Employee Ratings of Senior Management Dip

According to Watson Wyatt, employees ratings of Senior Management has started to dip slightly in 2006.

Results show that about 49% from 2004's 51% of employees did mention that they are loosing trust and confidence in their Senior Management. The dip is surely a matter of concern for HR Professionals and Senior Management. Another interesting finding was that the communication with senior management is also decreasing...

A snapshot of the finding:-

Employees’ Favorable Ratings of Senior Managers Decline Slightly

Question	2004	2006
Employees have trust and confidence in the job of senior management	51%	49%
Senior management makes changes to stay competitive	57%	53%
Senior management takes steps to control costs	59%	55%
Senior management behaves consistently with the company’s core values	57%	55%

The War of Talent has begun and employers who can ensure confidence of their employees will emerge successful.

Link: Watson Wyatt

Notice Period Chaos

I had a chance to read Gatuam's Blog on Notice Period issues. This is one point where different companies have different policies. I have heard of notice period upto 3 months :) It might sound quite weird to somebody who is not from India, but must say that this is quite possible.

I do understand Rashmi's point here, but i am still wondering why will any HR guy talk with respect to numbers. This is ridiculous, if it is true!

My thoughts are as under :-

Any policy with regards to Notice period has to be standard and efficiently practiced. The notice period could be a month, 15 days or even a week. The policy should be designed keeping in mind the nature of the industry. As an employer, as Gautam quoted "Of course, the employer is free to fire you without a day's notice too."

I still feel that Employers should practice notice periods but I surely think that it should be around 15 days.

PS - I just served a 2 months notice period and i must say for those of you who haven't experienced this, it is No Joke :)

Let me know what you think should be the right notice period.

What Tampers Employee Satisfaction?

HR Solutions complied a Employee satisfaction survey wherein 2.2 Million respondents were surveyed covering 2,100 organizations worldwide and the top 10 results are as under:-

• Higher salaries – pay is the number one area in which employees seek change.
• Internal pay equity, particularly having concerns with “pay compression” (the differential in pay between new and more tenured employees).
• Benefits programs, particularly health/dental, retirement, and Paid Time Off/vacation days. Specifically, many employees feel that their health insurance costs too much, especially prescription drug programs.
• “Over-management” (A common phrase seen in employee comments is “Too many chiefs, not enough Indians”).
• Pay increase guidelines should place greater emphasis on merit.
• The Human Resource department needs to be more responsive to their questions and/or concerns.
• Favoritism.
• Improved communication and availability (both from their supervisors and upper management).
• Workloads are too heavy and/or departments are understaffed.
• Facility cleanliness.

I personally think that the top 3 always have to avoided in any Employee satisfaction survey as its always obvious to be related with Salary and benefits ....... as nobody is a Saint :)

Read the full article here...

Talent War - An Illustration

Great work Jim !! Love your Comic strip !!

Interesting article of the 10 Biggest Sins Managers Commit !

Badbossology.com conducted a survey of 900+ employees and published the 10 most Sinful crimes Manager's commit. CNN reports the report on the same. An interesting read...

The survey finds the managers who take the Buddy approach the worst of the lot and as guessed most of the wish list of most of the respondents was the trust of his/her own boss.

What cannot be explained is the habit of "micromanage" which typically is not an issue with MNCs and Large corporates.

This answers high attrition rates seen in the industry which brings about a War for Talent across the globe.

Would love to hear your thoughts on your experiences on the same too...

Why employees leave !

Employees are the most sought over assets worldwide today and not to mention they know it well. There used to be times wherein employers could offer fat packages at plush offices, the best of the cafeteria and shuttle services for employees. But now, it’s the bare minimum any talented individual is going to look at.

Talent shortages can be up to 35 - 50% in developing nations considering the fact that there are a lot of investment opportunities now. But the key question unanswered is why do employees leave??
This is a critical question various organizations are trying to answer. Some of the key issues might be:-

• Growth Opportunities: - This is a typical issue faced by most employers and is 7/10 times avoidable. What I mean to say here is that, the managers 8/10 times know the expectation of an individual and is 6/10 times ignored.
  Fact: About 41% of employees look out because of lack of growth opportunities / opportunities not in line of individual's career path.
• Organization Culture: - Firstly, people love change. They also understand that change is the only thing that is not constant. If the organizational culture, ethics, morale are changing for the good, this point would not be on the list. This point is on the list as about 36 % of ex-employees feel the same.
• Immediate Boss: - Practically speaking, if your immediate boss does not challenge you, I’m sure you’ll quit. This is again a syndrome lot of companies in India are currently facing
• Boredom: - If the leadership team of your company is constantly colorless regardless of the company's growth or the goals achieved, there’s trouble for sure. All employees want money and to be challenged but they don't want to have to self-motivate 100% of the time.
• Challenge: - If they are too challenged or unchallenged there is an issue. If the immediate senior does not ensure this then it’s a worry again. My personal experience here, about 50% of people at bench are always key targets and those who don’t have a work life balance are always frustrated and tend to make hasty decisions.
• Faith: - Seldom, but does exist in few upcoming organizations, key people move on due to the “lost faith in the senior management” too…
• Money: - Quite obvious, but interestingly only close to 35% of employees mention this as the key reason. Employees know their worth, if you don't compensate them, somebody else will :)
  

If you can think of more, please do let me know so that i can add the same... Awaiting your comments and thoughts