This
blog has nothing new to the HR professionals, so HR professionals you may stay
away from this article or you may read this article to argue or to criticize.
This is a blog written for those who are indirectly or directly connected with
the private organizations and its problem of retention. After spending a brief span
in the field of HR, my important realization is that retention starts with the process of recruitment. And retention precisely depends upon the understanding of generation.
This
is the first time in the history of employment organizations are experiencing
all the generations to work together and naturally they are different from each
other. They all have their own creed, own level of aspiration, own level of
desire and own set of rules. Process of recruitment is not just pooling the
talents, short listing them according to the requirement, conducting the
interview and selecting them. It is more than just this mere process which is
not written anywhere. There comes the HRs of the organizations who play the
pivotal role to keep the talent in the organization for a longer period of
time. From the maximum of 30 minutes of interaction with the candidate an HR
needs to identify his compatibility in the organization keeping the things in
mind whom he would report to, what are his aspirations and desires, what kind
of job roles he would handle, which generation he belongs to, what motivates
him, what de-motivates him, which category of personality he possesses etc. And
mind it these are not measurable!! This has been clichéd in the industry that
most of the time people don’t leave the organization, they leave their bosses.
This
has emphasized me to think over and over on the relationship that the boss and
his subordinates share (kindly do not consider me as a male chauvinist the male
counterpart has been taken for the convenience of discussion, it holds true for
the female counterparts as well). An HR should always give a special attention
to the generations of both the boss
and the candidate. He should understand the traits of both the generations and
match their strengths & weaknesses and also their compatibility to each
other. This better understanding will surely foster the relationship between
the boss and the candidate. That’s how at the very first step one HR can create
a harmony between the boss and the new joiner under him without the knowledge
of both of them. Better understanding of the generation will give a scope to
the HRs to device the antidote for the poison “attrition” which irrespective of
the industry, more or less, is suffering from. The biggest challenge that
today’s organizations and HRs are facing to retain the top talents and
attracting the best suitable talent. The understanding of generation will
facilitate the HRs to create Employee Value Proposition (EVP) by improving the
existing HR policies and amending the policies according to the culture of the
organization and its average age of the employees. These can help not only to
retain the top talents but also can attract the best suitable talents through a
positive EVP.
Better
understanding of generation not only will help the HRs to select the right fit
candidate but also will equip the HRs with the new employee engagement arrows
in their quiver. HRs can’t make “one size fits all” kind of rewards & recognitions
or employee engagement activities, otherwise it would not be a good exemplar
for the organization and will experience high employee turnover rate. As
earlier it is mentioned that first time in the history of employment
organizations are experiencing all the generations to work together, so which
motivates the “TRADITIONALIST” or “BABY BOOMERS”, will not motivate the “GEN
X”, nor will they motivate “GEN Y or millennial” and things will be more
arduous for HRs when in few years down the lane the “GEN A O” will join the workforce
who will be more demanding, challenge seeking than its predecessors and very
much creative. Therefore, all the employee engagement activities, employee
relation activities HRs need to design in such a fashion that each of the generations
gets its honey from these; nobody should feel deprived from his dues.
Understanding
of generations will help the HRs to select the right fit candidate to arrest
the attrition rate at the threshold of the employment life cycle and can bring break
through result as a reply to the hackneyed phrase.