Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;Date: Jun 17, 2011;Section: Career & Business;Page: 8

Five Ways To ... Bring back loyalty to the workplace

Last month a factory manager at one of PepsiCo Indias plants resigned from his job. His immediate boss and HR executives tried convincing him to take back his decision but in vain. Finally, his erstwhile boss and the man who recruited him, called him to ask about his decision. He told him if you tell me not to go, I will not. Thats the power of building long-term relationships, says Samik Basu, chief people officer, PepsiCo India. Despite not being his immediate boss, he kept in touch with the man and built a relationship that became longlasting. Shreya Biswas lists some aspects for firms to hold back loyal employees. Groom Quality Managers It is said that people join an organisation and leave as a boss. It then becomes extremely important for the firm to have quality leader managing teams. If people are leaving at regular intervals, there might be something wrong with the leader. Figure out how they treat their team members, whether the team lead addresses individual needs of growth, appreciates their work or provides ample support in terms of ideas and resources to get the work done. Map Employees Careers Tell your employees how they will grow up in the organisational ladder. Make them aware of what kind of opportunities awaits them and what needs to be done to reach those heights. Their career path should be clearly charted out and they should at least have an idea of 3-4 years of career progression. Give them the option to choose their own path, help with internal job postings so that they can gain expertise in different functions and sectors, make rotation a normal course of growth. Spur Them On Most of the times people know that they are doing well when the boss doesnt shout or point out mistakes. Recognition and rewards for work should at par with the punishment for non-performance. It could come in any form, monetary benefits, training for higher roles or international exposuretravel or deputation, anything. This will help boost employee morale and they will not hesitate to put in extra effort. Locate The Problem Many a times companies go on hiring new people assuming they bring change and up the productivity count, with no results. They should instead dig deeper to find out the root of the problem than to recruit new people. It could be lack of communication between leaders and employees or misinformation in the hierarchy chain to hide someones inefficiency or ignorance on the part of the company to ensure sustained growth, says Muralidhar Rao, CEO, Future learning. Develop A Work Culture There are two categories of professionals at the workplace. One who come to the office and the second, for whom, its a place to express themselves. They identify themselves with the kind of work they do, strongly believe in the culture and values of the organisation. The second category specially needs to be dealt with sensitivity. If the firm doesnt value the same culture it preaches to its employees, this set might feel cheated. If that doesnt matter to the management, it might as well keep losing people and getting new ones, building up a culture where no one sticks back, no leaders are born but workers who come and go, explains Mr Rao.