By Nibha Shakya





Employees don’t leave the job, they leave the manager.


One of the major parts of HR relates to attrition. HR professionals from diverse organization came together on February 27, 2013 for HR Kurakani to discuss why an employee really leaves the organization and how it can be managed and controlled. The programme was organised jointly by Real Solutions and Hotel Annapurna. The major points raised during the programme were as follows:


REASONS

Relation with boss

Employees don’t leave the job, they leave the manager. If employees don’t like the manager’s leadership style, management style or can not tune up with their immediate managers, they prefer leaving the job, despite they are well paid. So, relationship with their boss has been major reason cited for employee leaving the organization.


No Career Progression

Most likely, employees leaving the organization are good employees. They would leave if they found that they have no opportunity of growth or career progression or they are not recognized for their performance.


High Stress Level

People leave the job because of high stress level. Though remuneration is good, they tend to move because of high work pressure.




Poor Communication

Communication plays an important role. The clarity of goal, task, grievances etc if not communicated well between management and employee, there’s  chance of HR turnover.


Remuneration and Benefits

If the salary paid is not commensurate with the role of the employee, there is tendency of leaving the job.
Monotonous job, no clear reporting line, no harmony between old and new employees, lack of clarity in policies etc could be other reasons behind employee leaving the organization.


POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Each manager is a HR Manager

• HR has major role in making One to One Meeting between manager and employee. The instruction should be provided by HR to both the manager and employee before such a meeting as how and what should be discussed. Such meeting can be conduced in a regular basis It helps to clear communication and solve any problems beforehand.

• Patting on the back appreciating employee’s effort, emotional support during their hard time, understanding employee’s perspective are few examples that help create a bond among the employees. This helps in retaining the employees.

• The directing quality, inspiring, delegating, communication ability of boss etc matter a lot in employee retention. So, leadership of the manager plays a crucial role. Similarly, the employee also needs to have capability to understand the boss’s perspective. Likewise, the manager need to remain updated.

Recruitment and Selection

Similarly, right recruitment and selection helps in retaining employees. If right employees are placed in right place, there is less chance of turnover.

Competitive Remuneration and Benefits

Salaries should be aligned with the job responsibilities. Likewise, more customized benefits (that would give benefits to the employees as well as to their family) would help in retention.



Tactful and Staff Care

HR professional should be tactful in dealing conflict and complaints of employees. They should be proactive in solving any issue before it comes up. Likewise, HR professionals need to work as facilitators in various ways. Proper practice of staff care and stress management helps in minimizing the employee turnover as they would feel valued.


Culture and Environment

Also the Culture and environment of the organization play an important role in decision of leaving and staying with the organization. Working environment with good team, handful resources, good behaviour and learning and sharing session help in retaining the employees.


Exit Interview

Exit Interview would bring many insights on various issues of the organization from leadership role to operation level discrepancies. Effective exit interview helps identify the reason behind leaving and other improvement factors which would be beneficial for the organization. The findings can be analyzed and improvement can be made as necessary.

Attrition upto certain level is healthy but high attrition would hamper overall performance of the organization. Understanding reasons on employee leaving the organization and taking corrective actions from HR and top management would help in minimizing employee turnover in the organization.

Shakya is Sr HR Executive at Real Solutions.