"Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies''.

Today around the world the market economic conditions are getting tough. Jobs are becoming scares, automation is adding to the loss of jobs, people are holding new Investments, waiting for the market to improve. Hence, no new opportunities are coming up. In short, it’s still a tough time.

In this situation, one more factor, which is haunting the organizations is downsizing the company labor cost and at the same time striking balance with the organization's talented employees. HR Departments are under pressure to let go of the non-performing employees, at the same time. They are also held accountable for talent drain. My today's article will throw light on how to have an effective hiring process and how to retain good employees.

To begin with, to understand the whole process lets us start with the question, Why do employees leave the job? How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late? These could be the possible process of disengagement, as this is a vicious circle process. People leave or asked to leave – we hire new people – New people stay & perform – others feel disengaged and leave - it impacts the other employees – More disengagement takes place and the cycle continues.

Reason #A: The Job or Workplace was not as expected

Reason #B: The Mismatch Between Job and Person

Reason #C: Too Little Coaching and Feedback

Reason #D: Feeling Devalued and Unrecognized

Reason #E: Very Little Growth and Development Opportunities

Reason #F: Stress from overwork and lack of Work-life Imbalance

Reason #G: Loss of Trust and Confidence in Senior Leaders

As employers what are the factors we need to think about:

- How companies & employees can communicate their expectations about each other in a better manner?

- The importance of finding the right people to fill the right positions at the right time.

- Why coaching and feedback are critical to engagement and retention, and how companies can form deeper relationships with their people?

- What new career realities are in today’s business climate?

- Why some managers are hesitant to recognize employees, and what senior leadership can do about it?

- How to help employees maintain a consistent work-life balance and minimize their levels of job-related stress?

- How managers can regain the trust and confidence of their employees?

The Process of Disengagement — employee turnover is not an event — it is a process of disengagement that can take days, weeks, months or even years until the actual decision to leave takes place. There are several sequential and predictable steps that can unfold in the employee’s journey from disengagement to departure. These are: After vigorous job search for few days, an employee finally gets a job offer/most of the time, the job search drains, an individual so much that the very first job comes that forward employee wishes to accept the job/and thus an employee starts the new job with enthusiasm. He or she informs the Organisations, HR Departments on his decision of accepting the job / He or she Joins the organization with full enthusiasm & Energy / He or she either likes the environment and settles down or he starts feeling uncomfortable or he or she doesn’t belong here / the adjustment process starts. / First he or she tries to adjust to surrounding / Next stage he or she tries to change things, / his or her enthusiasm is again either getting accepted and he or she settles down / If not, or he or she starts getting labelled or get considered as, over-enthusiast, trying to change everything / The adjustment struggle goes around for few weeks / and finally the thoughts of thinking seriously about quitting start hovering in the brain / a stage comes, where an employee resolve to quit and starts considering the cost of quitting / Passively seek another job, at the later stage, gets prepared to start searching another job very actively / Actively seeks the new job, Get new job offer and Quit to accept the new job, quit without a job, or stay and disengage.

Generally, most of the managers or senior management individuals are so busy or preoccupied with their own priorities that they do not notice their employee’s disengagements. Possibly they wish that the employees should be wearing the signs around their necks that proclaim, “Trying to Change Things!” or “Becoming Less Engaged Every Day!”. Hence, it’s very important that managers need to understand the subtle signs of discontent much before they lose the employees in volume, along with losing, best and brightest people. As an unsatisfied employee spreads the negative energy around like an over ripped spoiled mango in a basket.

The Deliberation Process - There are two distinct periods in an employee’s thought process when he or she considers leaving a company. The first period is the time between the employee’s initial thought of quitting and the subsequent decision to leave when disappointment and even bitterness can set in due to an array of possible circumstances. The second period of the deliberation process is the time between the employee’s decision to leave and the actual leaving. The chances of a manager gaining renewed commitment from an employee in this period are lower at this stage. This is why managers must keep their antenna up and be alert to the signs that an employee is beginning to disengage & act rapidly when there is still time to stop their good staff from leaving.

Why They Leave - Employees begin to disengage and think about leaving when one or more of four fundamental human needs are not being met. These needs are: I) The need for trust - Expecting the company and management to deliver on its promises, to be honest, and open in all communication with you, to invest in you, to treat you fairly and to compensate you in a fair and timely manner. ii)The need to have hope - Believing you will be able to grow, develop your skills and have the opportunity for development or career progress. iii) The need to feel a sense of worth - Feeling confident that if you work hard, do your best, demonstrate commitment and make meaningful contributions, you will be recognized and rewarded accordingly. iv) The need to feel competent - Expecting you will be matched to a job that aligns with your talents and your desire for a challenge.

These four fundaments human needs reflect at seven different sequences: -

A — The Job or Workplace Was Not as Expected — Every day, new hires enter organizations with a wide range of illusions and unrealistic expectations. Some stay and adapt. Some disengage and stay, and many disengage & leave. However good and intellectual, an employee, may be, generally, management blames the employee for the decision of separation and mainly term them as Bad Employee, disloyal Employee, incompetent employee and so on. Very rarely management accept the fact of losing a good employee.

This situation can be avoided by a few simple solutions -

- Conduct realistic job previews with every job candidate, Create a realistic job description with a short list of critical competencies.

- Hire from current employee referrals, where the new applicant has a fair knowledge of what is expected, the organization culture and what the organization wants from employees.

- Allow team members to conduct the 1st round of interviews, unless you have a strong referral of the candidate from an expert or the position is not for specialization task, as they are the best judge to know who would fit the culture. For Head Office – let the Department Head take the 1st round of interviews.

- Whenever there is a vacancy for a senior position or inter-department vacancies, first run a vacancy in your own organization to give first chance or choice to internal employees before the vacancies are declared to the outside world. This will help you to get an in-house talent or referrals from the in-house team who would suit the position the best.

- Conduct smart surveys or interviews from new hires or rejected candidates to find out how we can perform better and how to minimize new hire surprises in the future.

B — the Mismatch Between Job and Person — Research over the last 25 years, has shown that 80 percent of workers feel they are not using their strengths on a daily basis. When you consider it closely, though, it’s almost surprising that 20% of the working population does get to use their strengths daily.

To encourage this feeling of being powerful at the workplace: -

- Make a strong commitment to the continuous upgrading of talent.

- Follow a consistent and thorough talent forecasting and success-factor analysis process.

- Before recruiting, cast a wide recruiting net to expand the universe of best-fit candidates.

- Follow a purposeful and rigorous interview process.

- Track measures of hiring success. Track the quality of hires, not just cost-per-hire, by quantifying the qualitative aspects of each candidate.

- Conduct “entrance interviews” with new hires. Meet with them during the first week of their job, with the specific purpose of uncovering their greatest strengths and talents.

- Work to enrich the jobs of all employees. It can be surprisingly easy to make a significant impact on employees and increase retention.

- Delegate tasks to challenge employees and enrich their jobs. You can enrich their jobs by providing to them meaningful roles, by delegating tasks, making them feel important.

C - Too Little Coaching and Feedback – Performance coaching and feedback are essential for employees because they help employees answer four basic questions:

1. Where are we going as a company?

2. How are we going to get there?

3. How do you expect me to contribute?

4. How am I doing?

How to Coach and Give Feedback

1. Provide intensive feedback and coaching to new hires.

2. Create a culture of continuous feedback and coaching.

3. Train managers in performance coaching

4. Make the performance management practice less controlling and more of a partnership.

5. Terminate non-performers when best efforts to coach or reassign don’t pay off.

6. Hold managers accountable for coaching and giving feedback

D - Feeling Devalued and Unrecognized – it is believed that employee loyalty improves when the company and employees clearly know what is expected.

For the employer: -

- Offer work that is meaningful and challenging.

- Promote an environment that encourages open and constructive dialogue.

- Advise the employee of performance through regular feedback.

- Create learning opportunities through education and job assignments.

From Employee: -

- Perform at levels that significantly increase the company’s ability to outperform the competition.

- Take on assignments critical to meeting business objectives.

- Willingly listen to and act upon feedback.

- Take personal responsibility for each transaction with customers and for fostering their trust.

E — Very Little Growth and Development Opportunities - Most employee when they see the road to their growth getting thinner and to many obstacles in their way towards their growth start feeling the insecurities. And hence a detailed plan has to be laid down & discussed with an employee showing the symptoms of insecurities

Step 1: Get the employee’s agreement that a problem exists.

Step 2: Mutually discuss alternative solutions.

Step 3: Mutually agree on action to be taken to solve the problem.

Step 4: Follow up to measure results.

Step 5: Reinforce any achievement when it occurs.

Insecurities can be felt due to: -

1. Nationality Mix which leads to lobbyists.

2. Biased Managers.

3. Inappropriate Recruitment.

4. In capabilities to take right decisions.

5. Decision made on emotional levels.

6. Forced decisions due to referrals.

How could this be avoided?

1. Provide self-assessment tools and career self-management training for all employees.

2. Offer career coaching tools and training for all managers.

3. Provide readily accessible information on career paths and competency requirements.

4. Create alternatives to traditional career ladders.

5. Keep employees informed about the Company’s strategy, direction and talent need Forecasts.

6. Build and maintain a fair and efficient internal job posting process.

7. Show a clear preference for hiring from within Consistently pursue internal hiring as the first option, going outside the company only when no internal candidate is available.

8. Eliminate HR policies and management practices that block internal movement.

9. Create a strong mentoring culture.

10. Keep the career development and performance appraisal processes separate.

11. Build an effective talent review and succession management process.

12. Maintain a strong commitment to employee training.

13. Don’t fear the possibility of training employees that then leave your company.

F: Stress from overwork and lack of Work-life Imbalance — it is sobering to consider all the things there are to be stressed about in the workplace — overwork, personality conflicts, forced overtime, disorganized supervisors, gossip, harassment, prejudice, and so many others. Workers get stressed when they must sacrifice family time to work extra hours when they must deal with the insensitivity of some co-workers and so on.

To avoid these situations and again making people feel they want to run away from This environment we can help them by: -

1. Initiate a culture of “giving before getting.” Make the first move in maintaining employee loyalty.

2. Tailor the “culture of giving” to the needs of key talent.

3. Build a culture that values spontaneous acts of caring, fairly to all.

4. Build social connection and harmony among employees.

5. Encourage fun in the workplace.

G: Loss of Trust and Confidence in Senior— Everyone wants to feel important, yet many organizations manage to make their people feel quite the opposite. It could be seen as a lack of simple appreciation or a greater focus put on making numbers, and not valuing employees. Some employees might feel like a mere number — that no one in any kind of position above them listens to them or even knows they exist, much less work there.

To avoid it: -

1/ Offer competitive base pay linked to value creation.

2/ Reward results with variable pay aligned with business goals.

3/ Reward employees at a high enough level to motivate higher performance.

4/Use cash pay-outs for on-the-spot recognition.

5/ Involve employees and encourage two-way communication when designing new pay systems

6/ Monitor the pay system to ensure fairness, efficiency, consistency, and accuracy.

7/ Create a culture of informal recognition founded on a sincere appreciation

8/ Make new hires feel welcome and important.

9/ Ask for employee input, then listen and respond.

10/Keep employees in the loop. Share information with them about new changes.

11/Give employees the right tools and resources.

12/Keep the physical environment fit to work in

Senior leaders are challenged with creating a culture of trust and integrity that strengthens the bonds of employee engagement. This isn’t always easy, particularly when employees already have a number of issues with their managers and leaders. They complain about a basic lack of trust and integrity in leadership. They might feel management is out of touch with day-to-day reality. Or, they might feel that leaders are concerned only with their own greed, and not with the needs and concerns of workers.

Here are three things leaderships can do to combat these impressions, to offset and reverse a loss of trust in senior leaders: -

1. Inspire confidence in a clear vision, a workable plan, and the competence to achieve it - people will only follow leaders they deem to be capable.

2. Back up words with actions. Do what you say you are going to do — there is no easier way to cut off employee cynicism and disengagement.

3. Place your trust and confidence in your workforce - Take the opportunity to engage and inspire your people by enacting policies that show you trust them.

If all above points get considered, we would not only achieve a good workforce, but we can create a good employee. And employee retention would not be a major challenge for an organization. It would Just help us to create a better environment for better productivity, by the better of employees.

Many organizations often are scared that their employees may join their competitors, they may reveal the company secrets to others and hence they keep very close surveillance on the employees and their movements. They do not realize it’s practically impossible to do so and if one wishes to do so one would ever know. One can only copy knowledge, one can never copy your dedication, passion, love & Luck. The best results come when you let your employee do what he/she is happy in doing and they will not only remain loyal to your organization, they will ensure no two business are intermingled, they will show more efficiency and integrity towards the things they do and get better results.