Focusing on employee retention at a time when companies are experiencing mass
layoffs may seem like an oxymoron. Yet, high-level players will always be in
demand. Inspiring, satisfying and retaining top players in an organization are
the key business objectives in any economic environment. The best companies are
those who focus on performance-driven reward strategies. The current US
financial crisis has had quite an impact on India as well. The Indian IT
industry has witnessed a slowdown of approximately 40 percent in recruiting new
people.
Harish Jayachandran, HR, Apsis Technologies said, “We at Apsis are not much
affected due to the economic recession as far as manpower in concerned. However,
we are taking preventive measures to address key issues, such as retaining our
manpower and utilizing maximum current resources available within the company.”
Retention during recession
According to experts, employers, recruiters and workers are becoming
concerned about their job security as the US credit crisis is deteriorating. In
most of the companies be it an IT company or in the corporate house, the
employers are often concerned about retention. IT companies, engineering firms
and export-oriented industries such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and automotive
components are all likely to feel the pressure.
Navnita Nair, Manager-HR, NewWave Computing said, “In a recession, the
challenge is not to retain employees but to motivate them to perform their 200
percent to achieve results. Being in a sales focused organization, the easiest
thing for an employee to do is to shrug his shoulders and say 'recession-no
business' and quit. The question here is-what makes an excelling organization
different from the others? Why do some organizations withstand pressure, while
others crumble? This is the time when employees have to understand that they
need to think different.”
Talking about the challenges faced by most of the companies RS Shanbhag, CMD
of Value Points Systems said, “Recession purifies the system and helps in
bifurcating the best from the rest. We are gearing up from today itself to
prepare for the best to come and go cracking when markets turn around from this
recession. We are back to basics, redefining and fine-tuning every aspect of
doing business.”
During financial turmoil cost cutting measures are inevitable for companies.
Nevertheless, employee retention remains a mystery to many companies. We should
be optimistic and hopeful to see significant positive movement by mid 2009. The
job market shall deteriorate and will see much more softening. It is the time
for industry to take necessary steps before the economic headwinds take a toll
on employment. This situation would last for at least one and half year more.
The pain is not anywhere close to being over it is yet to begin!
Lipsha Das
lipshad@cybermedia.co.in