Pay hike unlikely when you call it quits
Threatening to quit for money? Think twice and don’t expect a counter compensation offer from your company. It may be a buoyant job market with manpower increasing at 28% in India, but when it comes to retention, employers are ready to offer mostl...
By Amanpreet Singh & Bhanu Pande, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Threatening to quit for money? Think twice and don’t expect a counter compensation offer from your company. It may be a buoyant job market with manpower increasing at 28% in India, but when it comes to retention, employers are ready to offer mostly intangibles.
According to a Hewitt study, while 70% of the employers in India offer “increased commitment to career progression” as a bait, only 23% make immediate compensation offers. About 67% of the employers promise improved work environment, while 35% agree on pay revisions. Other retention tools used by employers are improved work-life balance, an offer to change the role, and immediate role enhancement.
Attracting and retaining key talent has become one of the key drivers of overall business performance in organisations in India, and employers use a mixture of strategies to retain employees. While an effective retention strategy in an organisation means the redressal of the reasons for attrition, India Inc is not following this train of thought.
Though “pay above market” has emerged as the strongest reason for attrition across industries, measures such as providing “work-life balance” and leadership accessibility are now being placed over compensation. A large number of organisations that conduct exit interviews still find them inadequate, says the study.
“To retain and engage employees, companies need to put forth a value proposition. Concentrating on compensation is not viable for organisations in the long run,” says Sharad Vishvanath, practice leader, analytics consulting, Hewitt Associates.
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“You can’t set a bad example in an organisation to satisfy one employee. Giving a compensation increase is an extremely myopic approach,” says Manju Malkani, HR head, HDFC. Organisations such as HDFC instead believe in allowing long-term wealth creation and offer ESOPs as retaining bonuses. Industry has a dynamic employment market and opportunities galore, says senior VP, HR, Hyundai Motors, G Ramesh. “So while it is important to offer a good working climate and career path, it can’t expect too much from a robust retention policy, beyond a point,” he says.
Says Piyush Mehta, senior VP-HR, Genpact, “no matter what is the driver, people leave for better compensation. It has to be a process of finding out what’s the pull and push combination that’s driving an employee to leave.”We do not make counter compensation offer when people threaten to quit,” he says.
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