WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS?
Every company normally faces one common problem of high employee turnout ratio. People are leaving the company for better pay, better profile or simply for just one reason' pak gaya '. This article might just throw some light on the matter...... After reading it' I realised how true the subjectline of this mail is. Early this year, Arun, an old friend who is a senior software designer, Got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer. He had heard a lot about the CEO of this company, charismatic man often quoted in the business press for his visionary attitude. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food. Twice Arun was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined. "It's a real high working with such cutting edge technology." Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Arun walked out of the job. He has no other offer in hand but he said he couldn't take it anymore. Nor,apparently, could several other people in his department who have also quit recently. The CEO is distressed about the high employee turnover. He's distressed about the money he's spent in training them. He's distressed because he can't figure out what happened. Why did this talented employee leave despite a top salary? Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away. The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules. It came up with this surprising finding: If you're losing good people, Look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them. Often,straight to the competition. "People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. "So much money has been thrown at the challenge of Keeping good people - in the form of better pay, better perks and better training - when, in the end, turnover is mostly manager issue." If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. Are they driving people away? Beyond a point, an employee's primary need has less to do with money, And more to do with how he's treated and how valued he feels. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager. And yet, bad bosses seem to happen to good people everywhere. A Fortune magazine survey some years ago found that nearly 75 per cent of employees have suffered at the hands of difficult superiors. You can leave one job to find - you guessed it, another wolf in a pin-stripe suit in the next one. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad boss is possibly the worst, directly impacting the emotional health and productivity of employees. HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find public humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he starts looking for another job. When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job." Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over seemingly trivial issue. It isn't the 100th blow that knocks a good man down. It's the 99 that Went before. And while it's true that people leave jobs for all kinds of reasons- for better opportunities or for circumstantial reasons, many who leave would have stayed - had it not been for one man constantly telling them, as Arun's boss did: "You are dispensable. I can find dozens like you." While it seems like there are plenty of other fish especially in today's waters, consider for a moment the cost of losing a talented employee. There's the cost of finding a replacement. The cost of training the replacement. The cost of not having someone to do the job in the meantime. The loss of clients and contacts the person had with the industry. The Loss of morale in co-workers. The loss of trade secrets this person may now share with others. Plus, of course, the loss of the company's reputation. Every person who leaves a corporation then becomes its ambassador, for better or for worse. We all know of large IT companies that people would love to join and Large television companies few want to go near. In both cases, former employees have left to tell their tales. "Any company trying to compete must figure out a way to engage the mind of every employee," Jack Welch of GE once said. Much of a company's value lies "between the ears of its employees". If it's bleeding talent, it's bleeding value.
Unfortunately, many senior executives busy traveling the world, signing New deals and developing a vision for the company, have little idea of what May be going on at home.
That deep within an organization that otherwise does all the right things, one man could be driving its best people away.
The Boomerang
If you want to be respected by others, respect yourself.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
| If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.
- Thomas Fuller |
| Life is a battle in which we fall from wounds we receive in running away.
- William L. Sullivan |
Whether you realize it or not, you're throwing the boomerang today. As you may know, a boomerang is an angular club you toss
away from you that eventually
returns to you. In the game of life, you throw the boomerang daily, in the form of actions and behaviors that you send out into the world, and that return to you at some later date -- often multiplied on the rebound.
You've probably heard this principle stated in different ways, including "What goes around comes around." Or the Biblical phrases "Give and it shall be given unto you" and "As you sow, so shall you reap."
But how does this principle apply to your day-to-day life? Simply put, if you treat others with love and respect, you will find that others will generally love and respect you. If you serve others, you will likely be served. Of course, this "law" also applies to negative behaviors. If you are critical and judgmental, don't be surprised when you are criticized and judged.
By the way, you don't always receive
precisely what you send out. For example, you might steal money from others and rather than having money stolen from you in return, you could wind up in jail. But whatever the specific response, negative consequences always follow dishonest, unscrupulous actions, whereas positive results flow from fair and honorable efforts.
Before we continue, let's clear up some misconceptions about the boomerang principle. Many people don't believe in it because they fail to view it with a
long-term perspective. In fact, the return for your actions is seldom immediate. There is often a long delay between your actions and the rebounding consequences.
So, if you feel that you are living a "good life" -- that you are helping others, being loyal to your friends, creative in business, and loving to your family -- and that you have yet to receive any great reward, don't despair. First of all, you might be overlooking the blessings that already exist in your life. Or, you may consider what Ralph Waldo Emerson believed about delayed rewards -- that your good deeds are earning compound interest in the "universal bank," building up value over time, and that, one day, you will receive handsome dividends. It is in this fashion that the universe rewards persistent people who diligently plod away at their ultimate goal ... and then (suddenly, it seems) attain outrageous success!
People also have trouble with the boomerang principle because they look for the return to come from the same person to whom they gave something. It doesn't usually work that way. You'll never know where the return will be coming from -- or when it will arrive -- but it always comes.
Perhaps the most useful way to observe this principle in action is to look at it "in reverse." In other words, focus on what is coming
to you in life -- that will tell you what you have been sending out.
Thus, if you aren't receiving something that you want (e.g., friendship, love or honesty), consider the possibility that you have been withholding these things from those around you. What you withhold from others will be withheld from you. When you start giving these things, you will activate the flow back to yourself.
It's really quite simple: send it out and receive it back. So, if you want to receive love ... give love. If you want people to appreciate you ... show your appreciation for others. And, if you want others to help you, then lend a helping hand yourself.
You have the power to create the life you want. It all depends on how you throw the boomerang!
Learn to give respect to those u are less privileged
Some experiences leave a deep imprint on mind, never to be forgotten. I had this experience yesterday. It was nothing sudden, a group of students from class VIII and IX at Devnar School for Blinds was coming to our facility for presenting some models. This was a programme organized in sequel with the other programmes organized under "Engineers week" being celebrated in our office. We knew of this fixture well in advance through the mail circulated by our manager. Of course a technical presentation by students of class 8th and 9th really didnt hold any great promises as far as knowledge enhancement was concerned. What with the week full of "Tech talks" and the like, I was least interested in another bout of technical jargon that would reel above head leaving me agape like a gauche in its wake. A welcome relief to interact with children and may be test their knowledge, I thought. I agree that nostalgia of my own school days also pulled me towards the "Board Room" where this programme was scheduled.
So there I was,post lunch,standing in the conference room where the group of children was seated. What I saw there froze my feet and locked my tongue. Gone were those idyllic thoughts of interacting with a vibrant childhood..it was as if I had moved into another world. There were 10 of them in all,seated on chairs around the huge conference table. The room had an eerie silence while the children shoved on their places, perhaps forming a mental picture of their surroundings.The silence was punctated by the elderly principal of the school who asked them to introduce themselves to us. One by one they stood,telling their name and class. They spoke fluent english. The principal told us that while God had deprived them of their vision, they had a keen sense of perception and sharp reflexes.
I was too dazed to speak. They were children and like other children they had their dreams, their aspirations, the desire to see the world, the keen wish to come out of dark into light and see the beautiful world by themselves. Simple things that we never take for granted were such great dream for them! I wanted to talk with them but I was at a loss of words. What could I have told them? That there is a lake nearby? That the area around them is full of precariouly balanced rocks and beautiful landscape? Or that we work on a PC and they could come and try their hands on net? My train of thoughts was interrupted by a voice.."Sir..Sir", a boy called me. I turned around. His face was an epitome of innocence and he looked at me keenly : "Sir is there a window in this room?" I could not understand how to answer the question. The principal understood my delimma. He replied ; "They sense from the warmth that there must be a window nearby". I found my voice and explained him in detail the entire ambience. I wanted to go on and tell them more, as if from my words they could see what was around them..but I knew that its useless. How constrained we find ourselves before the vagaries of God!..and to imagine that I had falsely boasted at a recent mba college interview that I had participated in an educational project for visually impaired. I loathed myself.
They told us that they play chess. In graphic details they described the board structure, at times they seemed to know more than their principal himself! We set up their models around the room and seated each child before the model he had to explain. The models were of human anatomy : blood flow, brain, heart, ear and ironically, the eye. Besides their was a project pertaining to "rain water harvesting" and another one pertaining to chemistry.
We begun with chemistry model, the respective boy deftly handling pipette and flasks. With confidence he explained us the principle and objective of his experiment and with great poise he conducted the experiment. The Ph indicator changed its colour, but he kept blowing into it until interrupted by his teacher. He was greeted with a loud round of applause.>
The most painful part was the explaination of an "eye" model by a girl. It was difficult for her to speak. She groped for each protusion on the model, recognized it and explained it. Finally she broke down, the teacher completed the expaination: "And hence the lens forms the image on the retina, enabling us to see". She mumbled something for the sake of repeating this. Yes, I could understand her pain. I saluted her for this calibre.
One after another they came and explained their models, assisted by their principal. At times fumbling, at times groping for the correct point on the protusions made on the models for the sake of their understanding. Yes they did fumble and their presentation was no doubt amature, but this was really not important. The important thing was the way they could face the world despite the darkness around them. The childish enthusiasm was somewhat marred by the pain of eternal darkness around them, but it somehow did not seem to deter them. They had chosen life, and a life of dignity. They had moved bit by bit, stretched their patience to extreme and finally were on their way to vanquish darkness with the light of knowledge. Each presentation was greated by a loud round of applause and this ovation was not sham. It came straight from the heart, for those brave soldiers who has chosen to challenge their destiny through sheer mental grit and determination. We, the engineers, appeared dwarfed before them who had mustered courage to challege none other than their fate itself!
Presentations over, the children demonstrated their skill at Braille. They could write and read the complex text told to them and speak flunet english. Overwhelmed by our encouragement one boy excalimed: " We had lost all our hopes until Devnar came to give us the light of knowledge. Now I feel much more confident". These words might appear too precocious for a boy in class 8, but not so when I considered their circumstances. Life had forced them to come to terms with its harsh realities a bit too early. No doubt, their wisdom was deeper than their counterparts who have little to worry except their homework!
Thus overwhelmed by the new world I saw, I returned back to my desk.Somehow the world seemed to be more brighter and everything I used to take for granted seemed to be such a brilliant gift! I learnt an important lesson: differently abled children dont need our sympathy,but they do need our understanding. They dont need our charity, but they do need our support, as the chess champion among them put it: " Sir we were really looking forward towards this visit, we will remember it throughout our lives".
I may not become a volenteer at Devnar school, I may not even donate charity. But yes, from now on I will always remember to respect and help those who have decided to eradicate the netherworld around them with the lamp of knowledge. I will remain indebted to this group of 10 children for teaching me this wonderful lesson of life.
