A Homely Office Boosts Retention

While getting the right people and retaining them is a huge issue of
concern for many system integrators, Harish Shetty of Binary Systems believes
that a workplace environment plays a significant role in defining how long
people will stay in the organization

As we move towards becoming a developed economy, organizations across the
board are up against new challenges. The biggest and the most critical being
those related to manpower.

It has been predicted that getting skilled manpower and moreover retaining
them is going to be one the key business concerns this year. Organiza­tions are
burning their midnight oil to see how effectively they can ensure that they have
the best of skill sets with them, and that attrition rates are kept lower.

Finding and successfully recruiting manpower is the most frequently reported
barrier to the growth of an organization. More often than not, we hear of
employers being forced to recruit people who might have potential to develop,
but who do not currently fully meet the needs of the role.

It challenges top managers to consider the future resource needs of the
organization and address issues of succession planning.

Harish Shetty

Varied options

Getting the right profile of people for the job is a huge challenge today.
Probably that is because the options available today are by far varied and
larger. So people tend to choose bigger organizations like Wipro or Infosys over
smaller companies like ours.

That is not just the end. Even if we get the right kind of people, meeting
their expectations and giving them the right kind of growth path is another
challenge, because this is what we need to do to retain the best of our people.

The issues related to manpower retention are similar across the board, be it
technical sales or other.

So what happens if a well-trained person quits? What happens if say a person
at the lower rung of the ladder decides to go? It has happened before and we
face it even now. If a person at a senior level quits, then it is a loss of not
just manpower but also time and opportunity till a replacement is found. If a
person at the lower rung quits, again the others may get overburdened with work
and this tends to affect their productivity adversely.

Positive influence

While there is no quick fix solution for retaining people, the work
environment has been recognized as a big influencer on employee retention.
Through demonstrating a passion for learning and development, employers can not
only reward people for their contribution, but also value their skills and
potential.

The management can also adopt a range of measures and techniques that provide
a picture of performance. These include external assessments, and self-review to
monitor performance. Effective evaluation also depends on forward planning and
working out how activities contribute to the objectives in your strategies. It
should also include how success will be judged, and what will be your approach
to gather feedback and measuring impact.

In essence therefore, while pay and benefits may help to attract staff, it is
the workplace culture-the relationship with managers and colleagues; involvement
in decision-making; and development opportunities, which determine how long they
stay. The skill sets needed in a changing economy are also changing rapidly.

Fundamentally, work is good for individuals too, offering not just income but
also human contact, mental stimulation and is linked to improved physical
health. So keeping people well at work makes sense all round. Working in a
friendly team of supportive colleagues and being able to balance the demands of
work and personal life can also help.

The author is founder of Binary Systems, Bangalore