The Elusive Employee

The Elusive Employee

Many of us who are in small businesses dread one kind of turnover. The employee turnover ! We spend thousands of rupees training employees to adapt themselves to our way and when they are sufficiently trained, they run away to our competitors !

Do they run away or do we drive them away ?

Let’s face it. Many of us have to change our thinking. From generation to generation, getting employees has become more and more difficult. And retaining them has become even more so. Yet, our unconscious philosophy seems to be, “so what if he goes away, I can always get another one. “ Sure you can. But, as many of us have discovered, the replacement is costlier. And, not as good as the original.

Human beings are all creatures of comfort and once they establish a comfort zone, they find it very difficult to change it. Yet employees do it. Lots of reasons. Some of them silly. But they do leave.

When you analyse the reasons, you will find they are emotional rather than rational. It is not just the money. Very often we do not respect our employees. We use them as punching bags to work off our frustrations. We leave them insecure most of the time. Therein lies the root cause.

Management experts will give you various strategies to retain your employees but I could summarise them into just three factors:

Clarity. When you take on someone, you should be clear on what exactly is he expected from him. You should be able to explain to him in a language that he understands, what your expectations are. You should be able to tell him his specific role in your business and what his growth path would be. He should know the performance parameters that will bring him bigger rewards. He should know the extent of his authority, responsibility and most important his accountability.

Empowerment: An employee develops a feeling of belonging only when he has certain responsibilities and is accountable for them. A clear cut policy would tell an employee what his powers are, the extent they can be utilized and the consequences of misuse. A certain degree of independence is a plus factor is binding the employee to us

Satisfying Emotional Needs: Human beings are ruled by sentiment to a large extent. Often, emotional needs are not rational. Yet, satisfying them is critical. Positive strokes, appreciation when deserved given as publicly as possible, constructive criticism being given one on one only, a designation that looks imposing on a visiting card, friendliness at the workplace, social occasions for binding are vital factors that prevent an employee from leaving.

Despite all this, employee attrition is a fact of life. There are just three ways of ensuring that our work does not suffer:

Systems: A work manual for each position in your office which a new employee can read will save you valuable hours of training. Access to a good recruitment agency will give you quick replacements and openness in communication during the recruitment process will prevent expensive attrition.

Cloning of vital functions: Ensure that there are two employees who are abreast of all key functions. An accountant should have an assistant who can take over at short notice.

Outsourcing: Try and outsource as much of your work as you can. The slightly higher costs will be offset by continuity and the worry of getting replacements.
Business can still be fun if the ingredients are mixed well !

With every good wish
Ramesh Batavia