Attrition Rampant In India

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A Step A Day, Attrition, executive search, human capital

India is one of the few economies which continues to grow- although admittedly at a much slower pace than before. One of the fall outs of this is the relatively free availability of career options for talent. Gone are the days when one would join an organization and stay there – well almost for life. The rise in opportunities gives greater impetus to people wanting to make it to the top of their careers at a faster pace. Doesn’t matter if it means skipping all the time- from one company to another.

Cut Attrition Through Better Selection

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A Step A Day, Attrition, selection process

We were discussing the reasons for attrition at a client company. Bob, the manager in-charge of the centre said ” It’s difficult to put a handle on why people are leaving. At times we feel it is the market place and opportunities outside that fuel attrition. At others, we feel may be there are things we can do better to retain talent”.

That’s true. There is no easy answer. The reasons people say why they are leaving are often not the real reasons why they are leaving. In my experience, compensation is often cited as the main reason why people leave but the truth is that people leave for factors other than compensation. The reasons why people leave an organization are not the same reasons why they joined that organization in the first place.

I told Bob ” I strongly believe that the first step to reducing attrition is, no, not increasing compensation but improving your selection process.” Better selection results in better “fit” and the chances of attrition are reduced if the overall fit is stronger. “Fit” is not made up of one factor alone- say technical skills. It encompasses issues like fitting into the organization’s culture, having values which the organization embodies, and the ability to display behaviours the organization requires for job success.

In a situation where the demand for quality talent is high, often compromises are made at the selection stage. These are done for purely short -term gains.”The project is stuck. We need a guy with his skills”, “No one here has knowledge of that geography” etc are reasons trotted out to explain away such compromises.

By the way, some candidates look to the short term, too. To add a seemingly glamorous organizational name to their resume, to rise up the hierarchy with a more fancy title ( even if was only for a few months) etc.

As I told Bob and his team:

• Know what you want when you begin the selection process
• Know the reasons why the person is leaving his/her last organization
• Do not make short term compromises
• Hire for fit rather than for skills

Do this and do this well and you will have begun the process of reducing attririton

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Voting with Their Feet

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A Step A Day, Attrition, leadership

Nearly a hundred years ago, it is said that Henry Ford was magnanimous when he rolled out his Model T car. “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black. ” he said.

In today’s world, we as consumers have more choice than ever before. Likewise, today’s employees – and in particular top quality talent- have more options than ever before. Booming economies give them more opportunities than before. If the skills they possess are in short supply and they are not truly engaged, talented employees will vote with their feet and walk out.

How do we minimize the impact of employee attrition? I say minimize because it is simply not practical to have no attrition at all. I agree fully with a school of thought which holds that that a certain amount of attrition is indeed desirable in an organization.

For want of any better matrix, attrition has come to be computed in percentage terms. “Company ABC has 18 % attrition “we say or “The industry averages for that job is about 20 %. ” Like any other statistical data, this representation can be misleading. It means one thing for a firm having 50 people to have 20 % attrition. It means quite some thing else for an organization having 25,000 people.

To my mind, what matters more is not how many people have left but who has left. As busy managers we are responsible for the development and performance of all our team members. However, effective managers know just how important it is to get the best out of those few team members who are exceptional. It is their contributions that lifts the performance of their teams.

While we must treat every team member with professional respect, do devise almost tailor-made leadership styles to suit the needs of your star performers. They may require less supervision from you. They may want more independence in carrying out their responsibilities. Work out a leadership style which they respond best to. Having these top performers engaged is more valuable to you, your team and your organization than having a low attrition percentage amongst weaker performers.

The widely read management guru, David Maister says “Great managers give lots of responsibility early, are available to help, set and enforce high standards( on things other than just financial results), demand participation by all team members and set a high personal example.”

Follow his advice and you will not find your team voting with their feet.

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