Purpose of this ArticleStaff attrition rate and workers' absenteeism means significant costs to the organizations. In many organizations, workers are
leaving even after the organization is spending huge amount of money for the benefits of the workers. Many organizations accept workers' mobility as part of doing their business, but it is a matter to be regretted. In these circumstances, the HR Department has got a significant role to play.
What is Meant by Attrition Rate?The term 'attrition rate' can be defined as "A reduction in the number of employees through retirement, resignation or death." It denotes the percentage change in the labour force of an organization. High percentage of labour turnover is not desirable for the organization because new workers are engaged in place of the workers who left the organization.
Why do Employees Leave the Organization?There are a number of reasons for employees leaving the organization. Well, the most obvious reason for employees leaving any organization is higher pay. The main problem here is that employees are moved from one location to another location along with their family. But this problem is taken care of by a salary hike which may be around 20%-35% per annum.
Another factor is work timings. In some organizations, work timings are such that they are making employees leave the organization.
Another factor is career growth. In many organizations, only 20% of employees are able to go to senior levels. This means that the remaining 80% of employees look for other organization where they can get opportunities for growth.
One more reason for leaving the organization is higher education. These days, in many organizations, employees are joining at very young age because of lucrative salaries being offered. But with time, they apply for higher education and try to move on to other organizations or sectors to occupy top management positions.
The percentage of women workers is also responsible for higher attrition rate. These days, the percentage of women workers is around 30%. Generally, women workers leave the organization after marriage to take up their house-hold duties, irregular work hours et al.
80% of employee turnover can also be attributed to the mistakes during hiring process (Harvard Business Review).
Role of HR Department
Attrition Rate is good for the organization as long as the rate is at normal level. This will help the organization to get new blood into the organization and for the organization to develop. But it becomes a problem when the attrition rate is abnormal. Therefore, HR Department has the most crucial role to play in any organization. At the time of conducting interviews, the HR personnel try to bring right candidate to the right job. Similar is true even when the attrition rate is abnormal, so they have a very crucial role to play.
Following are some of the tips to reduce attrition rate: -
Hiring individuals who are truly fit to succeed in the position for hire will dramatically increase the chances of that
employee being satisfied with his or her work, and remaining with the company for an extended period of time. Employees should not only be selected on the basis of communication skills and educational qualifications.
Communication of employee's roles, job description and the responsibilities within the organization, new policies will help to retain employees.
Participative Decision Making - It is incredibly important to include employees in the decision making process, especially when decisions are related to employees. This can help to generate new ideas and perspectives that top management might never have thought of.
Sharing of Knowledge with Others - Allow the members to share their knowledge with others. This helps in retention of information. This also lets a team member know that he is a valuable member of the organization. Similarly, facilitating knowledge sharing through an employee mentoring program can be equally beneficial.
Shorten the Feedback Loop - This helps the employees to know the feedback to their work within a short period. This also helps to keep performance levels high and reinforce positive behavior among employees.
Pay Package - Any employee wants to be appropriately paid and fairly for the work he or she does. For this, conduct a research to find out the pay package in other similar type of organizations at regional as well as at national levels.
Balance Work & Personal Life - No doubt family is exceptionally important to employees. When work begins to put pressure on one family, no pay package will keep an employee in the organization. Therefore, there should be a balance between work and personal life. Small gestures like allowing an employee to take an extended lunch once a week to watch his son's cricket game will result in loyalty and helps to retain the employee.
Organizational Culture - Try to select the candidates who believe in the organization culture and adopt with ease to organization culture.
Exit Interview with the employees who are leaving the organization will help the organization to find out the reasons why the employees are leaving the organization. This will also help to find out any drawbacks in the organization.
Another method to reduce attrition rate is that they should find out why employees are leaving the organization from the employees who are working for the past so many years.
Motivational Training - It is sure that motivational training helps to retain the employees. One of the crucial aspects to motivate employees is to ensure that they have ample growth opportunities which can be provided through training.
Multi-Tasking - One of the ways to retain the employees in the organization is try to get people with different qualities like smart, adaptable, and capable of multi-tasking.
Referrals - Another technique is to try to get the employees hired through referrals. This makes them stick with the organization.
No Favoritism - One of the surest ways to create animosity and resentment in an organization is to allow favoritism and preferential treatment towards an employee. Be sure to treat all employees equally and avoid favoritism at all costs.
