You are on page 1of 30

c 

  

Ê 
  

   
Ê 
  

 

In general, education is 'mind preparation' and is carried out remote from the actual work area,
training is the systematic development of the attitude, knowledge, skill pattern required by a
person to perform a given task or job adequately and development is 'the growth of the
individual in terms of ability, understanding and awareness'.

Within an organization all three are necessary in order to:

* Develop workers to undertake higher-grade tasks;


* Provide the conventional training of new and young workers (e.g. as apprentices, clerks, etc.);
* Raise efficiency and standards of performance;
* Meet legislative requirements (e.g. health and safety);
* Inform people (induction training, pre-retirement courses, etc.);

From time to time meet special needs arising from technical, legislative, and knowledge need
changes. Meeting these needs is achieved via the 'training loop'. (Schematic available in PDF
version.)

The diagnosis of other than conventional needs is complex and often depends upon the intuition
or personal experience of managers and needs revealed by deficiencies. Sources of inspiration
include:

* Common sense - it is often obvious that new machines, work systems, task requirements and
changes in job content will require workers to be prepared;
* Shortcomings revealed by statistics of output per head, performance indices, unit costs, etc. and
behavioral failures revealed by absentee figures, lateness, sickness etc. records;
* Recommendations of government and industry training organizations;
* Inspiration and innovations of individual managers and supervisors;
* Forecasts and predictions about staffing needs;
* Inspirations prompted by the technical press, training journals, reports of the experience of
others;
* The suggestions made by specialist (e.g. education and training officers, safety engineers,
work-study staff and management services personnel).

Designing training is far more than devising courses; it can include activities such as:

* Learning from observation of trained workers;


* Receiving coaching from seniors;
* Discovery as the result of working party, project team membership or attendance at meetings;
* Job swaps within and without the organization;
* Undertaking planned reading, or follow from the use of self±teaching texts and video tapes;
* Learning via involvement in research, report writing and visiting other works or organizations.
So far as group training is concerned in addition to formal courses there are:

* Lectures and talks by senior or specialist managers;


* Discussion group (conference and meeting) activities;
* Briefing by senior staffs;
* Role-playing exercises and simulation of actual conditions;
* Video and computer teaching activities;
* Case studies (and discussion) tests, quizzes, panel 'games', group forums, observation exercises
and inspection and reporting techniques.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of training is done to ensure that it is cost effective, to identify
needs to modify or extend what is being provided, to reveal new needs and redefine priorities
and most of all to ensure that the objectives of the training are being met.

The latter may not be easy to ascertain where results cannot be measured mathematically. In the
case of attitude and behavioral changes sought, leadership abilities, drive and ambition fostered,
etc., achievement is a matter of the judgment of senior staffs. Exact validation might be
impossible but unless on the whole the judgments are favorable the cooperation of managers in
identifying needs, releasing personnel and assisting in training ventures will cease.

In making their judgments senior managers will question whether the efforts expended have
produced:

* More effective, efficient, flexible employees;


* Faster results in making newcomers knowledgeable and effective than would follow from
experience;
* More effective or efficient use of machinery, equipment and work procedures;
* Fewer requirements to implement redundancy (by retraining);
* Fewer accidents both personal and to property;
* Improvements in the qualifications of staff and their ability to take on tougher roles;
* Better employee loyalty to the organization with more willingness to innovate and accept
change.

Q) Y t & d IS REQUIRED IN HRM

human intellect and an overall personality of the employees.

?    Training and Development helps in increasing the productivity of the
employees that helps the organization further to achieve its long-term goal.

? m
   Training and Development helps in inculcating the sense of team work, team
spirit, and inter-team collaborations. It helps in inculcating the zeal to learn within the
employees.
? ‰

   Training and Development helps to develop and improve the
organizational health culture and effectiveness. It helps in creating the learning culture within the
organization.

? ‰

 
 Training and Development helps building the positive perception
and feeling about the organization. The employees get these feelings from leaders, subordinates,
and peers.

? c
  Training and Development helps in improving upon the quality of work and work-
life.

? 
      Training and Development helps in creating the healthy
working environment. It helps to build good employee, relationship so that individual goals
aligns with organizational goal.

? 
 

 Training and Development helps in improving the health and safety of
the organization thus preventing obsolescence.

? 
 Training and Development helps in improving the morale of the work force.

? ©
 Training and Development helps in creating a better corporate image.

? 
  Training and Development leads to improved profitability and more positive
attitudes towards profit orientation.

? Training and Development aids in organizational development i.e. Organization gets more
effective decision making and problem solving. It helps in understanding and carrying out



 

? Training and Development helps in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty, better
attitudes, and other aspects that successful workers and managers usually display.

‡ c) ¦  ¦ D t  Tra

Row to make training programmes work

Ô !
on what organisations should do to ensure the effectiveness of their training
programmes

Training is usually conducted when employees have a skill deficit or when organisations
introduce new systems and want their employees to learn the new techniques. But what about
learning better ways to do business²even when employees are highly skilled and systems are
established? Tremendous efforts are put in designing a training programme, choose the trainer,
define the methodology, but still it fails to yield the desired results. The big question among
global companies today is how to make training programmes really work.
Today successful organisations and managers realise that people are the key resource in
maintaining competitive adva-ntage and they view employee training as an investment in their
people, not an expense. As a manager, you will want your staff to have the best skill sets and the
broadest understanding of the organisation and it¶s customers. Rowever, before choosing
training as the solution, managers should carefully analyse the situation to determine if this
training is the appropriate response.

To be successful, a training programme must have clearly stated and realistic goals. The goals
will judge the programme¶s content and determine the criteria by which it¶s effectiveness will be
determined. Unless the goals are clearly articulated before these programmes are set up, the
organisation is likely to find itself training employees for unknown reasons and towards the
wrong end. For example, you cannot really expect that one training programme would make
every participant a computer language expert or develop a team of able leaders. Such an
expectation guarantees failure because the goal is unattainable.

Issues while setting the agenda for training programmes:

? Row can training keep pace with a changing organisational environment?


? Should training take place in a classroom setting or on-the-job?
? Row can training be effectively delivered across global locations?
? Row can training be delivered so that participants are motivated to learn?

There are many types of training programmes, from hi-tech corporate varsities to traditional
classrooms. Bey-ond the type of training and it¶s content, a number of contextual issues can
determine a training programme¶s effectiveness. An organisational culture that supports change,
learning and improvement would result in a group of nself-motivated participants unlike other
organisations where employees would view these programmes as a day away from strenuous
work. Furthermore, if a participant¶s manager does not endorse the content and purpose of the
training, it is unlikely that the training programme would have any influence on work processes.

Recently one of my friends had undergone a workshop on µteamwork¶. During our discussion, I
was surprised to know that he had no idea why he had attended it. The workshop was well
conducted. But he could not focus on any aspect of the programme as no briefing was given to
him before the programme. Ris manager had not defined the purpose of nominating him. There
were almost 30 participants from various divisions with different experience, educational
backgrounds and roles.

During the brainstorming session, the discussion was going wayward. Although he found the
workshop a good learning experience, but he was not sure of what to do with that learning.

The training department sometimes gets too busy in designing and structuring the programme
and somewhere misses-out on critical factors. Clarity of the objective is a prerequisite for the
success of any training programme.
Effective training can raise performance, improve morale and increase an organisation¶s
potential. Poor, inappropriate, or inadequate training can be a source of defeat for everyone
involved. To maximise the benefits of training, managers must closely monitor the process.

The training process consists of three phases :

? [eeds assessment
? Development and conduct of training
? Evaluation.

[eed analysis phase

In this phase managers determine the problems or needs that the training must address. To
increase the effectiveness of the training programme, provide what is relevant and required.
Customised training programmes based on individual need analysis increase its acceptability
among employees. Some of the other benefits of customised training programmes are²focussed
approach, measurable results and high chances of transfer of knowledge.

Development phase

Training personnel design the most appropriate programme and offer it to the workforce. Either
the organisation¶s own training department or an external resource provides the actual training. It
can take place either on-the-job or off-the-job and can be delivered through a variety of
techniques (slides and videotapes, tele-training, computers, simulations, virtual reality, classroom
instructions and role plays). The most appropriate type of training for skill development, cross-
functional team management, creativity, diversity and crisis management, customer service, etc,
should be identified and chosen to achieve the desired objective.

Evaluation phase

One of the most critical aspects of any training programme is reinforcement. It is important to
have regular follow-up sessions, discussions and assignments related to the topic covered.
Especially in behavioural training, repetition of the learning is very important. It is very difficult
to bring change in the behavioural aspects and the process can be very slow and sometimes
imperceptible. The results in non-technical training are not as immediate and measurable as in
technical training. It is therefore important for the organisation to be patient and focussed.

After the completion of a training programme, feedback should be taken from managers to
understand if it has been useful. Companies which spend a substantial sum on training can
measure its effectiveness in both monetary and non-monetary terms. The training programme
should always be judged on how well it has addressed the needs of the participants.

Very often, the need for a critical review, follow-up and evaluation phase of the training process
is neglected. This is tantamount to making an investment without ever determining whether
you¶re receiving an adequate RoI. Although, collecting the necessary data and finding the time to
analyse training results might be difficult, but companies should estimate the cost and benefits of
a training programme, even if it cannot be directly measured. Without such information, the
value of training cannot be demonstrated and the top management might have no compelling
reason to continue these efforts.

One of the modern ways of evaluating training programmes is to create a support structure by
assigning mentors or coaches to the trainees. It will bridge the gap between the learning and its
actual implementation. The trainee will get continuous guidance, coaching and feedback during
and after the training programme. A mentor/coach can help the participant in understanding the
purpose of the training programme. This mentor can also set the right expectations from the
employee and make sure that transfer of knowledge or skill happens.

Rowever, choosing a mentor is a critical factor and due care should be taken while selecting the
candidate for mentoring. The mentor is expected to be a highly skilled, mature person with an
extraordinary capability to listen, understand and coach. Acceptability for the mentor should also
be there. More-over, the mentor should also be ready to take up this additional responsibility to
guide and coach the trainee. Creating mentor-mentee relationship is the best way to reinforce the
learning.

Finally, training programmes will not work unless it is related to organisational goals. A well-
designed training programme flows from the company¶s strategic goals; a poorly designed one
has no relationship to, or even worse, is at cross-purposes with those goals. It is the manager¶s
responsibility to ensure that the training programmes are developed with an agenda to achieve
organisational goals.

‡ ‰ rc ‰tac t Lar

It  car fr tud f raat ad a cdra dy f acdta  dc t at raata f 
try fucd y raata adr I partcuar, t  , ty f adr p ad t at t at
a t  t ͞ak t  app ad pr t r t f
t r drct T ad t  cp ad
 r c a atur f
rk, raat d t   prptua ar d

Lar r ur cucat ad fr cucat t r a t  dau N


f yu
t   yur
py t at frd t put t r 
 da t act t  
t y
 ar ‰raata ar tak
pac
 t r  a upprt  cutur t at cura rk tak ad  prtat ad   py t 
frd t ffr fdack ad dtfy pr
t ut far f pu t Lar  ckd
 t 
prcad cutur dffr fr t  actua cutur, a fr uty app Fr tac,
 a cpay ay
at p,  at ad ar  t  tatt, t  ra cutur ay  
r faur 
pu d ad pp ur   y t rck t  at

¦  t r  a far f rtrut, capat r ack f trut, py ay  ructat t ra
ar,
 ar frat r rprt rrr, t
t datru c uc Addtay, faur t ar fr
pat tak ay pa  t 
ay fr 


Mdr raat a   rtd ay cutura rc fr t  Idutra A, cud rarc ca
aat tructur t at ar f  ad urp  t turut  rt ad  pta t ua
crat ty ad ar Fr tac, t r t prt a 
t at t pt  pcfc tak cpt  t 
y tat fr f
rk Mt, pcay f t y cta  prat  c rat prr t dc
ak, ar ft  prcd a t a
ay fr ra
rk r
atd t Lar ccur t fray ad
fray, ad  a da tt, t r ar yt t at upprt t at But t raata tt ar far
fr da, ad ry rary d yu  t d td pcfcay t ar, ad  ay ca py ar
 pctd t d t  t r 


‰
ay raat cud ak r
ard yt r ffct   t  t r
ard py fr t r
cct  upprt rat r t a d dua ac  t If yu r
ardd pp fr t r aty t upprt t r,
rat r t a
at t y accp  t r 
, yu'd  ut dffrt  a r ad pray ttr
prfrac ad r  ard ar

I t k c a ca y app



rk  d cct y, ad fr t  t app py a  t 
curad rat r t a y tp aat
rk

‡ Rtra

‡Êʉ‰ Ê""©Êm!©©!Ô
‡ ÊÔÊ"‰Êm‰!m©‰!"©ÊÔÊ"‰Êʉ
Êm!" "©Êm‰ÊmÊ©
‡ Ë ‰Êm©Ê :
‡ The objective and scope of the scheme is to provide opportunities of counselling,
retraining and redeployment to the rationalized employees of Central Public Sector
Enterprises rendered redundant as a result of modernization, technology upgradation and
manpower restructuring in the Central PSEs. The aim of retraining of the employees is to
reorient them through short duration training programmes to enable them to adjust to the
new environment and adopt new avocations after their separation from the PSEs due to
VRS/VSS or retrenchment due to closure of the enterprise. While it will not be possible
to commit that the employees so restructured or retrenched would be provided with
alternative employment, yet it should be desirable to reorient such employees so that they
may engage themselves in income generating activities and take advantage of available
opportunities of self-employment. The counselling and training programmes will
accordingly be planned in order to equip them with skills and orientation to engage
themselves in self-employment activities and rejoin the productive process even after
their separation from the CPSUs.
‡ â !"©ÊmÊ!m ʉmʉ!Ê
‡  The programme consists of three main elements as follows:-
‡ 2.1 Counselling: Counselling is the basic pre-requisite of the rehabilitation
programme of the displaced employee. The displaced employee needs psychological
counselling to absorb the trauma of loss of assured livelihood and to face the new
challenges both for himself and for the members of his family who may continue to
depend upon him. Re particularly needs support to plan his compensation amount and
other financial benefits he receives from the CPSU due to his separation, so that his
limited funds are managed prudently and not wasted on immediate consumption or non-
productive expenditure. Thirdly he needs to be made aware of the new environment of
market opportunities so that he may, depending upon his aptitude and expertise, take up
economic activities and continue to be in the production process.
‡
‡ 2.2 Retraining: The objective of such training is to help the rationalized employees
for rehabilitation. The trainees will be helped to acquire necessary skills/expertise/
orientation to start new avocations and re-enter the productive process after loss of their
jobs. These training programmes will be short duration programmes ranging between
one month and two months according to the trade or activity as decided.
‡
‡ 2.3 Redeployment: It will be the endeavour to redeploy such rationalized employees
in the production process through the counselling and retraining efforts. At the end of the
programme they should be able to engage themselves in alternate vocations of self-
employment. Whereas there cannot be any guarantee that the rationalized employee will
be assured of alternate employment, yet possible help from the identified nodal training
agencies as well as from the concerned CPSUs would be extended to them for starting
new avocations. Depending upon the choice of the trainee the nodal agency/concerned
CPSU will also sponsor their applications for seeking financial assistance from
commercial banks and other institutions under various schemes of self-employment.
‡
‡ A ©"ÊÊm!m©‰‰mÊÊÊ
‡ 3.1 Financial assistance to cover the cost of counselling, retraining and redeployment
will be provided to the selected nodal agencies, for the rehabilitation of the employees
separated from the Central PSUs on VRS/VSS/retrenchment. The aim of retraining of
employees is to orient them through short duration training programme to enable them to
adopt new avocations after their separation from the PSEs.
‡
‡ 3.2 The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) will select suitable nodal agencies
for implementing the scheme of counselling, retraining and redeployment. These
agencies may be government/semi government and non-government organization having
experience in the field. The existing nodal agencies functioning at present under the
supervision of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion will also be considered.
‡
‡ 3.3 The nodal agencies with the support of the concerned CPSU management are
expected to play significant role in facilitating the process of wage or self-employment
for the rehabilitation of the separated employees. The nodal agency will conduct survey
of the rationalized manpower and identify the employees who are willing to take
advantage of the programme. Profile of their age, qualification, experience and
preference for wage/self-employment will be prepared and groups for
counselling/retraining will be formed depending upon specific activities.
‡
‡ 3.4 Financial assistance will be provided to the nodal agencies by the DPE based
upon norms of expenditure which will take into account the hiring of space,
salary/honorarium of faculty members and supporting staff, cost of training material,
preoperative expenses to the trainees, office expenses, and cost of follow up services
including tool kit, project profiles, application to banks etc. as per specific norms, fixed
by the DPE. Such financial assistance to the agencies will be provided by DPE out of the
budgetary allocation as per specific norms of expenditure.
‡ 
‡ 3.5 The nodal agencies shall receive funds from the DPE generally in two instalments
in the year subject to utilisation. They will send progress report and utilization certificate
at the end of each training programme and a consolidated report once in every year.
‡
‡ 3.6 For the purpose of redeployment/self-employment, the nodal agencies shall have
continuous interactions with the trainees as well as the DPE, CPSUs and the concerned
commercial banks for sponsoring applications for bank loans and for facilitating release
of loans by the banks to the separated employees who wish to set up their self-
employment activities.
‡
‡ 3.7 The CPSUs before as well as after separation of the employee from the enterprise
should provide them necessary facility of linkage with banking and other commercial
institutions for their credit needs to set up commercial activities in the areas of small
business, trade or tiny/small industries for self-employment.
‡
‡ 3.8 Identification of employees for rehabilitation.
‡ i) i) Identification of employees who shall be trained for new trades shall b e
first done by the concerned public enterprises from where the employee has got
separated.
‡ ii) ii) In order to be eligible to be included in the training programmes the
employee should have gone on VRS/VSS/retrenchment in a CPSU, should be below 55
years of age and should be willing to take up activities of self-employment.
‡ iii) iii) After being convinced of the suitability of the trade in which the
employees are to be trained, the nodal agencies shall make arrangements in their training
programme to suit the specific needs of the trainees.
‡
‡ ù ‰"ʉÊm!"Ê 
‡ 4.1 The central PSEs who have introduced VRS/VSS/retrenchment scheme shall
identify the employees who are to be relieved on VRS/VSS/retrenchment. Before their
release they would be counselled by the enterprises themselves for the type of available
employment/self-employment opportunities, which they may avail of after they severe
connection with the enterprise.
‡
‡ 4.2 Director, Personnel (or an officer of suitable rank designated by the Board of
Directors) of the enterprise shall be in-charge of such counselling programmes and shall
be responsible to send a copy of the list of employees who are being released on
VRS/VSS/ retrenchment to the DPE as also to the nodal agencies selected for the purpose
of counselling, retraining and redeployment. The CPSU will inform DPE about the nodal
officer so nominated.
‡
‡ 4.3 Each such CPSU will set up Employee Resource Centre (ERC) under the charge
of Director(Personnel) (or equivalent officer) to act as the nodal point for keeping records
of the surplus/rationalized human resources of the enterprises, and for facilitating
rehabilitation of such employees/workers.
‡
‡ 4.4 Before the separation of the employees opting out on VRS/VSS, the PSEs shall
clear all their dues before relieving them from the organization, so that they can plan their
future course of action in earning livelihood in the new environment.
‡
‡ 4.5 The Director, Personnel of the CPSU shall be in regular touch with the trainees
and maintain records about their deployment in new organizations or in self-employment
activities so that in case of necessity these employees may be helped in the process of
adjustment. The Director, Personnel of the concerned PSU shall also be in constant touch
with the nodal training agencies during the training programme to provide necessary
support in the activities of rehabilitating the separated employees In order to make the
post training activities and follow up services to the VRS optees more effective for
providing self-employment, Director (Personnel) and the ERC of the concerned Central
PSU shall maintain regular liaison with the concerned nodal agency engaged in the
training of the rationalised employees.
‡
‡  ‰"ʉmʉÔ!"!Ê©Ê
‡ 5.1 The nodal agencies will play significant role in the rehabilitation of the
rationalized employees.
‡
‡ 5.2 They shall counsel the retrenched/retired employees, impart the necessary
orientation/retraining and help them in getting loans/financial assistance from banks for
self-employment activities.
‡
‡ 5.3 They will set up Employee Assistance Centres (EACs) as per need to counsel and
train groups of such people to reorient them after their separation from the CPSU.
‡
‡ 5.4 They will develop suitable curriculum, teaching materials with the help of their
faculty members to facilitate the activities under the programme.
‡
‡ 5.5 Follow up is critical to the success of any programme. The nodal agencies shall
effectively follow up all cases till the employee is redeployed or his self-employment
activity gets operationalised. They shall maintain all data with regard to counselling,
training, redeployment and self-employment of such employees.
‡
‡ 5.6 They shall maintain regular contact with the concerned CPSUs for effective
implementation of the scheme and also report to DPE regularly about the progress of
rehabilitation work.
‡
‡ 5.7 The management of the nodal agencies shall be responsible for the prudent use of
financial assistance provided by the DPE for the work of counselling, retraining and
redeployment/self-employment as per norms of expenditure as approved by the DPE.
‡
‡ 5.8 Past experiences of [RF has shown that counselling/retraining is not enough.
The key focus of the revised scheme is, therefore, redeployment/self-employment of the
retrenched/retired employees. This will necessarily require much greater attention and
effort on the part of nodal agencies. They shall have to sponsor applications of the
trainees to the concerned commercial banks/other suitable credit institutions and pursue
their cases for financial assistance in the form of loan/credit to set up trade/business/tiny
or small scale industries to generate additional income for them. Financial assistance
may be availed of particularly under the Rural Employment Generation Programme of
the KVIC (Margin money scheme), Prime Minister¶s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), various
schemes formulated by the SIDBI and other similar schemes of self-employment.
‡ ' ‰©m‰©!Ô Ê©©‰
‡ 6.1 The Department of Public Enterprises in the Ministry of RI&PE would be the
coordinating government agency which would arrange for government funds on annual
basis, monitor the implementation of the scheme by the nodal agencies and the CPSUs,
and provide necessary direction and guidance. Monitoring, supervision and evaluation of
the scheme will also be taken up by the DPE from time to time directly or through
suitable agencies/institutions.
‡
‡ 6.2 The DPE shall constitute an Apex Review Committee and an Executive
Committee to draw Plan of Action from time to time and review the progress of the
scheme at periodical intervals.

Q) ¦ t  T ctd

Don¶t trim your training budget

[o company can do without training its employees, and no employee can perform without
adequate guidance.  
  tells how not to cut the training budget when money is
sparse and to make the best out of nominal resources

A series of trainings and a slew of needs. Though training


programs are mandatory and imperative to an organization, and
critical to reap ROI, in times of crisis they are often the first
casualty on the shrinking pockets. To keep the wheels of
productivity whirling, and the knowledge pool of the workforce
spiraling, it is important to invest in appropriate training
programs and not compromise on the same.

Reviewing the training schedules, rekindling new methodologies to impart information and share
knowledge, remapping the underlying interests and reviewing the agenda, re-skilling employee
proficiency, reconsidering the budgets, are the factors that will ensure that training is perennial
even when problems abound.

At Four Soft, they use the same method developed by Donald Kirkpatrick nearly five decades
back, with some minor modifications, to manage training costs and increase training
effectiveness. These criteria are:

? Post training feedback to check reactions to training


? Tests to check levels of knowledge acquisition
? cuarterly performance evaluation to confirm changes in job- related behavior
? Improvements in organizational results
? Calculating the training ROI

A comprehensive evaluation of ROI is typically conducted for approximately 20% of all training
programs, especially the ones with high numbers of participation or cost. This has resulted in all
the stakeholders (including managers, staff and even customers) prioritize the training type,
duration and frequency of each training program rather than arbitrarily capping the training
budgets.

Regular employee feedbacks to assess the effectiveness of each training practice, testing the
knowledge grasped through every module, tapping the programs where increasing interest is
shown and participation seen, gauging the retention level and application of the learnings into the
work-life, are some of the steps that can help weed out inefficacies and enhance the optimum
output.

Cutting cash or compromising on the cream

"[ew projects
require new
skills
or calibration on
the same, so if
the training budget is
reduced, it will apparently
impact new projects and skill
sets required for executing
the same"



#!


Group CEO & MD,
Mindteck (India)
"Most training
programs do not
provide an
immediate
benefit to an
organization nor to an
employee as considerable
amount of time is required to
put in practice the learnings"

 

Senior VP, Commercial and
RR,
Omnitech InfoSolutions
"The continued Every initiative has its set of timelines for the benefits to be
investment in accrued. Rushing through a course or scrapping it, not
training leading recognizing the inherent value that it possesses, can have adverse
to employee effect on the quality of the labor pool of an organization in the
development long-term.
would also help in keeping
the employee morale intact Also, all trainings cannot be determined on cost vs. output ratio,
in the light of business as some of them may have intangible benefits.
uncertainties and general
economic slowdown" Partha Patnaik, GM, RR and Admin, Four Soft, said, ³Since
training and development budgets are continuing to grow in most

#
 organizations and are often very easy to quantify, they are often
Read RR, [etApp India the first to go during a cost reduction drive. As the output ROI is
often not immediate and many training programs often fail to
deliver what was expected, these are often treated by organizations as secondary activities which
can be postponed till the revenues and profits improve.¶¶

[ikul Shah, Senior VP, Commercial and RR, Omnitech InfoSolutions, also agreed that training
budgets are the first targets on tight pockets, ³It is considered that there is no direct revenue
generation out of the expenses incurred on training. Also, most training programs do not provide
an immediate benefit to an organization nor to an employee as considerable amount of time is
required to put in practice the learnings.´

The repercussions

Reducing training investments will invariably mean that there is lack of refreshment courses and
employees would be naive to the latest technologies to hit the market, not giving them the
competitive edge as against their counterparts. This will not only affect their in-house
performance, but also lead to poor and dissatisfactory client service.

Pankaj Agarwal, Group CEO & MD, Mindteck (India), opined, ³Training is perceived as a feel-
good, non dependable perk. So, if the organization freezes the training requirement, it will affect
the workforce¶s competency level and succession planning to the next level. [ew projects
require new skills or calibration on the same, so if the training budget is reduced, it will
apparently impact on new projects and skill sets required for executing the same.´

S R Manjunath, Read RR [etApp India, viewed, ³An organization needs to continue to invest in
developing people as they are the key for the business to flourish. Making sure that the
employees have the opportunity to learn and develop to acquire skills on an ongoing business is
beneficial to the business. The continued investment in training leading to employee
development would also help in keeping the employee morale intact in the light of business
uncertainties and general economic slowdown. Employees will also see this as the commitment
shown by the company to invest in them even during difficult times.´

³The major impact would be in the area of continued employee development. Reduction in
training budgets is also related to the hiring at that point in time. If recruitment continues at the
same pace, but training spends are reduced, the quality of professionals and consequently work
done will be adversely affected,´ added Chetan Shah, MD, Synygy India.

Patnaik pointed out that one of the most important aspects of training from an organizational
standpoint is determining the costs and benefits that are involved with a training program. All
training programs must build to a desired outcome that will advance the objectives of the
department/organization, the employee and the customer. Without a clear payoff, managers will
back away at the expense of sending a team member through the training and the loss of
productivity during the training. Also, employees will be less enthusiastic for training if they fail
to see a benefit to their job performance and career opportunities.

Training categories

Training, if classified and segregated as top priority, need-based and non-critical, can help
organizations phase out the program schedules in accordance. Technical project based trainings
should be given the utmost importance and cannot be compromised upon. [on-critical areas like
soft skills, behavioral skills, communication, time management, cultural familiarization, etc., can
be put off till times get better and business picks up. These can also be handled temporarily by
in-house experts, thus extracting value at no cost.

[ikul Shah highlighted that segregating it into two broad categories like µneed to have¶ (which is
priority) and µgood to have¶ (which can wait), can pave way for clear decision-making and
planning by the organization.

Chetan Shah shred light on a different facet, ³An additional aspect of training, especially during
dire situations, is that you would most likely keep your top performers, in which case, the need
for training should reduce. On the flip side, employees participating in training take them away
from working on projects and deliverables.´ So, equilibrium needs to be created between all
these elements to ensure that we are making smart and informed decisions.

Dr. Rajesh U Chheda, Managing Director, Raj Software Technology (India), said, ³[egative
impact can be reduced by continuing with critical and project-specific trainings. Success of the
organizations depends on training also and doing away with it altogether is not advisable. But
performance would be affected, as training provided by in-house professionals would not be of
the class and caliber as that provided by experts and consultants.´

The concept of mentorship can act as a methodology to impart training on a day-to-day real-time
basis. Also, exploiting the alternate ways like video-conferencing, e-learning, etc., can help reach
a wider audience base in diverse geographies and negate the operating costs associated with the
same. They can also be reviewed easily and remodeled as necessary.

The all pervasive

Agarwal said, ³Training is the backbone of improvement of a company in terms of optimizations


of solution, quality of deliverables, addressing mission-critical skills gaps, increasing need for
return on technology investment, new technology purchase or refresh, and need to mitigate risk
of implementation failure and fulfilling the demand of expertise.´ So under any circumstances
training shouldn¶t be neglected, instead it can be modeled in an efficient way to consume less
cost.

So like it or hate it, you can ignore it. Trainings are indispensable to a company¶s business needs
and employees¶ work-life. All an organization can do is plan prudently, act judiciously, budget
cautiously and extract optimally.

¦Ê"‰ÊÊ"Ê!ʉ!©!m©‰$!  #
¦Ê"‰ÊÊ"Ê!ʉ!©!m©‰$
!  # 

Every company normally faces one common problem of high employee turnout atio. People are
leaving the company for better pay, better profile or simply for just one reason' pak gaya '. This
article might just throw some light on the matter......

Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, got an offer from a
prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. Re
was thrilled by the offer. Re had heard a lot about the CEO of this company, charismatic man
often quoted in the business press for his visionary attitude. The salary was great. The company
had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (RR) policies, a spanking
new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food. Twice Arun
was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after
he joined. "It's a real high working with such cutting edge technology." Last week, less than
eight months after he joined, Arun walked out of the job. Re has no other offer in hand but he
said he couldn't take it anymore. [or, apparently, could several other people in his department
who have also quit recently.

The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. Re's distressed about the money he's
spent in training them. Re's distressed because he can't figure out what happened. Why did this
talented employee leave despite a top salary? Arun quit for the same reason that drives many
good people away. The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup
Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was
published in a book called First Break All The Rules.

It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single
reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they
quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often, straight to the
competition. "People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and
Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people - in
the form of better pay, better perks and better training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly
manager issue." If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving
people away? Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, and more
to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the
immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere.. A Fortune
magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the
hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-
stripe suit in the next one. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst,
directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees. RR experts say that of all
the abuses, employees find public humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee
may not leave, but a thought has been planted.. The second time, that thought gets strengthened.
The third time, he starts looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly in anger, they
do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what
they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information.

Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don't have
your heart and soul in the job." Different managers can stress out employees in different ways -
by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are
not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often
over seemingly trivial issue. It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that
went before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons- for better
opportunities or for circumstantial reasons, many who leave would have stayed - had it not been
for one man constantly telling them, as Arun's boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens
like you." While it seems like there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters, consider
for a moment the cost of losing a talented employee.There's the cost of finding a replacement.
The cost of training the replacement. The cost of not having someone to do the job in the
meantime. The loss of clients and contacts the person had with the industry. The loss of morale
in co-workers. The loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others. Plus, of course,
the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its
ambassador, for better or for worse. We all know of large IT companies that people would love
to join and large television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees have
left to tell their tales.

"Any company trying to compete must figure out a way to engage the mind of every employee,"
Jack Welch of GE once said. Much of a company's value lies "between the ears of its
employees". If it's bleeding talent, it's bleeding value. Unfortunately, many senior executives
busy travelling the world, signing new deals and developing a vision for the company, have little
idea of what may be going on at home.That deep within an organization that otherwise does all
the right things, one man could be driving its best people away.

m 
mÊ   
   Ê %m 
mÊ   
Retention of excellent employees is one of the most important challenges in organizations today.
Use these tips, articles, tools and ideas to learn employee retention strategies that will help you
retain your best staff. Learn loyalty strategies.

RecentEmployee Orientation: Keeping [ew Employees on Board


You want your new employee to experience his new job as a major turn on. Rere are tips, tools,
and examples for new employee orientation processes that promote longevity and
loyalty.Employee Recognition Rocks: Kick Employee Recognition Up a [otch

#Employee recognition is limited in most organizations. Employees complain about the lack of
recognition regularly. Managers ask, ³Why should I recognize or thank him? Re¶s just doing his
job.´ And, life at work is busy, busy, busy. These factors combine to create work places that fail
to provide recognition for employees. Managers who prioritize employee recognition understand
the power of recognition.Fun and the Bottom Line: Using Rumor to Retain Employees

#In today's uncertain work environment, humor isn't an option, it's necessary. When employees
clown around, they're not wasting valuable time, they're making use of one of the few tools
available to increase and maintain their group spirit. Laughter may not change reality, but it can
certainly help people survive it. Rere's how to use humor to retain employees.Grimme's Top Ten
for Retention

#Don Grimme lists his top ten recommended strategies for retaining good employees. [o big
surprises here, but this is an excellent reminder worth reading.

#Row to Retain Your Best Employees


Interested in keeping your best employees when the job market rebounds? Retention will be a
challenge, according to a recent study. Retention requires a competitive salary and great benefits.
Rowever, retention of your best requires a whole lot more. Employee involvement, recognition,
advancement, development and pay based on performance just get you started in your quest to
retain your best.Advertisement Job Stickiness

#Core values that are understood and rewarded and feeling a part of a sense of purpose at work
are reasons organizations retain staff. Read more ideas for entrepreneurs at
More.Business.com.Keeping Great Employees

#Pay people reasonably and treat them great. Don Grimme recommends these top two ways to
retain employees. Re presents the findings of the Families and Work Institute.Keeping Great
Employees

#Pay people reasonably and treat them great. Don Grimme recommends these top two ways to
retain employees. Re presents the findings of the Families and Work Institute.Keeping the
People You Really [eed in the Outsourced Economy

#The outsourced economy is here to stay. As a leader, you may not relish the idea of
outsourcing. Rowever, the reality is that you may soon need to. When that happens, you will
want a workforce that is nimble, adaptable, and prepared to participate in your organization at a
new level of competitiveness. Organizations that partner with their employees will retain those
employees when they have the opportunity to become free agents.Loyalty Complex

#Are you doing enough to hold on to your young staff members? This article, although geared to
IT staff, offers ideas for retaining all staff you want to keep.Loyalty Complex

#Are you doing enough to hold on to your young staff members? This article, although geared to
IT staff, offers ideas for retaining all staff you want to keep.Magnify the Retention Value of
Your 401k Plan
Tired of feeling as if your 401k plan doesn't get the appreciation and participation it deserves?
You can maximize the impact of your 401k retirement plan to benefit the people you employ.
These necessary and recommended actions will help you create an appreciated, valued benefit
that helps you achieve your business goals.[ine Recruiting and Selection

m  Ê    

These nine tips will help you in recruiting and hiring a candidate who will become a successful,
contributing superior employee. Learn how job analysis helps you in recruiting and hiring a
superior staff.Poll: Why Do

You Stick With Your Employer?

Recruiting and Retention Special

Finding the best possible people who can fit within your culture and contribute within your
organization is a challenge and an opportunity. Keeping the best people, once you find them, is
easy if you do the right things right. Take a look at the helpful features in the Industry and
Business Recruiting and Retention Special.Retaining Talent in a Competitive Market

In a competitive market, best practices for retaining top talent include offering a stimulating
work environment, flexible career options, an excellent benefit package, and a culture that values
staff contributions.Retain Top Talent

Employees may enjoy moving around laterally in different jobs. Flexible career options and
knowledge sharing opportunities help to retain your talented employees. See Best Practices, LLC
for more good ideas.Retention Research Yields Answers

Read Kevin Wheeler's review of research by Professors Peter Rom and Rodger Griffeth. Re
presents three factors which must be present for people to stay with an organization. Check out
the four ways companies can impact and increase retention.The Bottom Line for Employee
Retention
Want the bottom line when it comes to employee retention? The quality of the supervision an
employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more
often than they leave companies or jobs. Learn how to help your managers address employee
retention.Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employees
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business.
Managers readily agree that their role is key in retaining your best employees to ensure business
success. If managers can cite this fact so well, why do many behave in ways that so frequently
encourage great employees to quit their job? Rere are ten more tips for employee retention.Use
Your Team for Recruitment: A Retention Strategy
Selecting and retaining great staff is key for business success. Talented people who continue to
develop skills and increase their value to your organization and to your customers are your most
important resource. Rere's how to select and retain these people and create an environment in
which they continue to thrive.What People Want From Work: Employee Motivation and Positive
Morale

Some people work for personal fulfillment; others work for love of what they do. Others work to
accomplish goals and to feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves. The
bottom line is that we all work for money and for reasons too individual to assign similarities to
all workers.

¦Ê !"  



Dear All,
Think,
Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation
4/10/2006
Business literature is packed with advice about worker motivation²but sometimes managers are
the problem, not the inspiration. Rere are seven practices to fire up the troops. From Rarvard
Management Update.
by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer

Most companies have it all wrong. They don't have to motivate their employees. They have to
stop demotivating them.

The great majority of employees are quite enthusiastic when they start a new job. But in about 85
percent of companies, our research finds, employees' morale sharply declines after their first six
months²and continues to deteriorate for years afterward. That finding is based on surveys of
about 1.2 million employees at 52 primarily Fortune 1000 companies from 2001 through 2004,
conducted by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Purchase, [ew York).

The fault lies squarely at the feet of management²both the policies and procedures companies
employ in managing their workforces and in the relationships that individual managers establish
with their direct reports.

Our research shows how individual managers' behaviors and styles are contributing to the
problem (see sidebar "Row Management Demotivates")²and what they can do to turn this
around.
Three key goals of people at work
To maintain the enthusiasm employees bring to their jobs initially, management must understand
the three sets of goals that the great majority of workers seek from their work²and then satisfy
those goals:

Equity: To be respected and to be treated fairly in areas such as pay, benefits, and job security.

Achievement: To be proud of one's job, accomplishments, and employer.

Camaraderie: To have good, productive relationships with fellow employees.


To maintain an enthusiastic workforce, management must meet all three goals. Indeed,
employees who work for companies where just one of these factors is missing are three times
less enthusiastic than workers at companies where all elements are present.

One goal cannot be substituted for another. Improved recognition cannot replace better pay,
money cannot substitute for taking pride in a job well done, and pride alone will not pay the
mortgage.

What individual managers can do


Satisfying the three goals depends both on organizational policies and on the everyday practices
of individual managers. If the company has a solid approach to talent management, a bad
manager can undermine it in his unit. On the flip side, smart and empathetic managers can
overcome a great deal of corporate mismanagement while creating enthusiasm and commitment
within their units. While individual managers can't control all leadership decisions, they can still
have a profound influence on employee motivation.

The most important thing is to provide employees with a sense of security, one in which they do
not fear that their jobs will be in jeopardy if their performance is not perfect and one in which
layoffs are considered an extreme last resort, not just another option for dealing with hard times.

But security is just the beginning. When handled properly, each of the following eight practices
will play a key role in supporting your employees' goals for achievement, equity, and
camaraderie, and will enable them to retain the enthusiasm they brought to their roles in the first
place.

Achievement related
1. Instill an inspiring purpose. A critical condition for employee enthusiasm is a clear, credible,
and inspiring organizational purpose: in effect, a "reason for being" that translates for workers
into a "reason for being there" that goes above and beyond money.

Every manager should be able to expressly state a strong purpose for his unit. What follows is
one purpose statement we especially admire. It was developed by a three-person benefits group
in a midsize firm.

Benefits are about people. It's not whether you have the forms filled in or whether the checks are
written. It's whether the people are cared for when they're sick, helped when they're in trouble.
This statement is particularly impressive because it was composed in a small company devoid of
high-powered executive attention and professional wordsmiths. It was created in the type of
department normally known for its fixation on bureaucratic rules and procedures. It is a
statement truly from the heart, with the focus in the right place: on the ends²people²rather
than the means²completing forms.

To maintain an enthusiastic workforce, management must meet all three goals.


Stating a mission is a powerful tool. But equally important is the manager's ability to explain and
communicate to subordinates the reason behind the mission. Can the manager of stockroom
workers do better than telling her staff that their mission is to keep the room stocked? Can she
communicate the importance of the job, the people who are relying on the stockroom being
properly maintained, both inside and outside the company? The importance for even goods that
might be considered prosaic to be where they need to be when they need to be there? That
manager will go a long way toward providing a sense of purpose.

2. Provide recognition. Managers should be certain that all employee contributions, both large
and small, are recognized. The motto of many managers seems to be, "Why would I need to
thank someone for doing something he's paid to do?" Workers repeatedly tell us, and with great
feeling, how much they appreciate a compliment. They also report how distressed they are when
managers don't take the time to thank them for a job well done yet are quick to criticize them for
making mistakes.

Receiving recognition for achievements is one of the most fundamental human needs. Rather
than making employees complacent, recognition reinforces their accomplishments, helping
ensure there will be more of them.

A pat on the back, simply saying "good going," a dinner for two, a note about their good work to
senior executives, some schedule flexibility, a paid day off, or even a flower on a desk with a
thank-you note are a few of the hundreds of ways managers can show their appreciation for good
work. It works wonders if this is sincere, sensitively done, and undergirded by fair and
competitive pay²and not considered a substitute for it.

3. Be an expediter for your employees. Incorporating a command-and-control style is a sure-fire


path to demotivation. Instead, redefine your primary role as serving as your employees'
expediter: It is your job to facilitate getting their jobs done. Your reports are, in this sense, your
"customers." Your role as an expediter involves a range of activities, including serving as a
linchpin to other business units and managerial levels to represent their best interests and ensure
your people get what they need to succeed.

Row do you know, beyond what's obvious, what is most important to your employees for getting
their jobs done? Ask them! "Lunch and schmooze" sessions with employees are particularly
helpful for doing this. And if, for whatever reason, you can't immediately address a particular
need or request, be open about it and then let your workers know how you're progressing at
resolving their problems. This is a great way to build trust.

4. Coach your employees for improvement. A major reason so many managers do not assist
subordinates in improving their performance is, simply, that they don't know how to do this
without irritating or discouraging them. A few basic principles will improve this substantially.

First and foremost, employees whose overall performance is satisfactory should be made aware
of that. It is easier for employees to accept, and welcome, feedback for improvement if they
know management is basically pleased with what they do and is helping them do it even better.

Space limitations prevent a full treatment of the subject of giving meaningful feedback, of which
recognition is a central part, but these key points should be the basis of any feedback plan:

Performance feedback is not the same as an annual appraisal. Give actual performance feedback
as close in time to the occurrence as possible. Use the formal annual appraisal to summarize the
year, not surprise the worker with past wrongs.

Recognize that workers want to know when they have done poorly. Don't succumb to the fear of
giving appropriate criticism; your workers need to know when they are not performing well. At
the same time, don't forget to give positive feedback. It is, after all, your goal to create a team
that warrants praise.

Comments concerning desired improvements should be specific, factual, unemotional, and


directed at performance rather than at employees personally. Avoid making overall evaluative
remarks (such as, "That work was shoddy") or comments about employees' personalities or
motives (such as, "You've been careless"). Instead, provide specific, concrete details about what
you feel needs to be improved and how.
Keep the feedback relevant to the employee's role. Don't let your comments wander to anything
not directly tied to the tasks at hand.

Listen to employees for their views of problems. Employees' experience and observations often
are helpful in determining how performance issues can be best dealt with, including how you can
be most helpful.

Remember the reason you're giving feedback²you want to improve performance, not prove
your superiority. So keep it real, and focus on what is actually doable without demanding the
impossible.

Follow up and reinforce. Praise improvement or engage in course correction²while praising the
effort²as quickly as possible.

Don't offer feedback about something you know nothing about. Get someone who knows the
situation to look at it.
Equity related
5. Communicate fully. One of the most counterproductive rules in business is to distribute
information on the basis of "need to know." It is usually a way of severely, unnecessarily, and
destructively restricting the flow of information in an organization. A command-and-control
style is a sure-fire path to demotivation.
Workers' frustration with an absence of adequate communication is one of the most negative
findings we see expressed on employee attitude surveys. What employees need to do their jobs
and what makes them feel respected and included dictate that very few restrictions be placed by
managers on the flow of information. Rold nothing back of interest to employees except those
very few items that are absolutely confidential.

Good communication requires managers to be attuned to what employees want and need to
know; the best way to do this is to ask them! Most managers must discipline themselves to
communicate regularly. Often it's not a natural instinct. Schedule regular employee meetings that
have no purpose other than two-way communication. Meetings among management should
conclude with a specific plan for communicating the results of the meetings to employees. And
tell it like it is. Many employees are quite skeptical about management's motives and can quickly
see through "spin." Get continual feedback on how well you and the company are
communicating. One of the biggest communication problems is the assumption that a message
has been understood. Follow-up often finds that messages are unclear or misunderstood.

Companies and managers that communicate in the ways we describe reap large gains in
employee morale. Full and open communication not only helps employees do their jobs but also
is a powerful sign of respect.

6. Face up to poor performance. Identify and deal decisively with the 5 percent of your
employees who don't want to work. Most people want to work and be proud of what they do (the
achievement need). But there are employees who are, in effect, "allergic" to work²they'll do
just about anything to avoid it. They are unmotivated, and a disciplinary approach²including
dismissal²is about the only way they can be managed. It will raise the morale and performance
of other team members to see an obstacle to their performance removed.

Camaraderie related
7. Promote teamwork. Most work requires a team effort in order to be done effectively. Research
shows repeatedly that the quality of a group's efforts in areas such as problem solving is usually
superior to that of individuals working on their own. In addition, most workers get a motivation
boost from working in teams.

Whenever possible, managers should organize employees into self-managed teams, with the
teams having authority over matters such as quality control, scheduling, and many work
methods. Such teams require less management and normally result in a healthy reduction in
management layers and costs.

Creating teams has as much to do with camaraderie as core competences. A manager needs to
carefully assess who works best with whom. At the same time, it is important to create the
opportunity for cross-learning and diversity of ideas, methods, and approaches. Be clear with the
new team about its role, how it will operate, and your expectations for its output.

Related to all three factors


8. Listen and involve. Employees are a rich source of information about how to do a job and how
to do it better. This principle has been demonstrated time and again with all kinds of
employees²from hourly workers doing the most routine tasks to high-ranking professionals.
Managers who operate with a participative style reap enormous rewards in efficiency and work
quality.

Participative managers continually announce their interest in employees' ideas. They do not wait
for these suggestions to materialize through formal upward communication or suggestion
programs. They find opportunities to have direct conversations with individuals and groups
about what can be done to improve effectiveness. They create an atmosphere where "the past is
not good enough" and recognize employees for their innovativeness.

Participative managers, once they have defined task boundaries, give employees freedom to
operate and make changes on their own commensurate with their knowledge and experience.
Indeed, there may be no single motivational tactic more powerful than freeing competent people
to do their jobs as they see fit.

Reprinted with permission from "Stop Demotivating Your Employees!" Rarvard Management
Update, Vol. 11, [o. 1, January 2006.

See the latest issue of Rarvard Management Update.

David Sirota is chairman emeritus, Louis A. Mischkind is senior vice president, and Michael
Irwin Meltzer is chief operating officer of Sirota Survey Intelligence. They are the authors of The
Enthusiastic Employee: Row Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want (Wharton
School Publishing, 2005). They can be reached at .

Row Management Demotivates


by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer

There are several ways that management unwittingly demotivates employees and diminishes, if
not outright destroys, their enthusiasm.

Many companies treat employees as disposable. At the first sign of business difficulty,
employees²who are usually routinely referred to as "our greatest asset"²become expendable.

Employees generally receive inadequate recognition and reward: About half of the workers in
our surveys report receiving little or no credit, and almost two-thirds say management is much
more likely to criticize them for poor performance than praise them for good work.

Management inadvertently makes it difficult for employees to do their jobs. Excessive levels of
required approvals, endless paperwork, insufficient training, failure to communicate, infrequent
delegation of authority, and a lack of a credible vision contribute to employees' frustration

m¦
 

Ê 
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business.
Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product
sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded
organizational knowledge and learning. If managers can cite these facts so well, why do they
behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?
Employee retention matters. Organizational issues such as training time and investment; lost
knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a
key employee is costly. Various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an
organization up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. I
have seen estimates of double the annual salary and more.Employee retention is one of the
primary measures of the health of your organization. If you are losing critical staff members, you
can safely bet that other people in their departments are looking as well. Exit interviews with
departing employees provide valuable information you can use to retain remaining staff. Reed
their results. You¶ll never have a more significant source of data about the health of your
organization.

Ë The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee retention. People
leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. It is not enough
that the supervisor is well-liked or a nice person, starting with clear expectations of the
employee, the supervisor has a critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to
make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee complaints
center on these areas.

? lack of clarity about expectations,


? lack of clarity about earning potential,
? lack of feedback about performance,
? failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
? failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

â The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the organization is another
key factor in employee retention. Does your organization solicit ideas and provide an
environment in which people are comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas,
feel free to criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues or
find themselves constantly "in trouble" - until they leave.

A Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees seek in your
workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job
description. Row many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need
to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it. As an example, in a
small company, a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external
consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo development
experience, repeatedly offered to help. Ris offer was ignored and he cited this as one reason why
he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the company didn't want to take advantage of his
knowledge and capabilities helped precipitate his job search.

ù The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee retention. In one
company, a new sales rep was given the most potentially successful, commission-producing
accounts. Current staff viewed these decisions as taking food off their tables. You can bet a
number of them are looking for their next opportunity.

 When an employee is failing at work, Just check, ³What about the work system is causing the
person to fail?´ Most frequently, if the employee knows what they are supposed to do, I find the
answer is time, tools, training, temperament or talent. The easiest to solve, and the ones most
affecting employee retention, are tools, time and training. The employee must have the tools,
time and training necessary to do their job well ± or they will move to an employer who provides
them.

' Your best employees, those employees you want to retain, seek frequent opportunities to learn
and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without the opportunity to try new opportunities,
sit on challenging committees, attend seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will
stagnate. A career-oriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your
organization.

 [o matter the circumstances, never, never, ever threaten an employee's job or income. Even if
you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow
this information with employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the
information; no matter how you explain the information, even if you're absolutely correct, your
best staff members will update their resumes. I'm not advocating keeping solid information away
from people, however, think before you say anything that makes people feel they need to search
for another job.

& final tip on every retention list to retention success. Your staff members must feel rewarded,
recognized and appreciated. Frequently saying thank you goes a long way. Monetary rewards,
bonuses and gifts make the thank you even more appreciated. Understandable raises, tied to
accomplishments and achievement, help retain staff. Commissions and bonuses that are easily
calculated on a daily basis, and easily understood, raise motivation and help retain staff.
Annually, I receive emails from staff members that provide information about raises nationally.
You can bet that work is about the money and almost every individual wants more

m


      
 



‰ 

Education makes a good business model only as long as your graduates find a good future for
themselves. Securing their future lies at the core of all responsibilities for any educational
institution. The challenge for doing so is two fold. Firstly establishing a professional career
counseling office and a market savvy training and placement office. It is usually noticed that the
need for cost cutting and abilities in multitasking provide administrators the opportunity to
merge these two functions into one. This program attempts to provide a road map to all career
counselors and / or placement officers on how to effectively maximize results for their institutes.


‰ # 

At this program's conclusion, participants should be able to:

1. Identify the need for career counsellors and training and placement officers.

2. Co-operate to compete.

3. Methodologies for establishing preferences for organizations.

4. Joint campus recruitment process ± its future.

5. Documentation formats.

6. Campus recruitment process automated.

The following outline highlights some of the course¶s key learning points.

‰  

Ê
   
 

This program begins with understanding the career office. It looks into the difference between
career counseling and training & placement. It also details the scope of activity and opportunities
for self-development and growth.

 

  

 


The career office is by far the busiest and the most influential office in any academic institution.
The need for making it even more professional and influential underscores the image the
institution is trying to build for itself. One of the basic ways to accomplish is to co-operate
instead of compete with institutions in your area or region. This section attempts to analyze the
advantages of co-operating over competing.

¦ 

     $

The madness of organizations clambering one on top of the other to get first into a institution has
always been daunting task for most placement officers. This section attempts to remedy some of
the madness of the placement week.

m
 

Organizations these days are recruiting large numbers from institutions. At the same time there
are many institutions to choose from. The going gets tough for organizations when they need to
shortlist institutions to visit for recruitment. Joint campus recruitment programs have their own
merits as a remedy for this problem. This session deals with negotiating for the need of a joint
campus in your region. The session also looks into the merging trend of campus job fairs.


   
 

The career office needs to involve into various forms and formats for various purposes. In this
part of the program the participants practice developing forms and formats based on their
institutions and the industry needs and best practices.

 
 
 

During the campus season when organizations are visiting institutes, reports and tables in the
form of various MIS are required on a immediate basis. This can be easily accomplished if your
career office is fully automated. This final part of the session reveals how and what to automate
for optimal results.

At the program's conclusion, participants will have an understanding of how to setup and
successfully run a career office. It will also help in building a network of placement officers in a
particular region or territory.

You might also like