NURTURING MODERN DAY HR

by 

Kavea from TAPMI

Ever wondered what does it take to retain employees like you are a pro in doing it? Ever wondered what it felt like to have your employees say ‘My office is my second home’? Ever wondered how it will feel like when your team gels really well and you being the secret brains behind it?

In the modern era, when attrition rates are on the rise, where more and more companies are looking for new ways of recruiting and retaining employees who can perform extremely well under pressure, who can adapt and deliver, we definitely should turn around and look out for ways to enhance their satisfaction level. No more will satisfying the hygiene factors work. One has to go well beyond it to satisfy even their implied needs. There lies the competitive advantage in terms of HR for a company. That’s exactly why some companies are investing huge sums of money in their yearly budget to identify the needs of employees from their innermost hearts.

Image Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

Leveraging on this fact, a lot of recreation plans are created every now and then, in addition to development centers of a company, where one socializes, relaxes. If they can also get the sense of belongingness to the company, “Woohoo! Target achieved!”

While some companies are going all out on employee benefits, a recent drastic measure employed by Yahoo Inc’s Marrissa Mayer, the new CEO, comes as a shocker. She has coiled back to traditional ways of working by curbing the scheme of working from home and insisted on face to face communication as opposed to flexibility. She believes that employees’ productivity goes up while they work from home whereas their innovation quotient takes a drastic dip. We will have to wait and see how the tradeoff between innovation and productivity, valuing flexibility and thereby alienating the independent minded employees, works for Yahoo. (Sarcasm says, “Past results prove otherwise”).

Results of a study in the field of home-work and productivity from Stanford says that telecommuting is nothing to be afraid of and it vouches for higher satisfaction levels among employees. Flexi work hours, though is a topic of debate, proves to be a deal-clincher as is shown in ‘Best employer ratings’ (Source: Business today, Economic times) where Google’s break out rooms, Agilent’s ‘Coffee talks’ and Infosys’s dormitories, ECCs (Employee care centers) are giving them the edge. Though enhancing one’s career plays the major part of the rankings, the ‘mind play’ is the game-changer. American express tops the employee satisfaction list as the employees feel that the company caters to the Gen Y needs. Companies like Aetna where 47% of people telecommute and Booz Allen still embrace flexibility while they claim that it greatly reduces their real estate costs and fuel costs.

Goodbye to the ages of making employees adapt to the policies. Embrace and welcome the age where policies and initiatives are formed by the feedback of employees. Nurture HR.

This article has been authored by Kavea from TAPMI

References:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/best_company_2012.cms

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-02-27/news/37330998_1_workplace-flexibility-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-innovation