 |
| |
by Paul E. Bautista
It has been said (to the point of being trite) that people are the lifeblood of an organization. Yet more money and time is spent on planning the acquisition of new equipment and on the formulation of new procedures and financial strategies than on the acquisition of new talent and the retention of existing (desirable) talent.
For many organizations today, big or small, the ability to keep the employees (especially the ones they like) is a constant challenge. It is a challenge that many organizations know they must address yet are unable to.
So, how do you keep the people you like? (Getting rid of the ones you don't is quite a different topic altogether.)
Recruitment
Just like all processes, effective retention strategies begin with step 1: RECRUITMENT. In the Philippine job market, the battle among BPO companies is a battle for talent, with a sizable chunk of budget being allocated for recruitment advertising. The point is to attract the cream of the crop and get them "on the bus" (as Jim Collins would put it).
Although it is a process that all organizations know is important, it is one that many cut short. Recruitment is the step that determines what kind of people will make up your team. Yet we see many organizations pay inadequate attention to it and then make up for recruitment mistakes with say team-building workshops.
When looking for the right person for the job, DEVELOPMENT DIMENSIONS INT'L. (DDI), a leading global HR consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, has identified three areas of focus during the screening of applicants: knowledge, skills and motivation. The first two will determine whether the applicant can do the job, but the third can predict whether the person will do the job and will like staying in your organization.
Leadership
Once you have the person in the door and safely placed in a workstation, how do you keep them there? It should be stressed that it will not work to make them feel that they should be grateful just to have this job. To do so will keep their impending resignation hanging over your head like Damocles' sword.
To answer this, we find a surprising answer in DDI's in 2004 Global Leadership Survey. In this landmark research, organizations over the world were surveyed by DDI to determine the reasons employees resign. Their discovery: the TOP REASON employees leave is because of their relationship with their immediate supervisor.
This finding was similar to a research done by Franklin Covey Inc. in partnership with Ram Charan, which measured the ability of organizations to execute their most important strategies. They found that, many times, employees do not intend to leave the company, they intend to leave their leader.
This tells us now that employee retention is directly affected by leadership development, not just technical or business skill development, but interaction skill development. People have to like dealing with their leader. It is easier and more motivating for employees to work for a leader who treats them with respect and trust, who shows value for their self-esteem.
Employee Development
Finally, we come to the employees themselves. One of the best ways to keep an employee (and it is not always about the money) is through development and growth. When these opportunities are present, they communicate to your employees that there is a place for them in the organization. But let us differentiate these two terms.
By development we mean (for the purposes of this article) the improvement of skill and knowledge. There are dozens of ways in which this is done, only one of which is classroom training. Organizations and leaders can explore coaching, book-reading, developmental stretch assignments as ways to develop their people.
On the other hand, when we speak of growth, we mean the increasing breadth of responsibilities. DDI points out that many employees do not necessarily want to climb the organizational "ladder" by getting promoted to leadership positions, but rather want to explore the organizational "lattice" by getting more (or more interesting) job responsibilities.
Hence, it is imperative for organizations to gain an objective view of their employees development needs and growth directions. An old professor of this author, Father Jaime Bulatao, SJ, founder of the Ateneo de Manila's Department of Psychology, once said. "In order to teach Johnny, you have to first know Johnny." We can apply this to our topic at hand: In order to develop and retain Johnny, we need to know Johnny.
Keeping the Cream
In the end we see that there is no "silver bullet" for employee retention, but we have explored three ways that can help us keep the cream of the crop: First, identify and attract the cream of the crop through recruitment; second, develop leaders who can recognize and respect the value of the cream; finally show the cream that there is a place in your organization through employee development.
|
| |
|
|
|