the idea is to know their needs and to meet them, if they are feasible enough. Only then a sense of belonging will be created. Last minute retention strategies should chiefly be used to understand and subsequently better anticipate and address reasons for employee discontent rather than as tools to retain employees.

Last minute Chaos -
Another demerit of extending last minute hikes would be that it triggers a strong message for others in the organisation that this is the only way of getting a hike which could spell disaster. Any last minute pay hikes and promotions will always be viewed with suspicion. Also, this would set a very wrong example. It will not only give the impression that the employee needs to take drastic steps in order to get noticed but may also creates a precedent encouraging other employees to use resignations as bullying tactics to getting better remuneration.

Having debated on the futility of last minute retention strategies, we still know that it is a bitter reality and there are organisations which opt for it. So, what is their agenda in doing so? Let’s find out.

One of the reasons could be that they want to ramp up fast, and many of them are start-ups who are growing very fast. So, they are looking for a short-term solution. They will get the person with a high price but plateau hikes in the future.

While companies continue to hold on tight to their high fliers by filling their pockets and massaging their egos, as and when they get offers from competition, it is a shame that they are yet to realise the brutal mistake they are making in the process. The mistake of making others in the organisation realise that this is a great tool to make a fast buck. It is not rocket science, its common sense! Reward your people timely and make sure people get what they deserve and you won’t have to beg them to stay with you!

more at http://www.citeman.com/12863-the-trap-%e2%80%93-don%e2%80%99t-offer-the-cheese.html#ixzz2kpOENLQX

Reference/Background – A Reality Check

A phone call comes and you are asked about an ex-employee who worked in the company; what would you do? In most cases we would talk positively about that person and use flowery and decorative language so that the next employer gets impressed and/or in reality would be eager to just get rid of the person ASAP and so the best way would be to talk very nicely.

On the other side, a similar phone call and the Manager responds negatively about the employee, he would say all that he could think of saying just to spoil his/her image and restrict the chances of that employee to be employed anywhere else. It is not necessary that an ex employee is always really bad; it could very well be the employer’s version of maligning him/her just to take revenge or show dislike.

How Hypocritical? Isn’t it? It’s a really debatable topic! Isn’t this a common situation in many organizations? I’m sure many of us must have behaved in one of the two manners while giving references, unless of course, if the employee is worthy of these kinds of feedback-positive or negative. It gets confusing many a times as to what to say and what not to say about an employee…

Miscellaneous examples tell different tales about reference check and their failure in various organizations,to quote one such example;

A Recruitment Manager hired a female employee in the HR department, the girl looked suitable for the specific role and after clearing all the rounds smoothly she joined as a Recruitment Executive. One error that was made was that there was no reference-check done, and few months down the line everyone could see behavioral problems coming up, sometimes to an extent that she would go in to depression for days and just refuse to open up to anyone. She would complain about her work environment, colleagues and even her Manager and surprisingly all of them were baseless complaints.

After 3 months we got to know that she even tried to commit suicide when she was in her previous organization. An error turned in to a blunder, which implies that due importance should be given to reference-check in every organization.

There are many myths attached to reference-checks that if we give negative remarks about employees their future will be in jeopardy, but think this way if you do not give the right feedback there are chances that you as an employer may not get the same and so, all this practice of reference-check loses its lustre. Why not use our own prudence and rationale prior to providing feed backs about the employees?

In fact, some employees do not hesitate to file defamation lawsuits even if they are just angry over missing out on a job and such inherent perils have effectively tied their hands and make them (employer) shy away from honest, insightful and detailed answers.

The Prevention:

• A reference check is not the time to give vent to your malice or get your own back against the former employee. Let’s be professional and not take revenge of any kind.
• One should stick to a factual, unbiased and accurate evaluation limited to the work-related aspects of the employee’s behavior.
• Never offer judgmental opinions, voice-subjective ideas or misleading/incomplete information.
• If required, hold the phone call, take out the file and then tell them about the ex- employee through it.
• If asked, try and disclose both negative and positive aspects of the ex-employee, and unless asked for do not speak about any other information on your own.
• If at all there is something that your employer needs to know, present your side of the story during the interview itself, especially in case an ex employer has not relieved you happily.
• In case of any serious offence, do let them know about it, but if the matter is sub-judice then seek out legal help before giving reference.

Each one of us have our own strengths and liabilities, and sometimes how differently people perceive them obstructs our path, so be very vigilant while providing feedback! And who knows you might also require some references in future….so think twice and be wise!

As it’s a complex, debatable topic I would invite insights from fellow HR professionals about the same, be it stories, examples, cases…which can be of use to all. So wear your thinking cap and put your thoughts in here…….;)

more at http://www.citeman.com/15415-references-%e2%80%93-a-reality-check.html#ixzz2c7tEz3dr

Motivate employees for motivators :)

We changed the entire area of our terrace in the company premises and converted it into a fully functional gymnasium, managing rights given to a branded company with personal trainers available for 18 hours (BPO). In the first month our HR Manager tried hard to get the registrations for the gymnasium, motivating employees to work out during their break time through posters, danglers & all sorts of promotional activities. However, there were just 7 registrations which included the MD and the VP.

The company decided to give it another shot and kept it functional for the next one month but there was no change, hence they decided to close the gymnasium.

What makes or breaks an initiative in an organization are people’s interests and preferences. Sometimes the HR department thinks that they are launching the best practices in their companies; however they get a major setback when the so called benchmarked best practice fails. And then they ask- “If it worked for the other company, then why not for us?”

The answer lies in the diversity of people and their choices, tastes and motivating  factors. Some will be happy with a sport/games facility in the workplace, but others who may be avid readers might want a library instead, health freaks would opt for a gymnasium.

A forum member also posted a similar story about how the HR department launches new activities and how the employees do not participate in it. Then the entire blame for its failure falls on the HR people and rightly so!

Here are some facts which will help you in introspect on the HR initiatives as you try to put yourself in their shoes and think from their perspectives before launching any new motivational/ recreational/employee engagement activity.

Employee participation: Employee turnover was becoming higher every month, and all other activities were not giving the expected results, so we implemented a system of suggestion boxes at all the floors and asked for agents/CCE opinion on what would they would want the company to do to retain them. We got almost 500 plus suggestions and out of that more than 300 employees asked for similar things- More monetary rewards or gifts. One can also demonstrate in a credible way that the program saves, the organization, money and gets all the senior management support that you need.

We started some new initiatives such as ‘Star performer’ of the week or month, punctuality award, attendance award, and many performance oriented awards and they were given ipods, LCD TV. Employees who won two consecutive awards were given pen drives, Nokia/Samsung/Sony handsets, cameras and anything else they asked for. The attrition in 2 months time came down from 17% to 6 %.

Study their behaviour: Every individual is unique, has a variety of behaviours, value system and that is why their motivational requirement also differs from each other. HR department needs to go down to their level sometimes- feel, think like employees and then start working on new initiatives. Studying the people and their interests and behavioural patterns is very important to get the profitability and performance in the long run.

Communication: To ensure employee participation, the message should be communicated to them properly. Employees are keen to know what is in store for them, so they need to be informed and showed what are the benefits of the program/activity that the company is introducing. Clear communication with well-articulated words can do wonders. Don’t let your employees feel that it is just a passing fad like many others, keep it running, teething troubles will be there but long term benefits will also keep flying. Try it. :)

Incentives: The primary approach to high work and home demands with limited discretionary time for fitness is to move to the “incentive solution”, give incentive to the people to participate on their own terms and in their own time.  Yes, some people would like to join an activity in the evening after office hours. If they want to play a game of Snooker after 7 pm to de-stress then why not, let them enjoy.

Focus Groups: Create some focus groups and re-frame the issue of participation, ask them for their opinions on relationships, connectivity, self-care, sleep, recreation, stress control, stress management, positive attitude, understanding others, communication skills, breaking monotony of work, engagement of employees and then let them decide what they feel is the best for their own teams. Composing focus groups can actually enhance the participation level for various activities which the HR alone may not be able to induce.

So, get going and increase the level of participation with small changes here and there and then measure the results, I’m sure if implemented properly these recommendations can go great guns, says an experienced HR professional.

Ciao till we meet again….. :)

more at http://www.citeman.com/14942-motivate-employees-for-motivators.html#ixzz2c83hQdd2