5 Key Concern Areas to Improve Employee Retention

The demand for jobs is just as high as the demand for talented resources. Recruitment is truly successful only when both parties — the organization and the employee — are satisfied. However, retaining fully satisfied employees ultimately lies in the hands of the organization.

While companies aim for higher productivity, employees expect their employers to keep them updated with evolving technologies and support their growth. When these expectations don’t align, the risk of employees leaving increases, whether by resignation, termination, or even absconding.

There are many reasons employees leave, but here are five critical areas (the 5 Ps) where tech startups often fall short in their retention strategies:

Discussed below are the 5Ps, behind an employee leaving an organization. There are quite a lot of reasons and measures taken to retain the workforce. The purpose of this piece of work is to mention the areas where tech start-ups fail to concentrate while framing their strategies.

The first is the Policy. The HR policies followed in the company are one main reason among many. It plays a significant part in retaining employees. Start-ups as they claim to be in the growing phase, tend to make frequent changes in the formulated policy. Though not appreciated by employees, these changes are however implemented. To cite a few instances,

a) An employee entitled to family commitments will not be happy with the policy that permanently reduces its two days a week off to one day,  which wasn’t agreed by the employee earlier. 

b) Employees who are already earning less will not appreciate the new policy which would deduct salary for even a regional holiday. 

c) Increasing the notice period from 1 month to 3 months will definitely disturb the decisions of an employee who is likely to get his dream come true job.                                              

 Eventually, these small frequent changes in policies will create a huge impact on the employee’s mind and on the retention of those resources. 

 Employees though they contribute towards an organization’s growth, they are more focused on self-growth. They expect employers to provide opportunities that will effectively equip them to climb the ladder to reach their individual goals. To overcome this challenge organizations adopt the second P, which is Planning. Proper planning has to be made for the employees,  providing new chances to explore themselves. It may take the form of Succession planning or Career Planning. Improper planning is one of many reasons for employees to look out for better opportunities. Additionally, when employers show extra care for employees' personal growth, it motivates them to be more loyal, more dedicated, and be more productive.

The 3rd P is the core, the Productivity. Employees are often terminated based on their productivity. At this point, it is to be questioned,  whether the employee was provided the right opportunity to showcase his or her productivity or did the employee underperform in a domain s/he was actually hired for. In most cases despite the underperformance of employees, they are terminated for opportunities that were not provided. An organization that discourages a potential employee from expanding their expertise within their current role should not express dissatisfaction when the employee struggles to perform in a different domain where they possess limited knowledge. While all they were trying to do was be a supporting hand to the organization's needs. Hence proper measurement of an employee's potential and productivity history has to be keenly analyzed before making decisions of high importance such as hiring, appraising, and firing.

The most attractive characteristic of a company is its  Proactive decisions. Sketching out a solution when the problem has already arrived is comparatively less attractive than the proactive solutions already drafted by foreseeing expected threats. When a situation of crisis occurs repetitively, employees will give up on the hope they had in the company,  they will feel job insecurity, and will even doubt the company’s existence. Either way, it will contribute towards attrition.

Paying attention to the changing employee behavior is the 5th P. They are significant signs, that require immediate attention to retain them in the organization. Changes in employee behavior are signals that require immediate attention. Ignoring these signs can lead to disengagement and eventual exit.

The above are a few of the many reasons for the high attrition rate in tech start-ups. If they are not looked at with a magnifying glass the employees would not be saying much about the company’s reputation, the existing employees observing insignificant changes would not strive and in the end, it will become difficult to make the employees stay in the organization.