We are a start up company and building our team.The top management in my organization is insisting on submission of Original Certificates of all the new joiners. The philosophy behind such decision is to retain the employees and control attrition.For me its great ambiguity as I believe that it would be difficult to attract the talent and retain it with such outmoded policies.
I am already struggling for welfare of existing employees and attracting new talent from recruitment market as they perceive this policy illegitimate and unreasonable.
Please suggest me the way out so that I am able to recruit good employees and convince the management as well.Please let me know if labor law has any provisions for/against this practice.
Regards.
Dinesh

From India, Pune
Organisations looking at process maturity should not be thinking this way. Converting the threats into challenges and making strategies to overcome those would be the best option. In this particular case the threat is attrition. Challenges could be retention and startetgies could be employee freindly policies and creating an envirenment for employess to stay with the company( revisit policies, structure and growth opportunities inside the organisation,etc..) If it is that required you can think of getting a bond signed from the employees.
From India, Chennai
Hire freshers and train them. In turn keep their certificates for a period of 18 months. Within 18 months give them 2 increments. One after completed training and second one after 1 year. They shall definitely not leave if during this period they adapt themselves to the companys atmosphere.
From India, Madras
Dinesh - The need for originals is to ensure that the copies are 'true' and not print outs. If your employer still insists, then let them know you'll need to spend a lot of money in ensuring the originals are 'protected', as specified by law and HRDB standards applicable in today's times:

1) Originals need to be kept secure from destruction - which means a safe deposit record management system - Huge expenses!

2) Originals need to be protected from damage, including natural causes - that's another huge expense with climate controls, etc

3) Original documents are possessions of an individual nature and thus, the employee is justified in asking for them the day he quits or even needs it for other requirements - and can file a claim with the police or in court for 'unlawful' possession of documents.

Your recommendation ought to be that originals need to be submitted just to verify the copies are verified as 'true' and then return it back to employee the same instant; retention of the 'Original' document is an ethical issue. The top management (HR Head) will definitely understand when you bring up the 3 points above.

Hope it helps.

From India, Mumbai
Mathew - I digress with your point of a 'bond'; it's illegal, but moreover it's accepted now that trying to get applicants to sign any sort of a 'bond' serves no purpose and might lead to a perception problem
From India, Mumbai
Hello Dinesh,

talentsorcerer has given you good inputs on 'how to handle' your management w.r.t. avoiding retention of Originals.

And as far as the Bond solution is concerned, just use the reSearch facility in CiteHR & you will know how many employees jump Bonds--will your company be ready to get into the legal aspects--including the legal expenses & time involved? Pl note that this is NOT a 'right' or 'wrong' situation at all--it's more to do with the 'preferences' & 'priorities' of the company.

Prima facie, retaining Originals would definitely lead to a 'perception' problem with the employees [like talentsorcerer mentioned]--in a way, you are conveying to them that 'We don't trust you, BUT you trust us'. Would that mentality be realistic/practical, in general & in the long-term? IF IT WERE YOU, would you [or, for that matter, anyone in the management] agree to such a condition?

However, this is NOT to say that the problem you are facing is unrealistic or rare--it DEFINITELY is a problem even for well-established companies. However, the way the issue is being addressed isn't just right--IF you are looking for a long-term solution.

Some of the solutions we had given to Start-up clients, to pre-empt, rather than handle,the attrition issues, were as follows:

1] Instead of synchronizing the First Salary Raise with clearing the Probation, it was given after 3 months of joining--and this was clearly mentioned in the Offer Letters. This conveyed 2 things: If you perform, money isn't a problem, which we are 'committing in-writing' AND your staying with us for a long time ISN'T linked with the salary we give.

2] Where the Probation was for 1 year, it was reduced to 6 months, and in some cases to 3 months, subject to satisfactory performance.

3] Take into confidence every employee on the overall [NOT the details, for other reasons] organizational plans for the future--essentially, this generates, VERY SUBTLY, a sense of belonging in the employee for the company. Once this is achieved, not many would leave the company, UNLESS something drastic happens. This is also not to say that there won't be exceptions to this way of handling--there definitely will be. But whoever stays will be imbibed with a 'sense of belonging'--which goes a long way for any company.

4] A sound & simple Grievance Reporting & Redressal mechanism--ensuring that the controlling person is 'recognized' as fair & impartial--since IF this aspect ISN'T ADHERED TO, this step can lead to a far serious problem than if there wasn't such a mechanism in place at all.

5] Typical steps to enhance the camaraderie among the staff--I think this issue was discussed many times in CiteHR earlier.

However, pl remember that not all of the above worked in all companies--that's where the true intent of the management comes out. Also, these suggestions were to handle experienced persons--NOT Freshers, since the basic mental psyche of freshers is different.

The bottom-line always has to be: We trust you--BUT if you take advantage of it, we will come-down very hard [something that's an equivalent to the legal Line: innocent until proven guilty].

All the Best.

Rgds,

TS

From India, Hyderabad
Can we not look at this option like an undertaking signed by the employee that he/she shall serve the company for a particular duration on getting trained in some areas provided by the company. If the employee breaks that the he/she shall be paying the employer the cost specfied in the undertaking.? Is this illegal?
Regards
Mathew

From India, Chennai
Hello Mathew,
You have a valid suggestion.
But the problem comes when a company tries to 'use' the training angle to get a Bond/Agreement signed by the employee WITHOUT either any intent to impart Training or actually giving any training. Just go thru the earlier postings in CiteHR....you would find many threads of such instances [however, that is NOT to state that ALL such postings are genuine--there are employees too who try to misuse this aspect].
Hope you get the point.
Rgds,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
HI DINESH,
ACCORDING TO ME SUBMISSION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS IS NOT A VERY HEALTHY IDEA INSTEAD OF TAKING ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS YOUR COMPANY CAN MAKE A VALID CONTRACT FOR MINIMIZE THE ATTRITION.
FIRST OF ALL NOBODY WILL AGREE TO SUBMIT THEIR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS TO THE COMPANY AND IF ANYBODY IS GETTING READY TO SUBMIT STILL THEIR IS HIGH RISK FACTOR ARISE HOW YOUR COMPANY IS KEEPING THE SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS CAUSE HERE YOUR COMPANY HAS TO TAKE A SPECIAL CARE OF ALL THOSE IMPORTANT DOCUMENT FROM DAMAGE AND THAT WILL BE VERY COSTLY.
YOU ARE FINDING DIFFICULTIES TO RECRUIT NEW PEOPLE CAUSE THERE ARE LOTS OF COMPANY IN THE MARKET WHO PROVIDES JOB WITHOUT CAPTIVATING OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
AND ABOUT THE ATTRITION PART - THERE ARE VARIOUS WAY TO MINIMIZE ATTRITION LIKE ,
1. VARIOUS TRAINING PROG.
2. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SESSION LIKE SMALL R&R PROG.CALL THEIR FAMILY, YOU CAN ALSO ARRANGE A FAMILY DAY.
3. VARIOUS PERFORMANCE BONUS.
4.LIST OUT THE BEST PERFORMER NAME & PHOTO IN THE RECEPTIO

From India, Durgapur
Dinesh,
I too against collecting the documents.
There is no company which had grown by collecting the documents.
But HR has no choice if management insists on collecting the certificates.
Thanks
Prakash

From India, Madras
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