HR HIGHS
Tailor retention plans to keep managers on board
In every organisation middle management plays a very crucial role. The middle managers bridge the gap between the top management and the front line staff. They do this in a number of ways.
They translate the strategy devised by the top management into action. To successfully implement the strategy as well as bring about necessary organisational changes they constantly interact with the lower levels and work hard to keep them motivated and productive. In the process they acquire good knowledge about the organisational pulse.
They are key links in the upward communication chain. Being the people responsible for deliverables they understand the clients better.
The top management depends on the market savvy of mid-level professionals to gain useful insights into the competitive world.
Thus the experience and expertise of middle management is very important for organisations to run smoothly and to take the business to the next level. However retaining these experienced middle rankers is getting increasingly tough for organisations.
Owing to the important role they play there is a booming market for the experienced professionals and the middle managers are only too happy to job-hop to get ahead.
While some turnover is healthy, high attrition rates often have a devastating impact on the organisations. Real retention requires more than financial rewards. Salary and incentives are no doubt important but mid-level professionals look for personal growth and challenging assignments more than anything else.
They also look forward to some perks at work and a healthy work-life balance. So what can organisations do to make working more satisfying for the middle managers? Around the globe companies are getting more innovative and offering some unusual perks to these employees. Here are some out of the box ideas:
• Offering larger and more challenging assignments to mid-level managers gives them the opportunity to lead and develop new skills. Not every one can be promoted but their roles can be made more challenging. This helps to keep boredom at bay and increase engagement and commitment levels.
• Offer the managers the freedom to choose the assignments they want to work on.
This gives them ample scope to explore new domains and learn new skills.
• Provide managers a good deal of freedom to decide on the right approach to accomplish their goals and objectives.
• Allow paid sabbaticals to pursue their personal interests. Also provide paid vacations with family to help the employees relax and recharge.
• Allow the managers to set their own schedules and work from anywhere. Provide laptops and blackberries to help them work from home or anywhere else.
• Design quiet zones in the office to eliminate distractions. Provide open plan spaces with no walls to enable managers to sit and work anywhere they wish to.
• Provide learning opportunities for the managers such as training and courses from top business schools and universities.
• Offer foreign language tutorials to those interested and also provide access to good books.
• Provide free food and time for healthy workouts. Set up gourmet cafeterias and also spas, gyms and swimming pools in the office campus.
• Free car washes, oil changes, laundry and dry cleaning services as perks are popular in the western countries to employees who are hard pressed for time.
• Provide conveniences such as on campus childcare, doctors to provide free health check ups.
• Offer benefit plans from which the managers can choose.
By providing mid level managers the benefits that help them focus on work, organisations save money in the form of gained productivity.
Asking ex-managers why they had left can give useful clues to design effective retention strategies for the future.
Finding out what matters most to current managers can help design new and simple ways to revamp the retention strategies and make them more attractive.
N. PURNIMA SRIKRISHNA
faqs@cnkonline.com
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