In today’s world, the most valuable asset for a company is its employees. Other machinery, equipments and tools can be upgraded quite quickly, provided there is enough money, when compared to hiring and training an employee for a job. All employer-employee relations have a break-even point up to which the company invests on the employee and after which the company sees some returns back. The biggest loss a company can face is when an employee quits at the break-even point. But with some logical and simple steps employers can reduce, if not avoid, brain drain.
Understand the needs
Every person in this world is unique – so are they at work. Everyone have their own priorities and preferences. It is left to the employer to understand the employee from all points of view and come up with a character plot. The character plot would give an overview of the person and his/her preferences at work. I say this because i have seen people who want to have more responsibilty as well as people who hate to have any. The sooner this step happens the better it is.
Align the needs
Not all priorities and preferences align with the organisations policies and roadmaps. So the next step is to align the needs of the employees with that of the organisations’. This can only happen if the root cause of all the needs of the employee are understood. If the employer knows why he/she needs something, then it is much easier to promise them to give him something that is very much similar.
Manage ‘em loose
While hiring a person, the company clearly defines a job profile. Since most workers are responsible adults, they should be able to understand their job profile and work towards satisfying it. Many companies have the idea of quarterly review meetings to track progress which is nothing but taking away the responsibility from the employee. The employee over time just feels obligated to merely achieve the listed tasks in order to make sure the review goes well. And if such things continue to happen, there is nothing binding the employee to the organisation and he is prone to leave at any time.
Growth
Every body wants to grow. Being stagnant in the same job and doing the same thing might make them dissatisfied. So, discuss a long term career plan with the employee. Again the employer should try and align the plan with that of the company’s. Sometimes the interest registered by an employee might hint the company to enter a new business or start a new group.
Be open
Most of us like life to be simple and open. If the employers are open about the situation – be it bad company performance or unexpected net growth – to the employees then they can expect them to be more loyal. Employees are likely to stick with the same job if they form a good working relationship in their job.
Help them understand the big picture
One other way to retain talent is to show the employees that there is a bigger world out there and minor dissatisfactions do not matter in this large picture of life. This could be done by enrolling all the new employees into a work-based psychology session.
Make them comfortable
Many companies try this strategy of providing employees with loans or pay a percentage of their mortage, thereby tying them to the company for a longer time. Some others provide perks like having a crèche for their kids or organise a family day in the office where the employees partners get to know each other. The whole idea behind this is to make them as comfortable as possible.
Let them go happily
Sometimes, even after trying all the above mentioned steps, the employee still might want to leave due to various other factors. If that situation arises, then let them go happily. A good send-off party will always be remembered and there is a very high probability that the employee will come back to the same company if things dont work out fine in the new place.
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