Attrition is prime
concern for organizations all over the world but percentage of attrition in
sales organization and that also at entry level job is alarming. It seems HR is
only doing entry and exit formalities in these organizations. In era of GPL talented workforce is scarce
resource. Hiring right person is very difficult and retaining them is not an
easy task. There is no single reason for high attrition and there is no
universal solution (At least not with me) every industry and every organization
has their own causes which lead to high attrition.
In sales organization at
entry level major churning is during honey moon period (First 3 months). Now big question is why employee leaves organization
just within 3 months of his join? What
going wrong? According me there are two prime reasons for employee leaving the
organisation during honeymoon period they are as following:
I. Wrong Hiring
"When
hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and
taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard." — John W.
Gardner
In most of the cases
there is wrong selection of candidate by HR. There is mismatch between what
they were looking for and what they had received? There are various reasons for
wrong hiring and few are mentioned below:
1.
Urgency – Hiring team are so eager and
in rush to close the vacancy that they overlook crucial points and importance
is given to quantity and quality of people is sidelined.
2.
Not properly trained – In most of the organization
no special training is given to hiring managers for selecting rights
candidates. Hiring managers is on there on and they take decision on their assumptions
and perceptions which is not always right.
3.
Traditional approach - Still
organization are using outdated process like in interview asking personal and
professional questions. Which are thoroughly mugged by candidates due to which
most of the time hiring manager are not able to know true person which is
sitting just front of him.
4.
Lack of effort – Hiring manager high
dependency on consultants which most of the time recommends active candidates
who are looking for job and due to lack of efforts passive candidates are
missed. As you know fruits which are comparatively low in quality are found on lower
branches of tree and it’s not big thing to grab them. Kids can also through
stone and have it but quality fruits are at top branches of tree and more
efforts required to have them.
5.
Over Selling by Hiring manager – To have
a deal hiring manager sometime over sell to candidates and make castle in the
air. Post joining when candidate meet reality promises are nowhere and employee
too gone with wind.
6.
Applicants at junior level are more
concerned with packages and not role so they grab the fish without knowing
whether they will able to digest it or not.
II. Lack of Proper Hand-holding
In initial period employee requires care and support from manger
and organization but organizations are having just old paper induction which is
of no use other then documentation. New joinee
faces issues in settling due to which he frustrate and leave the
organization. Some of the reasons for
lack of hand holding are:
1.
Untrained Manager – "Employee don't expect manager to be perfect. They do expect
manager to fix things when they go wrong." Written by unknown. In most of the organization managers are
not properly trained to motivate and lead the reportees. They don’t know how to
build repo and groom new employees and HR is also not much helpful.
2.
Lack of training – Impasses is given on
targets and new joinees are bombarded with so called SMART targets and lack of
importance is given to HOW to achieve them. Training is lacking in spirit and it
is considered just formalities.
3.
Lack of Respect – When new joinees do
not achieve their targets they are not treated properly by their managers. Lot
of pressure is put on them which lead to lack of interest and finally exit.
4.
Lack of Time – New joinee are not given
enough time to settle and learn the rule of game. They are expected to bring
business from dayone. If management
wants sustainable performance from employee then they have to give them
breathing space and time. Long term goals cannot be achieved by short term approach.
Most of the employees take time in performing and management must know this and
support and groom the employees.
"If
you suspect a man, don't employ him, and if you employ him, don't suspect
him." - chinese proverbs
Hiring manager should
be very cautious while hiring new employees. He should not only know about the
candidate but understand the candidate and if have any doubt then he should not
hire. Selecting right person is mixture of art and science which managers have
to learn. Post selecting the candidate manager must have faith and trust in
employee. Provide proper support, time and most important lead them, say
goodbye to attrition and most important:
"Your
most unhappy employees are your greatest source of learning." - Unknown
