We have low attrition rates. Retention rates are high. These two claims by the top leaders of a company are big achievement for the companies. The reason behind them is that the cost of replacing and retraining the employees is phenomenally high.

The fact that people are not leaving also speaks of the company culture and adds to employer branding. That is why the HR designations have changed to Recruitment and Retention.

Retention is important, but the fact that people are not leaving, may be a problem itself. The answer to that is that HR has now called it talent retention. That means that the focus of retaining is on talented employees only. Seems logical. Till you go beyond the designations.

According to the State of the Global Workplace Report 2024, 85 percentage of the employees are unengaged at work. This is a huge number. They are not leaving. They are working. They are being paid. The HR is probably proud of the fact that there is hardly any employee turnover.

Are they producing the revenue turnover they should or can produce? The biggest question is: are they really there? Are they there, but not there? Are they present but absent? Are they on the job but off work? Are they working but not producing? Are they listening but not hearing? Are they taking but not giving? These are the fundamental questions to be asked to find out the real performance of the company.

In short, the level of employee engagement is more important than any retention policy or turnover ratio. Engagement level is directly related to the motivation level. Most managers feel that what the employees want is many times not in their hand. They will quote the business decline, the bonus cuts, the low increments as the reason for their team’s disengagement. That is true, but then there are many strategies that are low cost motivators and are sadly not being used:

1. Recognition and Appreciation— See any survey, ask any job quitter, the most repeated response will be of “They never appreciated my work”. Most surveys show that Recognition and Appreciation top the list of motivators. Salary ranks lower. When an employee does not get due credit, recognition of work, it is a sure shot formula for making him disengaged.

Disengagement is a huge cost to the company, and engaging them is huge profit for the company. Gallup study shows that companies with highly engaged workforce are 21 percentage more profitable. That in these crunch times is more than sales increase and market share enhancement. One of the most engaging strategies is to make people feel good about themselves by recognizing them.

This appreciation can take the form of a simple pat on the back, a letter of appreciation, a thank-you note, a certificate in a team meeting, a shield in a company gathering, or a text praising somebody in a departmental or company WhatsApp group. The idea is to celebrate small wins in public on a regular basis, and not wait for the annual gathering to do the dutiful rituals.

2. Personal care and concern— When people are treated like a “cog in the machine”, you dehumanize them. In my decade plus career of executive coaching, the most common complaint people have is that they feel they are only a certain “number” or “head count” to the company.

There is more and more stress of achieving killing targets and little concern of the individual issues that confront workers. That is why the quote “People leave managers, not organizations”. Ask any person why he has stayed for a longer time in a company, and inevitably his reason for loyalty will include being treated with respect and care.

When they don’t feel cared, they do not care. A personal touch by a manager can do wonders. Taking the employee out for coffee and just asking about his personal issues, his dreams and aspirations is bound to create engagement. Small gestures like enquiring after the health of a sick parent of the employee and helping his parent to go to a good doctor will create bonds stronger than any increment or bonus.

3. Connecting and Communicating— Another factor that cuts off employees from the company is when there is a lack of clarity in what the company is doing and what the employee is doing. Without a clear vision and purpose, people feel lost and direction less.

It is the job of the supervisors and managers to communicate regularly, especially in stressful times, not just the tasks they are supposed to do but how important each task they perform is to achieve the mission of the company. This will remove the disconnect an employee sitting in the procurement department feels getting supplies day in day out with a feeling of being the outsider. Once the manager makes him see his contribution to the value chain, the employee will feel more connected and motivated.

4. Empowering and Sharing— Another way of demotivating employees is to make them feel powerless. When their activities are routine, when they are just micromanaged in what to do, when they are not listened to, they just mentally and emotionally quit. That is dangerous, as they will keep taking the full salary and putting in less than half of what they can.

The simple way to empower them is to let them lead the discussion. Share information with them. Ask for suggestions. Take their feedback. But that is the most difficult part. That means you need to stop talking and start listening. That means you need to stop telling and start asking.

That means that you need to stop checking and start enabling. That is tough and rare. That is easier said than done. But that is a no-cost motivator that will add to productivity and profitability that no advertising and promotion can.

The burning question this raises is that if motivation can be done with zero cost, why do managers and leaders consider it unaffordable? The answer is that most managers suffer from “Iamness” i.e., I am ness. They feel that recognition and highlighting employee performance will either make the employees outshine them or spoil their own chances of being recognized as the “master of all”.

Most leaders are in love with their own voice and cannot resist talking about their own greatness. Many feel they do not have the time to go on “personal connectivity” coffee trips with employees, as they will not have time for their own tasks.

If a manager is too busy to give a smile, a pat on the back, a few appreciative texts, a handwritten thank-you note, he is on the wrong tree. A tree that will become fruitless soon. For real engagement and profits, always treat your employees the way you would like them to treat your customers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024