Blog on HR by Ms.K Jaya Poorani (Vice President – Legal & HR)
As HR professional, one of my tasks is, “how to retain the employees in our organization?.” On a rainy weekend while having a cup of tea at my home, I was mulling over this question.
How to avoid attrition? Would good salary, promotions, attractive bonus, work environment, perks etc., make the employees happy and comfortable so that they remain with the organization? If that were so, why do we see employees leaving the company?
Do empowerment make them happy? By giving them free hands to come up with ideas and strategies that would find solutions to the problems make them to stay with the company? But I still find people chasing better opportunities and willing to forgo the trust, commitments etc., and leave the company with a month’s notice.
Did I forget the true meaning of the magic word “human relations”?
Human relationship is primarily based on the energy that can create synergy with other people.
Each individual has his strengths and weaknesses. It’s the duty of the Line Managers to find out the strength of his subordinates and harness them, advice on their weaknesses, so that over a period of time, his strength grows stronger and his weakness weakens.
Instead of finding fault with employees, did the Line Managers find time to interact with them and find the reasons for their mistakes or inefficiency? Many times, we have pulled down our own employees in and ridiculed them on their ignorance. There are very few, who take this as a challenge to improve and change. But many may change the jobs! Understanding their problems and helping them to find solutions would pay rich dividends.
Harmony is the super – ordinate goal in all interactions with people. Human Relations is nothing but bringing employees together, provide comfortable and conducive work environment, understand their problems and be with them in the hours of need. Also make them feel that they have proprietary rights in the organization that they serve.
We can get plenty of prospective clients, but if we lose one due to any unfortunate reasons, we can find another. But what will happen if the employees are unhappy and disinterested in their jobs? Their dissatisfaction could result in desultory work and poor customer services and could destroy the organization. The employees are the channel connecting the customer and the management. The Company cannot grow with unhappy employees! They are the powerful tools to make or break any organization.
Now I realize why my boss always says, “ In a services industry like ours, where we provide services and care to senior citizens, employees are indeed important to provide desired quality services and care to our seniors.”
True indeed. “Employees first, customers second” in our organization sounds very justifiable. I, as HR professional, need to evolve such policies for our employees to not only retain them but through them make the company grow better.