by teamrecThere are various factors that affect an individual’s decision to leave a job. While an employee’s leaving the job is considered attrition by one organization, it is looked at as talent acquisition by the new organization and to the individual it means a career move, economic growth and enhanced quality of life etc. Hence, what is a problem for one may be an opportunity for another.
Below we examine the key reasons for attrition and explore ‘what enhances retention’ as well as outlines some of the factors that can control attrition & factors that are beyond ones control.
Factors Affecting Attrition and Retention
There are various reasons why people leave their current job. These reasons may vary from individual to individual and when data is collected from a number of individuals leaving or who have left an organization, some consistencies may be observed-providing more insights as to why people leave. If these are controllable – one attempts to control, however, if these are not within the control of the organization, the organization should prepare itself for managing attrition.
Managing attrition does not mean reducing attrition only. It could also mean bringing down the negative affects of attrition and increasing the positive affects of attrition. To increase the positive effects of attrition and reduce the negative affects, appropriate retention and capacity utilization or talent utilization tactics should be used. In one of the organizations, attrition has been used as brand building opportunity. Thus an organization may say that we provide talent for other companies or they may say that if you join us your brand value goes up and you get good jobs etc.
Today when a person leaves it causes a lot of disturbance in the organization. If it is a small organization the disturbance is even greater. Hence it is important to understand and manage attrition. There can be various reasons for people leaving their current jobs. Some of these include:
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INDIVIDUAL FACTORS |
| Ambitions or Career Aspirations: It is but natural in a growing society and growing economy that employees at all levels aspire to build their career. There are economic aspirations, professional aspirations, family aspirations and all kinds of aspirations and ambitions that affect a persons desire to move. It is rare not to have such career aspirations. In the past, organizations grew at a pace and stability and individuals mostly saw their career in the current organization and stuck to the same. Now a days either organizations don’t grow at the pace at which the individual career aspirations grow or other organizations grow at a pace that matches the individual causing individuals to move. When you treat all the world as a large space for growth and building a career, it is futile for any organization to all the time compete with the rest of the world and try to provide careers for all the employees at the same pace at which the entire world or the best of the organizations in the world is moving. It is better to appreciate the growth and mobility and movement of the mind and take attrition as a natural phenomenon than to be agitated about it and have sleepless nights. However, if the organization can do something to create new opportunities, that meet the growing aspirations of competent people, it should certainly be attempted. However, such attempts require correct diagnosis of the situation.
Comparisons and Equity Considerations: Comparisons with peers or classmates from the same college, batch, age group, organization, first job, city, etc. there are numerous dimensions on which similarities can be picked up and compared. Individuals today are flooded with such comparisons. Business magazines, compensation surveys by consultants and companies have only aggravated this situation and enhanced comparisons. Parental and family mobility; Some times the desire to be with the family also pushes the person to move. Although we have largely moved away from the joint family concept, there are still strong affiliations and affections. Need for being close with the family, spouse, children, parents etc. at different stages of ones life to fulfill different types of affiliation prompts a few people to leave their job and move from one city to another. Personality factors: Some people have a high need for variety. They get bored and fatigued easily. They need to change their job or what they are doing at periodic intervals. They waste others time discussing organizational politics and polluting the atmosphere. Some people are constantly searching and seeking. They are highly ambitious and restless. They are highly achievement driven and want to achieve new heights in the shortest time. Some may have a different motivation or value profile which may not be matched by the current job or the company and hence the decision to leave. ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS Job related factors: The job related factors that cause the decision to leave are many these include the following:
These factors may be intrinsic and job related or extrinsic and job related or job chemistry related. Intrinsic factors are the factors related to the characteristic of the job. These are in plenty in BPOs where the work conditions (night work, work at odd hours, the nature of clients to deal with, etc) pose difficulties. Economic Factors: This deals with the aspirations in relation to salary and perks, housing, quality of living, need for savings etc. In addition to these there could be many other factors that affect decisions: Factors affecting Individual decision to leave: The factors can be classified as the following: 1. Individual related factors RETENTION Some of the Potential methods of managing retention and employee engagement or skill utilization include the following: First Find the Source of Attrition- where and why? Any method of controlling attrition or increasing retention should be based on a good understanding of the factors leading to attrition. The factors may some times be very simple and could be revealed by an examination of the statistical data compiled by the organisation. The statistical data could answer simple questions like the following: Where is the attrition occurring? Is it more in males than females? What levels? Is there anything in common among those who leave? Is it related to some disciplines or people from a particular region or linguistic group? Is it more among candidates from certain colleges or institutions? Age groups? Etc. Simple demographic analysis among those who leave could reveal some insights. Once the source/cause of attrition is identified, solving the problem becomes relatively easy. At least the organization can then determine if any internal interventions will help reduce attrition. Some of the possible interventions that could help in enhancing retention are as follows: Compensation, Financial restructuring and New Incentive schemes- including Salary and perks restructuring, ESOPs, PLPs, etc. Introducing small recognition schemes may go a long way. Organizations use most of the time compensation surveys and hike up the salaries. The tendency to use “Golden handcuffs” with deferred compensation, investment options etc. are useful. However in a competitive world often they artificially hike up the salaries as the recruiters also work out mechanisms of buying out such handcuffed people at any cost. Hot skills premium is paid by some companies for those who have crucial skills in short supply. ESS and OC interventions: Organizational climate and employee satisfaction surveys help in indicating the factors affecting attrition and help organizations take corrective action. Such climate schemes may indicate small things like organizational communications, social get togethers and celebrations could inculcate a sense of identity and belongingness and enhance the we feeling and thereby retention. Climate surveys also indicate those aspects of the personnel policies that need to be revamped for enhancing retention. Audits and surveys by them selves are not solutions to the issue. Some times they could raise the hopes of an individual. In any case they are at best diagnostic tools and unless they are followed up by visible actions they may also set some amount of cynicism. Celebrations and Social and cultural Networks: In some of the surveys and audits, it has been found that employees get a sense of belongingness if the organization encourages some form of social networks, cultural programs, team celebrations. These can be done with very little investments. By encouraging employees to have picnics, social gatherings, celebrations and festivals etc. we encourage some amount of social networking and sense of belonging ness. Loyalty to colleagues can be thus made a significant retention force. New forums and methods need to be thought of to suit the requirements and chemistry of a given group. Assimilation and Integration Studies have linked the retention capacity of a firm to the induction and assimilation process. The new Economy industry and the need to be competitive require that the person needs to be inducted into the company even before he/she joins it. If the new employee joining at the top, joins the organization with full understanding of the culture, and the role he is supposed to handle, a lot of employee turn over can be contained. Effects of losing a leader ripple through out the organization.
People don’t quit companies. They quit bosses. Numerous studies have indicated the correlation between job satisfaction and direct supervisors and managers. According to new study 41% of high value employees who intend to leave their jobs are dissatisfied with their managers or supervisors. The purpose of induction and assimilation therefore is to ensure that leaders will adapt and become full contributors in the new organization faster, better and with fewer destabilizing effects to the individual and the organization. A successful assimilation is one in which both the individual and the organization are transformed for the better and are able to leverage each others’ strengths to achieve mutually beneficial goals. The individual and the organization need to treat together for this purpose. Assimilation is both fluid and dynamic. It can be influenced by different factors at different points of time of the organizational life cycle. New leaders are most likely to leave when they lack support they need to their best work. Attrition is usually the result of not being able to contribute what they were hired to make. They are most likely to stay if they feel a deep commitment and affiliation to an organization. Effective assimilation strategy:
Assimilation savvy organizations should:
People join an industry that is perceived as leader but stay only if they meet intellectual and emotional needs. Coaching services: With increased competition and scope for career enhancement the world of executives is becoming a busy world. It is a world of work pressures, competition. Organizations pay more and put pressures on employees to perform as they need to get their ROI on CTC. The young manager is busy proving to his company that he can make a difference and serves what he is being paid. There is no time for family and self. This is resulting in increased stress and frustration. In such a situation making available mentors, coaches and guides will go a long way in helping the individuals get the right type of counseling and advice. Such advise with a group of mentors and experienced counselors could go a long way in helping employee get realistic picture of what he is likely to get or don’t get from the change he makes. Employee Engagement: The best way to retain is to provide work motivation. Challenge, job satisfaction, treating the employee with significance, being sensitive to his needs, making the organization predictable with systems and practices that are not bent or changed to accommodate any individual at any time etc. may help retention. When employees are adequately engaged and care is taken to see that they enjoy their job and their families are taken good care of and adequate social and financial security is provided retention goes up on its own. There is no substitute for an engaging company with a secure and protective atmosphere. There are many examples of HR practices that have been found to engage employees. Providing periodic training, learning opportunties, freedom and autonomy at the work place, recognition of contributions, supportive boss, etc. will make a lot of difference in enhancing retention rates. Market Driven Approach: A sophisticated planning model that enables business managers to develop highly targeted retention programs that create cost-effective contingency plans for filling potential gaps in skills. Companies have begun to assess how long the organization would like the employees to stay on board. They decide those whom the company wants to have indefinitely, those who should be there for a shorter period and those on whom retention investments don’t make any sense. Then they use a number of mechanisms depending on the categories of employees. Change of Styles through 360 Degree Feedback and Internal Customer satisfaction Surveys: Some times the style of manager may be responsible for employees in certain departments to leave. With supportive managers and Head of departments employees think several times before they leave. Some managers may not realize that their coercive style, excessive task centeredness, and the way they assign tasks including the clarity with which they give instructions, respect etc to employees have tremendous impact on their staying with the company. By recognizing the roles they play and the styles they exhibit and seeing the impact they are making senior managers can at least reduce the push factors for attrition. Other Methods:
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