"When a milker leaves I lose one cow"

"When a milker leaves I lose one cow"

Recruiting the right employees is easy. But the challenge is to
motivate and retain them. Retaining the right employees in the right
place is the secret of any organisation's success.

Usually the employees are loyal to their organisations. But they
become unhappy job-hoppers when they feel that they are not valued
and not given enough challenges and opportunities.

It is true that everyone is looking for better prospects and the
present organisation is often only a pole-vault to jump into better
pastures. The CEO to the frontline executive, all are waiting for
the right opportunity to migrate.

Employee turnover is costly and it makes the organisations less
efficient and productive. If we want to retain the top performers we
need to know why people leave. The reasons for leaving may be many.

1. Lack of opportunities and challenges

For many young and bright employees of today money is not a concern.
They are looking for more than compensation packages and benefits.
They want challenges and job satisfaction. If you want to retain
them, offer them not money but challenges and risks. They thrive in
challenges and love risks. They look for job satisfaction and
contentment in their work. Job satisfaction comes out of their
relationship with the management; it's the effect of good work
environment and is the fruit of their commitment to a vision.

2. Lack of management support

One of the main reasons why people quit is the lack of support from
the top management. The top management itself is often not aware of
what is going on and not sure of what decisions to be taken. The
victims of their poor communication and management are always those
at the bottom. The only thing they communicate well is to tell the
employees that they are responsible for every failure. If you want
your employees to be loyal to you, support them when they need you.
Be visibly present by their side in their struggles and appreciate
their victories.

3. Lack of monetary rewards

For many people today telling, "I don't care about money but I need
challenges" is a fashion. Most of the employees are there with you
because of the rewards you give. When they feel that they are paid
less than what they deserve, when they feel that you are not
faithful to your promise to increase their package, when they feel
that you don't reward hard work and commitment its time for them to
bid you bye. Better compensation and benefits will always keep them
by your side.

4. Lack of career development possibilities

No one likes to be in the same place for long. People long for new
experiences, changes and growth. Once they know that their present
organisation doesn't provide them opportunities for their career,
personal and professional growth they feel suffocated in that rigid
system. In such a dissatisfied atmosphere they long for liberation
and when the right opportunity comes they pack up and leave you.

5. Lack of visionary mangers

The supervisors are one main reason why many employees leave.
Supervisors and mangers are often shortsighted and fail to place the
right employee in the right place. They make a highly talented
person become a failure and the employee alone is made accountable
for the losses. The management should consist of visionary people
who are able to assess the potentials and strengths of the employees
and give them the right opportunities and right challenges where
they can excel. It must create a positive work environment where
people are rewarded and recognized, where free and open
communications exist and where people feel excited and thrilled to
work.

6. Lack of friendly atmosphere

Often our workplace is so boring with so many serious people around.
The workplace should be a home where people smile, relax and enjoy
working. Every morning the person should long to come to work.
Friendly and homely place is a must if you want to retain your
staff. The management is so much caught up in the web of profit and
revenues that it looks at people only as a means to higher profits
and forgets to look at them as persons. Listen to the employees,
respect them and make work fun for them if you want them. Provide an
employee-friendly environment where they can participate in
decisions making, execution and evaluation.

7. Lack of freedom

If the employee can't express his ideas and thoughts freely in the
organisation he won't last there. We must create an atmosphere where
people feel free to contribute their ideas, criticize the existing
systems and try out alternatives to make their work more productive
and satisfying. There should be freedom for him to use his talents
and skills. There should be freedom to make mistakes.

We need to invest in building up retention if we want our
organisations to be successful. Recently I read about a dairy
manager who said: "Every time a milker leaves I lose about one cow."

We have recruited the best talents; now it's our duty to motivate
and retain them for the health and success of our organisations.