Global Services Blog

Retaining Talent

Posted on June 23, 2009 by AtulNo Comments

The need for outsourcing
talent, even in this economy, is still strong compared to most industries.  Even in tough economic environments, organizations
must work hard to keep their employees from being recruited away by other firms.

Fortunately, there are a
number of steps that client organizations can take to mitigate the attrition
problem both on-site in their own organizations as well as offshore in the
supplier organization.

Key steps to reducing attrition in the retained
onshore team

Step 1: Reach out and understand what
the employees care about (Hint: it may not be all about financial rewards)

Too often, employers assume
that employees care predominantly about their compensation.  It’s true that compensation is
important.  But employees often
care as much, or more, about non-financial aspects of their jobs.

When an organization wants to
find out what matters to its employees, it should ask.  A heat map is one way to capture and gauge
employees’ levels of job satisfaction and to understand what the employees care
about.  It’s a periodic survey and
data capture method that asks employees about their levels of job satisfaction
in a number of areas – from job roles and responsibilities to career
development and growth opportunities, engagement experience, and
compensation.  A quick and
meaningful response to the heat map results is the key to making heat maps an
effective retention management tool.

Step 2: Develop a mentoring program

Mentoring is one important
way that organizations can build employees’ affinity for the firm.  Different from coaching, mentoring is a
strategic endeavor that provides a forum for the mentee to develop
professionally and personally. 
Benefits for the mentee include:

• Access to the mentor’s
  expertise and experience
• Skill development
• Broader view of the firm
• Exposure and
  visibility

Step 3: Develop a culture that
encourages engagement

Engaging workers – so that
they feel they’ve positively impacted the company’s performance – is a prime
retention tool that’s equally important onshore and offshore.  (A Towers Perrin study revealed that
59% of workers who consider themselves engaged intend to stay with their
employer, while only 24% of workers who consider themselves disengaged plan to
stay.[1]) 

Engagement drivers are often
those same factors that employees care about – from opportunities for career
growth to feeling proud of the organization.

Key steps to reducing attrition in the new offshore
team

Step 1: Work with suppliers to manage
retention 

Working with suppliers to
manage retention in offshore third-party arrangements involves a number of
efforts, including:

• During due diligence,
  client organizations should look closely at prospective suppliers’
  retention levels and policies for managing the factors that lead to
  attrition
• Hold the supplier
  accountable by building attrition metrics into SLAs
• Encourage the supplier
  to develop non-poaching agreements with other suppliers
• Ensure that the
  supplier implements a practice such as the heat map
• Work with the supplier
  to build development and career plan for their staff assigned to you

Step 2: Design rotational exchange
programs

Exchange programs that let key
offshore employees work onshore at the client site for 3-6 months help those
employees feel a greater level of affinity for the client organization as well
as a greater sense of engagement. 
Also, an exchange program gives employees the opportunity to learn about
the client organization’s culture, method of operation, and products and
services – knowledge that the employee can bring back to the supplier
organization to help boost performance.

Step 3: Show your face

For key members of the client
organization to show their faces at the supplier organization is a critical way
to build cultural affinity for the client, facilitate growth in important
personal relationships, boost loyalty, and encourage engagement.   One way to show your face is to
make regular visits (perhaps quarterly) to the supplier location.  But there are other, less costly ways
as well; personal phone calls are effective as a more frequent way of showing
your face.

From finding out what on-site
employees really care about to making visits to supplier locations, these six
retention strategies will help minimize the number of times that one of your
best employees catches you in the hall and asks “Do you have a minute?”  (Too often, that conversation ends with
the employee walking out the company’s door – and that costs the company a
lot.)