Attrition

The HR function in companies has been a back room function for a very long time. The traditional role had been to recruit personnel, train them, appraise them and issue paychecks at the end of the month. Rising attrition has forced many companies to start being creative in this department.

What are the causes of attrition?

Theory shows five major causes for disgruntled employees, which leads to dissatisfaction with the job, withdrawal and even possible attrition. These causes can be attributed to aspects like

• Stagnation in a project

• Plateau in career

• Inability to manage a work wife balance

• Issues with management and / or co-workers

It is the role of the HR department to identify such individuals and to come out with proper initiatives to keep them engaged with the company. In case the employee is beyond recovery, or has taken a path that has no recourse, it is wise to let them go amicably. Companies like GE have been successful in periodically letting go of the bottom 10 percent of the workforce, leading to a leaner, meaner, nimble organization. Some HR initiatives around employee dissatisfaction are shown.

According to the survey conducted by the Prime Point Foundation in 2006, more that half the time spent by HR is to deal with attrition related issues. Another third of their time is used to deal with attitude issues of employees like lack of team skills, soft skills and leadership qualities among others. Almost 50% of this time could be saved by looking at some of the positive impacts of attrition, instead of dealing with is as a major issue. The skew in the perception of employee satisfaction surveys towards the average and poor is also a direct impact of the lack of time spent by company HR in value adding initiatives.

A survey on what employees look for in a company threw up predictable results.

While freshers look only for money and perceived career growth opportunities, experienced employees are also concerned with the culture of the organization. While companies cannot go about increasing salaries indiscriminately, creating a vibrant corporate culture and providing adequate growth opportunities for employees are definite areas where HR professionals can focus their time and effort on.

Maslow’s hierarchy model says that one cannot reach a higher need without satisfying a lower one in the hierarchy. Now if an organization has not been able to satisfy the lower level needs of the employee and is looking at higher levels, it will not work out. For instance, if the company has been unable to satisfy the security and sustenance needs of an employee, expecting her to get motivated