Rethinking employee retention in a competitive environment

In an increasingly competitive business world, top talent is in high demand. Every organisation wants to have the best workforce, and in today’s economic environment there is stiff competition for personnel at the top of their game. Regardless of the size of the organisation, key-staff retention is highly essential for the long-term health as well as the success of a business enterprise.

Employee turnover is costly. Turnover affects the performance of an organization, and it becomes increasingly difficult to manage as competition for skilled employees continues to increase. To retain employees, businesses need to do more than offer competitive salaries and benefits; they also have to keep employees happy and engaged.

Addressing millennials 

The way today's workforce approaches work is different from past generations. The old clock-in, clock-out mindset is an element of the past. Employers must prepare to accommodate the new workforce's sense of individualism. Workers today value flexibility—to choose when and where they work. 

Today's high-performing millennial employees want more than just a good salary and benefits package.

According to a recent YouGov and Mint study, Indian millennials are virtually evenly divided on whether they appreciate working from home due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Out of over 6,000 urban respondents, 55% said working at home was a bad idea, and 45% said they didn't want to discriminate between their house and their workplace any longer. As a result, companies must rethink their strategy for effectively recruiting, motivating, and retaining dedicated people to win the war for workforce share.

Using data analytics

Data-driven decisions can increase workforce quality by allowing more suitable and diverse options based on skills and expertise. This also saves time and enables the company to concentrate on other critical parts of the job. 

Adopting a data-driven approach  to HR in hospitality can help remedy several weak spots. Another key trend that will emerge this year is data analytics. HR professionals will rely on algorithms, read patterns in data and use analytics to bring speed and accuracy in their delivery. All this will affect talent sourcing, quality, selection, and hiring. This disruptive world demands even more rigour from HR, which means the team must adopt processes and use technology to deliver optimum results.

Creating a culture

Create a culture where growth—both individually and as an organization—is encouraged. For professionals in the hospitality industry, extended work hours, high-pressure environments, and increasing stress levels have become a way of life. The downside to all of this? Faster rates of burnout and high attrition. That is why it becomes imperative for HR to create a positive and open work culture, which is achieved through small initiatives like giving employees the flexibility to shadow different departments to understand how the company works. Today's workforce is also multi-generational – Generation Y, Millennials, and Generation Z - making the engagement challenge even more challenging.  For HR, this means that we need to deal with multiple age groups, genders, and differently-abled employees, all with ease and in an unbiased manner.  

Learning as a habit

Opportunities for personal development should be available for all employees. After all, when an employee learns and grows with their position, the business does better overall. Empower your people to improve in the areas they wish to. Earmark a part of the budget for courses and conferences, and offer open lines of communication for employee feedback. Learning and development opportunities encourage a culture of growth for everyone in the company. It lets employees know your company is one that values initiative rather than complacency. Getting into the habit of continuously upskilling our workforce is one of the best ways to prepare for the future. Not only will this ensure people have what it takes to succeed, it will also drive employee engagement by investing in employees’ development – a true win-win!

Effective human resource management practices must reflect the company policy as to how it will manage and relate to its employees. The HR strategy should evolve from a transactional support role to partnering in the organization’s business strategy and most importantly take steps to be aware of employee problems and try to solve them creatively.