Everyone Is Guilty Of Poaching

Poaching is one issue that affects organizations of all nature and stature.
There seems to be no remedy to it. Part of the reason can be blamed on the
growth in the IT sector and the fact that people are driven by a need to better
their standard of living.

Big companies, distributors, MNCs and even local competitors in small cities
like Indore engage in poaching. Their targets usually are trained professionals
working with some small company who can be lured with fat paychecks and a
promising future.

But the company that loses out on good people suffers a great deal due to
this trend. The vacuum created by the exit of a good worker is really hard to
fill. Even if one fills it, they can never be sure that the replacement employee
will not be poached either.

Under such circumstances the business suffers, although not massively. But
the extent of the damage can vary depending on the nature of the business. A
solution provider has a lot at stake because he might have ongoing projects that
may get stalled because an important person has quit. Beside this, every time a
new team has to be built, one has to devise newer strategies.

Dealing with poaching

In order to cope with this never-ending problem, I've designed a new
strategy. I firmly believe in hiring freshers and training them. Investing in
people with no experience gives me an opportunity to mould them into the kind of
employee I expect and helps in retain them for a longer period. This is a
two-way process. People with no work experience want a chance to prove
themselves and are full of enthusiasm to deliver. Given an opportunity they
would want to out-perform. In such a situation there is a chance that the
employee will be more loyal to the company in the long run, out of a sense of
fulfillment and obligation.

At the same time, putting too much pressure on the fresher can in turn force
him to seek other options. One can't expect them to start showing results
immediately. It's only when they are trained and are aware of our culture and
environment that they will tend to stay with the company for a longer time.

Having been in this business for 17 years, I've seen people quit companies
for numerous reasons. These include higher salary or better work culture. But I
personally do not believe in the policy of poaching. There is no guarantee that
if we influence a person by providing them with a higher salary and better
culture that he would stay. There is every possibility that he may look for
greener pastures.

If an employee leaves another organization to join you, he could very well
leave your company as well. Higher pay packages and brand names influence such
people and is something that is beyond an employer's control.

Sudhir Arora, Computer gallery, Indore

Poaching at all levels

Instead of poaching people, I prefer to lay emphasis on hiring more freshers,
so that they will remain with me for a longer duration. There were times when
people left our organization without notice and I was left with no choice but to
hire a fresh set of employees. It is generally the big companies and MNCs that
indulge in poaching. This is because these companies are always on the look out
for trained people with solid work experience.

Under such circumstances, if these companies are offering better salary
packages, it is hard for an employee not to opt for it. It is after all human
nature to be attracted by a better salary package. As an employer, one cannot
tie them down. There is no permanent solution to this vicious circle, but
business has to go on.

Most of the poaching is of the technical staff. The service industry has a
huge demand for manpower, specially trained people. Therefore people with the
requisite knowledge, skill and expertise are in huge demand.

Besides the amount of experience, employees often give a fillip to their
resume and bigger and well-established companies poach them. Many
service-oriented companies hugely indulge in poaching as they are in constant
requirement of technical staff. Due to their technical knowledge, huge companies
don't hesitate to invest in them.

Thus it is mostly the service engineers who are poached, leaving the small
organizations like us with no choice but to device different strategies to deal
with it and keep hiring manpower. Besides the technical staff, even those who
are in sales are poached. Many of my sales people have over the years left my
organization to join big distribution houses. Since these people have gathered
enough information about the market, distributors poach them, as they are the
ones who get the latter the business.

The marketing and sales people need to build customers and a company hugely
relies on them for expanding their business. Once these professi­onals are aware
of the prevailing market trends and strategies, they are approached by large
organizations.

Ironically, when the same employees who have quit to join other distribution
houses, come to sell their wares to you, you are left with no option but to
behave like a perfect businessman. Just like life, business does not stop. You
have to go on and most importantly grow with your competitors.

Expert speak

Poaching is one problem that is massive by itself. The only option employers have is to work on the internal factors of their organization. This includes providing employees with a better work environment. Hiring freshers constantly is not a solution to the problem. Employers need to study the market and then get loyal people on board. Many a times, the employee is not motivated by higher salary alone. He also looks for a comfortable atmosphere and better job profile. However, in smaller organizations it is very difficult to restrict people and they are bound to be lured by better salaries. In such a situation the only option is to make the employee sign a bond wherein it is clearly stated that he cannot leave the organization based on mutual understanding between the company and the employee. Before hiring a person, big companies like HP, HCL etc, makes them sign a 'No Poach Bond'. For example if a company is working with another company in the technical expertise area, then the two cannot poach each other's employees. This is a very important clause as people possessing technical know-how and skills are the ones who are mainly targeted by entrepreneurs. Thus, even the inter-related divisions of companies cannot poach each other's employees with this bond in place. However, the clauses that will be incorporated in a bond are based entirely on mutual understanding and can range from one to two years. With the signing of such a bond, what happens is that an employee cannot move without prior notice and if they ever indulge in the practice then the organizations can take legal recourse accordingly. However, the ground reality is slightly different and in such cases there is a great possibility that the employee may not be inclined to sign the bond at all. Mansi Jain HR Consultant, Alp Consultants