Employee Retention: A Leadership Challenge

It is the quality of people that makes an organization. People are the real assets of the company. Every top leader knows this and every industry today fights the problem of retaining its talented people.Employee retention is a persistent problem that plagues the industries today. There are plenty of opportunities for talent. Top talent is always in demand and loyalty is not seen as that big a virtue, so poaching is thriving and headhunters are having a field day. What exactly can you do to keep your flock with you? How do you retain your talented people?Top performers always want to work with top companies that have good practices, impressive branding and excellent management. You need to have a vision for the company and you need to work towards it. If you work at making your company one of the bests, you will instead be attracting the best yourself, instead of chasing it. Either you love them or you lose them to your competitors. The HR department plays a very important role in employee retention. Your HR staff needs to be efficient in understanding distress signals. If any distess signals are found, the fire fighting mode should be on. Recognizing talent and then rewarding it - it is a nice mantra for employee retention. The rewards can be in many forms - flexi timings, exciting opportunities, time off etc. Top performs constantly need challenges. If they feel stuck in a situation which they feel is going nowhere, they will start looking. They are motivated and are lifelong learners. These pointers can be woven into the employee retention policy of the company. Seminars, trainings, workshops should ensure that the employee has plenty of opportunities available to him to upgrade his skill. Taking them for granted is not a very wise move. In this age of instant gratification, it isn't too wise to expect your employees to put on blinders. They are aware of the exponential salary increases and perks available outside. You need to be aware of the undercurrents in your industry too. Employee retention is an organisational challenge. Try to be in the know of your competitor's strategies and capabilities. It certainly pays to pay a little attention to the informal communication, to that irritating grapevine if you really are paranoid about your employees. Instead of searching for talent outside, it would be wise to nurture talent in your own company. An employee needs to be content in your organization. To retain an employee one basically needs to know him. Find out the things that really bother him. Find out what drives him. What motivates him and this aspect is missed by the industry, which then keeps on searching for the magical adhesive to keep the employees glued to the organization. Your manpower is your strength.  Desperate measures include 'Employee retention bonuses'. But in spite of al your efforts in retaining it, if your golden goose has decided to make its way out, there isn't much you can do except learning to bid goodbyes gracefully.