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Gear Up To Tackle Attrition

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DQC News Bureau
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The ever-increasing demand and supply gap of professionals and the issue of
maintaining consistency in performance and keeping the motivation levels high,
despite the monotonous work is the toughest concern for an organization today.
Here are some things that experts believe can help control the attrition rate

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Attrition is one issue that affects organizations of all nature and stature.
There seems to be no remedy for it. It impacts business performance and gives
rise to questions like organization's health, morale and motivation.

Efficient employees are assets of an organization. Attri­tion is a key issue
to every company as a lot of investment is made in hiring employees. The time,
cost and energy involved in new recruitments and the time frame that it takes to
impart proper training has a substantial impact on the business.

The extent of damage caused by attrition can vary depending on the nature of
the business. A solution provider (SP) has a lot at stake because he often has
ongoing projects that may get stalled because a key person has quit. Beside
this, every time a new team is built, one has to devise newer strategies and
policies.

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Attrition also indicates the failure on the company's ability to set
effective HR practices and guidelines. More so, if a senior official resigns,
the impact is even worse-leaving questions in the minds of many about the
overall direction of the organization. The same is even followed by many other
people of the organization. It also creates an impact on the company's culture
as senior executives play a key role in shaping the aims and objectives of the
business.


EXPERT SPEAK
  • Attrition is a key issue in nearly all
    organizations today. When the core management leaves the organization, it
    has a direct impact on the business. It will also affects the team. There
    could be straight emotional drain as senior guys are usually looked up to
    by a lot of people. Initially, it might also have an impact on the morale
    of people. It is important that right communication is sent across to
    employees and the gap should be filled as soon as possible.
  • An organization should be prepared for few
    more people resigning immediately after a senior person quits. It impacts
    an organizations' culture as senior executives plays a key role in shaping
    it.
  • It is important that senior management has
    high association value with the organization. It is critical because as a
    business experience ups and downs, a stable senior management plays a key
    role in bringing organizations out of troubled times. We at Vitage have
    built this culture of core group, which would involve senior managers from
    all functions. We frequently invite people who show good involvement and
    consistent performance to these core group meetings. This gives them an
    insight about how the organization is progressing, what are the
    bottlenecks, and what are proposed future actions. This ensures that key
    performers get information from time to time on macro issues of the
    business and hence helps them associate with the organization at different
    levels.
  • People move out of an organization for
    various reasons-further growth opportunities, better pay packages, lack of
    interest in the current job profile, etc. It is important that there
    should be a high level of information exchanged between employees and
    organization to inspire trust. Other factors such as compensation, skill
    buildings are the basic hygiene factors that need to be taken care of to
    keep critical human capital intact.
  • There is no solution. However, building an
    environment of trust, ensuring employees grow with the growth of an
    organization, focusing on succession planning so that investment made on
    work force does not go in vain-can help solve the attrition issue to a
    great extent.

Sashidhar MG, Head-HR, Vitage Systems

Apart from the business being affected and company's internal weaknesses
being highlighted, the clients also tend to suffer a lot. Productivity and
profitability are the things that get hit directly with the increase in
attrition rate.

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The most common reason for an employee to quit and look for options other
than his current job is usually money. Lack of growth opportunities is another
important criteria.

Managing the issue

There is no sure-fire solution to control or even solve the attrition issue.
The only way out is to manage it well. Cautious hiring policies with proper
systems, processes and procedures in place to ensure that only the right talent
is inducted into the company can help solve the problem to a great extent. Those
found lacking in particular skills or competence should be regularly informed of
the expectations from them and put through a training process. Continuous skills
upgradation opportunities should also be provided to employees for their growth
and development.

Communication too plays a major role as it makes employees feel associated to
the organi­zation's decisions and policies. Skill building, compen­sations, etc
also helps employees stick

to a company for a longer duration.

Cautious hiring
policies with proper systems, processes and procedures in place can help
organizations tackle the attrition issue
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Constant analysis of the issues that leads to increase in attrition rate
helps curb the problem from the root stage. The top management should
continuously focus on the issue and implement effective recruit­ment and
retention measures.

Lipsha Das

(lipshad@cybermedia.co.in)