HR management problem

[niceboy]

I work for a small company and needs to look after HR department.

Quite often we go thru the process of placing ads, get resumes, interview people, pick the right ones, then spend time training them.

But after all these things completed, we will know that the employee is leaving us after a few months.

What you people suggest us for retaining well trained and skilled staff? Btw, we are offering almost the industry standard pay packages for employees.

suggestions are appreciated.

nb

[pendelton]

You need to find out why they are leaving.

What kind of atmosphere do you have for the employees?

This is THE biggest reason people leave their jobs, even for lower paying ones.

The atmosphere is a combination of the management's methodology, the type of job, the building they are working in, and it's location.

[rachael24]

How are the benefits/culture?

[Fergal]

You might want to consider conducting exit interviews with staff that are leaving. Arrange to sit down with the staff member on their last day and ask them why they are leaving and what they would improve in the company. Many people will be honest and open with their opinions on their last day, as they know they won't have to work with the company again.

Regular appraisals with staff might also help. You might want to conduct an appraisal with your employees once they are in the company one month and then every 3 to six months after that. The appraisal should be a two way communication process. Find out their opinions on working there and what they would like to see improved, as well as giving them some feedback on their performance. In this way you should be able to uncover minor issues and work towards resolving them before they become major problems.

[niceboy]

Thanks for your suggestions.

@fergal, that was a really helpful suggestion to conduct an exit interview and appraisals. I think we can better understand this trend if we do that.

@pedelton, As far as working atmosphere is concerned, we try to maintain a friendly but competitive work environment. For example, No bossism, industry standard pay package, regular personality development and training sessions are being conducted.

As I have observed, as soon as an employee starts to work to his full potential, the bigger players suck them in almost instanteniously.

[lokesh05]

What's the staff strength at your place niceboy? can't you offer job on contract basis? meaning that mentioning that after training on which you spend considerable resources, the staff must stay on and work for say 2 years before leaving, else pay a fixed amount of say $5000 (example) for all extra expenses incurred by your company?

Staff motivation and positive work environment are key factors in retaining workforce!

[Fergal]

Have you considered paying an annual, minimum bonus? That way employees know that they are due a lump sum if they stay until bonus time.

[pendelton]

A friend of mine had the same problem with land surveyors and, especially, civil engineers. He never wanted them to be locked in like that. I guess he tried it once and the engineer just developed an attitude.

Competing with the bigger boys can be a problem, especially since they can offer more money, better benefits, and room for advancement. See if you can find any of their disgruntled employees and give them a chance to ruin their former employers.

How is your business set up? Maybe forming an LLP or a corporation would help, giving them the ability to get a slice of the pie and a stake in the overall business. Giving them a non voting/controlling share of the business that turns in to a voting/controlling share after X years, say one year per percent with a max of five percent, would work. If they only stay 4 year 364 days they lose it all. You could cover 9 employees this way, losing 45% of the business to them. You would retain the 55% majority though.

[lokesh05]

Involving workers in business is risky but sometimes beneficial too. The problems arise when other co-workers realize the other's benefits!
Giving stake of company is good idea but for smaller businesses it won't work!

[pendelton]

Why would it not work? A smaller business can really get moving using that tactic, although you need to keep the percentage a bit lower, which helps get the employee, and partial owner, vested quicker.

[lokesh05]

is isn't that it will be a complete flop, but for me,i think the risks involved will be high. esp. if you have invested a lot to start-up!

[pendelton]

Such as training employees only to have them leave you? In most cases it is the employees that are the biggest cost to businesses, and each time niceboy loses an employee he loses a lot of money. Especially skilled ones.

I am not talking about doing this for a person doing the grunt labor, flipping burgers, riding a mower, etc..., but skilled people, programmers, engineers, designers, and the such, yes.

[hrcanada1]

If you really want to solve out your problem then firt of all discuss on this topic.

Why people leave their job:

#1 Inadequate compensation

#2 Lack of career advancement

#3 Insufficient recognition

#4 Inadequate professional development opportunity

#5 Boredom

and after discussion you can also find the exactly problem of you employee.

[faxomiller]

hello
you consider your employees as an assets in your business and train them well.

employees want good atmosphere,motivation.moral support.

[firstchoicecar]

How's their benefit?incentives? and maybe another reason is motivation,they also need this motivation in order to stay in the company.

[Andrew Clark]

HR should be responsible in providing some employee development and training (http://impactpeoplepractices.com/employee-training/) to the employee, and should disccuss all the benefits that they might get.

[Clint Cora]

Many employees these days are looking at overall job satisfaction that goes beyond just pay rates. They look at such factors as work environment, advancement and growth opportunities, flexibility in hours, etc. You might want to do an internal survey of some kind to assess the current perception of such factors at your company. You might also want to do an exit interview with anybody who leaves your company just to get a better understanding of why they leave. Then if you can improve upon all of these factors, people would be more inclined to stay.

[harjos]

Managers that keep employees understand that everyone is unique and requires a unique approach. Employee-retaining managers get to know their employees (i.e. a little about their families and so on), are supportive of their needs and find ways to create win-win situations. Weekly meeting and motivation of the employees is needed in your case.

[Peter Birganza]

I work for a small company and needs to look after HR department.

Quite often we go thru the process of placing ads, get resumes, interview people, pick the right ones, then spend time training them.

But after all these things completed, we will know that the employee is leaving us after a few months.

What you people suggest us for retaining well trained and skilled staff? Btw, we are offering almost the industry standard pay packages for employees.

suggestions are appreciated.

nb

Hi,
Conduct a formal interview or develop a questionnaire for the employees who are leaving. After gathering information fro 10 to 20 persons, make a average result and try to find that what is the reason behind it? There may be the problem of timings or pay scales because these are the only two major reasons that are occurring in most of the organizations. I think interviews is the best option to find the problem.