Your Valuable Employee

If you think that manpower is a problem that only solution providers are
facing, cheer up. Stable employees who do not jump jobs at small pay hike, and
who are looking at a long-term stay in the company is a rare commodity
everywhere. In call centers and BPO organizations, the employee churn is as high
as 70 to 80 percent. This means that almost 70 to 80 percent of their employees
leave within a year. In fact there are reports of some cases where the rate is
almost 100 percent.

To run operations in a scenario where your people change so fast is one of
the most difficult things to handle. The impact is negative on other employees,
and they are always ready to pack their bags. Handling customers becomes
problematic as by the time relationships are formed, and you get to understand
the customer and his needs better, your person has quit. You are always in the
training mode.

There is no easy answer to this problem, but to accept it. And work out ways
to plan for it, so that negative impact is reduced. Some people have tried to
form informal policies at local level that will discourage people to quit, like
not offering jobs to employees of competitors, but it has not helped. The key
people you want to retain do not go to your competitor, but to your principals
or to large companies.

A few quick tips will help I am sure. Spend time with your people. There is
nothing like personal relationships. Talk to them about things beyond work and
office. Try and help them out with their personal problems. Involve them in
decision-making, whether small or big. That will give them a sense of importance
and also empower them. Your employees must be given new and more challenging
assignments.

The most important thing you can do to motivate your employee is to trust him
and delegate him some of the things that normally you do. Besides everything
else, delegating work to your people will give you a lot of time to spend with
them and do all the things discussed above.