Hello all,
This is a question that is nagging in my mind for pretty many months. I tried to find ut answer for this question, and got some views but not the answer. So, Thought that would share here to expect some responses from the senior people over here.
CASE:
A candidate with good comunication and interpersonal skills joins an organization that is developing. When he stepped in, he does not have any exposure to the corporate culture and practical knowledge of the work that happens. He was given with a chance in this smaller organization. Candidate being good, he picked the pace in 6 months and got habituated to the people working over there and shares a very good relation with everyone over there. In this process he was given with many responsibilities and the good part is accepted them and was handling them well. All of a sudden he started feeling that he is being paid less even after holding many responsibilities and thought of changing his job right after six months of his joining.
Now, If we think from orgnization's point of view, it gave him opportunity to work and responsibilities to explore the things. Point to be noted is he might not have learnt this much in six months if he had joined some other company, because you got specialists for every area in big organizations. Where as it being smaller organization he was given wih many responsibilitie and hence forth the opporunity to learn more things in less time. He has become a key person with in very short span of time. Now, it is tough time for organzation if he leaves.
Employee too knows this and he is ready to continute if his salry is revised.
So, is that paticular employee taking advantage of the Smaller company or this is what so called as professionalism in these days???
The reason for the abovecase is smaller organizatons cannot afford back ups for the employees as big MNCs does. It does not make much difference if a person leave an MNC. Where as, if a well settled person resigns a smaller organization it shows its effect.
What can be done from HR's point of view to avoid these kinds of situations.
This is something I have noticed myself and have also heard many about.
Please do comment with your valuable opinoins.
Thanks & Regards,
Kiran.
From Netherlands
18This is a question that is nagging in my mind for pretty many months. I tried to find ut answer for this question, and got some views but not the answer. So, Thought that would share here to expect some responses from the senior people over here.
CASE:
A candidate with good comunication and interpersonal skills joins an organization that is developing. When he stepped in, he does not have any exposure to the corporate culture and practical knowledge of the work that happens. He was given with a chance in this smaller organization. Candidate being good, he picked the pace in 6 months and got habituated to the people working over there and shares a very good relation with everyone over there. In this process he was given with many responsibilities and the good part is accepted them and was handling them well. All of a sudden he started feeling that he is being paid less even after holding many responsibilities and thought of changing his job right after six months of his joining.
Now, If we think from orgnization's point of view, it gave him opportunity to work and responsibilities to explore the things. Point to be noted is he might not have learnt this much in six months if he had joined some other company, because you got specialists for every area in big organizations. Where as it being smaller organization he was given wih many responsibilitie and hence forth the opporunity to learn more things in less time. He has become a key person with in very short span of time. Now, it is tough time for organzation if he leaves.
Employee too knows this and he is ready to continute if his salry is revised.
So, is that paticular employee taking advantage of the Smaller company or this is what so called as professionalism in these days???
The reason for the abovecase is smaller organizatons cannot afford back ups for the employees as big MNCs does. It does not make much difference if a person leave an MNC. Where as, if a well settled person resigns a smaller organization it shows its effect.
What can be done from HR's point of view to avoid these kinds of situations.
This is something I have noticed myself and have also heard many about.
Please do comment with your valuable opinoins.
Thanks & Regards,
Kiran.
From Netherlands
Dear Kiran,
I agree with your point completely. Many employees do this and we also face similar situations regularly. The sense of professional responsibility towards an organisation is not available any more.
Employees dont care much for the organisation which has given them a break. They feel that they have learnt everything there is to learn in that short span not realising experience is gained over the years not in days or months.
It is a sorry state considering the fact that all employees are today looking at the monetary gain rather than the knowledge they will earn also forgetting the accelerated growth pattern they can achieve in a small company.
It is really sad and we as HR professionals are also not helping the fact that we are also creating a huge demand for younger generation employees with minimum skills to join us.
Praveen
From India
I agree with your point completely. Many employees do this and we also face similar situations regularly. The sense of professional responsibility towards an organisation is not available any more.
Employees dont care much for the organisation which has given them a break. They feel that they have learnt everything there is to learn in that short span not realising experience is gained over the years not in days or months.
It is a sorry state considering the fact that all employees are today looking at the monetary gain rather than the knowledge they will earn also forgetting the accelerated growth pattern they can achieve in a small company.
It is really sad and we as HR professionals are also not helping the fact that we are also creating a huge demand for younger generation employees with minimum skills to join us.
Praveen
From India
KIran,
I think the employee is not doing anything wrong.I agree organization gave him a break & opportunity.But the Candidate is good enough to handle the challenges & he has handled his responsibilities very well then why he shouldn't deserve enough compensation for his responsibilities.He should get compensation what your organization is paying to any professional doing the same job.Think in other manner will you pay more than expected to a fresh candidate.
If employee is asking more than company norms for particular job considering roles & responsibilities then his demand should not accepted because you can loose one employee but for one employee you can not loose four other peoples.
Rahul
I think the employee is not doing anything wrong.I agree organization gave him a break & opportunity.But the Candidate is good enough to handle the challenges & he has handled his responsibilities very well then why he shouldn't deserve enough compensation for his responsibilities.He should get compensation what your organization is paying to any professional doing the same job.Think in other manner will you pay more than expected to a fresh candidate.
If employee is asking more than company norms for particular job considering roles & responsibilities then his demand should not accepted because you can loose one employee but for one employee you can not loose four other peoples.
Rahul
This problem seems to be Universal and it is not only from the part of Employee but the Management is equally responsible for such unhealthy atmoshphere. Generally, pay & perks is decided on the basis of experience and mostly AGE; and not on the roles & responsibilities. Even, performance has very little impact over the two, and it is prejudiced that a young employee is to be paid less than a senior or old employee in the same cadre, regardless of qualification and performance.
We have to leave unhealthy dogmas of the past and adopt a new approach to management. If an employee is willing to take up added roles and responsibilities, it is to benefit more of himself along with the organisation. You cannot expect one to think about the organisation, without the organisation thinking about him. Well if an employee is capable and performing, he should be rewarded accordingly, and he should not have to beg for the same.
Adopt scientific approach for promotions and increments, and this shall ensure that the deserving are rewarded and Military rule is not followed.
Best of Luck.
From India, Panipat
We have to leave unhealthy dogmas of the past and adopt a new approach to management. If an employee is willing to take up added roles and responsibilities, it is to benefit more of himself along with the organisation. You cannot expect one to think about the organisation, without the organisation thinking about him. Well if an employee is capable and performing, he should be rewarded accordingly, and he should not have to beg for the same.
Adopt scientific approach for promotions and increments, and this shall ensure that the deserving are rewarded and Military rule is not followed.
Best of Luck.
From India, Panipat
Hi Kiran,
I completely agree with you. i think the avg life span of a software pro in a comp is anywhere b/w 12-18 months. If we offer the salary as per the insustry norms also, people look for a job change quoting various reasons like career growth etc. Will anyone tell me what retention strategy shd be followed to retain people
Radha
From India, Bangalore
I completely agree with you. i think the avg life span of a software pro in a comp is anywhere b/w 12-18 months. If we offer the salary as per the insustry norms also, people look for a job change quoting various reasons like career growth etc. Will anyone tell me what retention strategy shd be followed to retain people
Radha
From India, Bangalore
Thank you Praveen, Aby, Rahul and Radha for your valuable opinions.
Now,
Rahul,
A company cannot hike his salary to higher extents until and unless the case is so genuine. The reason being Management hasx to maintain the balance between the new comers and existing manpower. Rahul, If this employee's salary is hiked he reaches the level of some employees that are working with the company and are loyal to the company for say 1- 1.5 years. So, now this group gets demotivated by this act of management. So, now what should the management do? should it value for tghis new joiner or give value to it's loyal emplopyees and from the menasgement's point of view both are equally important and cannot lose any of them. I was expecting some solution by taking this point into consideration.
Aby,
Simply speaking, yours suggestion was awesome. But, dont you think that you would lose some employees if you gonna adopt this in your organization though it is quite useful for in terms of long term plans. I mean to ask, do you think that Is it easy to implement this in any form of the organizations?
In case, your answer is "YES", please do explain about how to go ahead with the implementaion of this without organization suffering much and either the employees.
Please suggest with your opinions.
Thanks & Regards,
Kiran.
From Netherlands
Now,
Rahul,
A company cannot hike his salary to higher extents until and unless the case is so genuine. The reason being Management hasx to maintain the balance between the new comers and existing manpower. Rahul, If this employee's salary is hiked he reaches the level of some employees that are working with the company and are loyal to the company for say 1- 1.5 years. So, now this group gets demotivated by this act of management. So, now what should the management do? should it value for tghis new joiner or give value to it's loyal emplopyees and from the menasgement's point of view both are equally important and cannot lose any of them. I was expecting some solution by taking this point into consideration.
Aby,
Simply speaking, yours suggestion was awesome. But, dont you think that you would lose some employees if you gonna adopt this in your organization though it is quite useful for in terms of long term plans. I mean to ask, do you think that Is it easy to implement this in any form of the organizations?
In case, your answer is "YES", please do explain about how to go ahead with the implementaion of this without organization suffering much and either the employees.
Please suggest with your opinions.
Thanks & Regards,
Kiran.
From Netherlands
Let me rephrase what you are saying,
This is a Regular Scenario in a Smaller Organization and it’s a “Monster Created”
Now imagine this, You Join a Smaller Organization and because you “Sounded” better then the rest you were given a Lead Role in the cage at the same pay, To make it simple
You Joined a Company as an Executive and Because you were better then the rest (One eyed man in the Land of Blind :-) ) you were called a Manager and given all the responsibility, Now you carried it on your shoulders (Not Knowing how to do it, mind it)
And you “consider” Your self a manager now coz you have done it for like 6 months,
Now, a manager with a Bigger Organization is paid 5-6 times more and hear is where our Make shift manager stands, now who Created this Situation?
From India, New Delhi
This is a Regular Scenario in a Smaller Organization and it’s a “Monster Created”
Now imagine this, You Join a Smaller Organization and because you “Sounded” better then the rest you were given a Lead Role in the cage at the same pay, To make it simple
You Joined a Company as an Executive and Because you were better then the rest (One eyed man in the Land of Blind :-) ) you were called a Manager and given all the responsibility, Now you carried it on your shoulders (Not Knowing how to do it, mind it)
And you “consider” Your self a manager now coz you have done it for like 6 months,
Now, a manager with a Bigger Organization is paid 5-6 times more and hear is where our Make shift manager stands, now who Created this Situation?
From India, New Delhi
Hi Kiran,
It's indeed an interesting case study.
Let's see if we can be fair both to the Company as well to the individual.
Full marks to this gentleman, as he has displayed the initiative, put in extra effort to enhance his skills, undertaken various responsibilities and have discharged them well. His primary need when he joined the company obviously was to enhance his capabilities through hands on exposure. He met that objective and as a natural outcome, his value has gone up and he's in a position now to command the same.
The company on the other hand has been open in terms of giving more responsibilities to him. If this person is delivering higher value, Organization should then reciprocate by enhancing his remuneration and benefits. Of course, each organization has to play within certain boundaries and employees are aware of them.
Job in an organization is ultimately a package consisting of remuneration, intrinsic challenge of a job, learning opportunities, work culture etc. Organization & employees have to keep looking at maintaining a dynamic balance of these factors.
On Organization' part, it could do the following:
- Enhance his remuneration & benefits
- Show him a long term career path
- Have an honest dialogue on pluses and minuses of building a career with the organization
- Help him introspect on what are his career drivers and can this organization meet those expectations at that stage
When he joined the Company, both time, context and place were mutually complementing. Now the balance has changed- and it needs to seen in a fresh context.
If that employee sees a reason/sense in continuing, he would do so.
If not, better let him go.
There are instances wherein individuals go to bigger brands- get paid much higher for much smaller or restricted job- get fed up after a while and then either come back or make another career shift with more awareness of what are their career drivers at that stage.
Hope this helps.
Tx,
Rajesh
From India, Mumbai
It's indeed an interesting case study.
Let's see if we can be fair both to the Company as well to the individual.
Full marks to this gentleman, as he has displayed the initiative, put in extra effort to enhance his skills, undertaken various responsibilities and have discharged them well. His primary need when he joined the company obviously was to enhance his capabilities through hands on exposure. He met that objective and as a natural outcome, his value has gone up and he's in a position now to command the same.
The company on the other hand has been open in terms of giving more responsibilities to him. If this person is delivering higher value, Organization should then reciprocate by enhancing his remuneration and benefits. Of course, each organization has to play within certain boundaries and employees are aware of them.
Job in an organization is ultimately a package consisting of remuneration, intrinsic challenge of a job, learning opportunities, work culture etc. Organization & employees have to keep looking at maintaining a dynamic balance of these factors.
On Organization' part, it could do the following:
- Enhance his remuneration & benefits
- Show him a long term career path
- Have an honest dialogue on pluses and minuses of building a career with the organization
- Help him introspect on what are his career drivers and can this organization meet those expectations at that stage
When he joined the Company, both time, context and place were mutually complementing. Now the balance has changed- and it needs to seen in a fresh context.
If that employee sees a reason/sense in continuing, he would do so.
If not, better let him go.
There are instances wherein individuals go to bigger brands- get paid much higher for much smaller or restricted job- get fed up after a while and then either come back or make another career shift with more awareness of what are their career drivers at that stage.
Hope this helps.
Tx,
Rajesh
From India, Mumbai
Dear Kiran,
Hi! Thanks for your recognition. While looking to it that the new and young efficient employee is to be rewarded suitably, and you don't have an existing system of Performance appraisals, the higher management is always to be kept aware of such progressive efforts by the employee and it should be they who should award this employee certain remuneration, and he shall become a role model for Other's rather that an article of jealous; facing suppression from (so called) seniors. This should have been done prior to the disclosure of his news regarding the resignation. Now surrendering before him can lead to unhealthy practices by other efficient employee's. Prior to his resignation, it would have been reward rather then surrender. A stitch in time, saves nine.
Anyhow, now you can initiate the process of fake appraisal only amongst the higher management and don't even indulge functional managers, if possible. Give raise to atleast deserving 2% of your total manpower and be very wise to also include troublemakers, if any (Union Point of View). In the long run this shall motivate other's to perform better and also set the standards towards regular performance appraisal's.
Best of Luck!
From India, Panipat
Hi! Thanks for your recognition. While looking to it that the new and young efficient employee is to be rewarded suitably, and you don't have an existing system of Performance appraisals, the higher management is always to be kept aware of such progressive efforts by the employee and it should be they who should award this employee certain remuneration, and he shall become a role model for Other's rather that an article of jealous; facing suppression from (so called) seniors. This should have been done prior to the disclosure of his news regarding the resignation. Now surrendering before him can lead to unhealthy practices by other efficient employee's. Prior to his resignation, it would have been reward rather then surrender. A stitch in time, saves nine.
Anyhow, now you can initiate the process of fake appraisal only amongst the higher management and don't even indulge functional managers, if possible. Give raise to atleast deserving 2% of your total manpower and be very wise to also include troublemakers, if any (Union Point of View). In the long run this shall motivate other's to perform better and also set the standards towards regular performance appraisal's.
Best of Luck!
From India, Panipat
Hi Kiran,
Nice case, thank you and thanks to all other contributors. All the ideas sounded interesting when handled individually.
I have a different argument on this. Let’s looking at this from an economic perspective. In economics we have 2 types of markets one is the Goods market and other is the Factor market.
• Goods: here all the goods of or services of the organizations are traded.
• Factor markets: here the factors of production Land, Labor and Money are traded.
Now let’s think how many times had we realized that HR person is a sales man in the factor market. Are we good at sales. Do we understand the market properly. Had we understood that then we wouldn’t have discussed this issue so long… goods are traded at the best price so would be talent and skills.. more so when there is a scarcity of talent.
Let’s understand organizations are not doing charity by giving opportunities to freshers. They are only gaining on the opportunity to mould people according to their requirements. The secret of selling is in the strength of the product/service and the skill of the sales man.
Saying that how many times are we sure that we have recruited the person who is the right fit culturally for our organization. Lets try this exercise out in our organizations. Ask the entire HR team to define the culture of the organization and you would be startled to see the results. Run this exercise on the different business units and you would be shocked with the results.
Now run the test on the sales team of your organization and ask them to define their product/service and see the results.. you would be see a great deal of uniformity.
The point I am trying to stress is that its time we change our outlook towards talent. The change should start with the belief that we are not opportunity providers, we are opportunity seekers; we need talent to achieve our business objectives.
I certainly feel that the day we start to see our employees as clients and the day we master the skill of Client servicing, that day we are ready to compete in the global factor markets.
Regards
Srikanth Ch
From India, Hyderabad
Nice case, thank you and thanks to all other contributors. All the ideas sounded interesting when handled individually.
I have a different argument on this. Let’s looking at this from an economic perspective. In economics we have 2 types of markets one is the Goods market and other is the Factor market.
• Goods: here all the goods of or services of the organizations are traded.
• Factor markets: here the factors of production Land, Labor and Money are traded.
Now let’s think how many times had we realized that HR person is a sales man in the factor market. Are we good at sales. Do we understand the market properly. Had we understood that then we wouldn’t have discussed this issue so long… goods are traded at the best price so would be talent and skills.. more so when there is a scarcity of talent.
Let’s understand organizations are not doing charity by giving opportunities to freshers. They are only gaining on the opportunity to mould people according to their requirements. The secret of selling is in the strength of the product/service and the skill of the sales man.
Saying that how many times are we sure that we have recruited the person who is the right fit culturally for our organization. Lets try this exercise out in our organizations. Ask the entire HR team to define the culture of the organization and you would be startled to see the results. Run this exercise on the different business units and you would be shocked with the results.
Now run the test on the sales team of your organization and ask them to define their product/service and see the results.. you would be see a great deal of uniformity.
The point I am trying to stress is that its time we change our outlook towards talent. The change should start with the belief that we are not opportunity providers, we are opportunity seekers; we need talent to achieve our business objectives.
I certainly feel that the day we start to see our employees as clients and the day we master the skill of Client servicing, that day we are ready to compete in the global factor markets.
Regards
Srikanth Ch
From India, Hyderabad
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