THE NEED TO RETAIN SEASONED PROFESSIONALS

THE NEED TO RETAIN SEASONED PROFESSIONALS

A seasoned professional in organization will necessarily have most of these characteristics -   He or she would have been a tenured employee, would have played different roles in the company across functions and business units, would consistently meet organizational and business goals, have personal rapport with many of the colleagues at different levels in the organization, have a knack of getting things done quickly within the company, fiercely protect the brand image of the company internally and externally and last but not the least create successors behind in places they vacate.

If there is one thing that is and will always be critical to an organisations success,  is the need retain seasoned professionals.  Listed below are the reasons why it becomes important to retain these employees:

   Seasoned professionals contribute significantly to organisations goals

These employees having been in the organisation for a significant period of time and normally exceed their targets on a consistent basis. When they leave it creates an impact on the team’s performance.

To compound the problem, these employees will always get replaced by fresher’s who will take a significant amount of time come up the learning curve. During this period the pressure gets transferred to the existing team members who may end up being disgruntled.

   Seasoned professionals are brand ambassadors of the organisations

These employees having worked in the organisation for several years tend to represent the organisation. New joinees look up to them and they most likely have a huge influence on the morale of the team. Positive behaviour always creates a positive work environment

    Seasoned professionals make excellent buddies & mentors

When new employee joins, it’s always good to have him/her buddied up during their first couple of months in the organisation. This would help the new employee feel more comfortable as he has continuous support. This lends itself to increased employee engagement and a reduction of early attrition. The seasoned professionals having been in the company for a few years know the wherewithal to be able to guide the new employee on a personal & professional front

 

    Seasoned professionals have excellent relationships with the Clients

Most clients tend to build relationships with employees and appreciate loyalty. When a seasoned professional leaves the clients tend to get concerned as they would be required to rebuild the trust & confidence with another employee. This process naturally takes time and during this period, there could be several anxious moments for the organisation and CSAT levels may drop.

HOW TO RETAIN SEASONED PROFESSIONALS?

   Challenge them :

Seasoned employees love to be challenged and are especially kicked about challenging assignments handed down by the very senior leaders in the company.  For them, the assignment in itself is both recognition and a reward.

   Create a learning environment

A continuous process of Learning & Development is something that all seasoned employees want. While they may be happy with their role, it’s important for them to feel that they are learning something new on an ongoing basis. They should be sent for training programs and exposed to new technologies to keep them engaged.

   Keep them engaged

Seasoned professionals need to be given continuous attention. Their managers should seek their feedback on improvement areas as their contributions can be valuable. Rewards, recognition and a pat on the back can go a long way in keeping them motivated.

Regular and frequent exchanges with the senior leaders both formal and informal, goes a long way in fuelling the continued urge to succeed in their roles

   Provide additional roles & responsibilities

Managers should consciously delegate work to the seasoned employees and ensure they are offered opportunities where they can leverage their experience to groom other employees. These employees should be given an opportunity to grow by providing them practical learning experience.

   Reward Loyalty

With attrition being one of the biggest challenges that organisations face today, it becomes extremely important that Organisations ensure that loyalty is rewarded.  Rewards can be in the form of cash, certificates, trophies & medals or special benefits such as a flexible work timings, work from home options ( on certain days of the week) etc.

Special treatment of some kind may also be a sponsored educational course, a holiday for the family, aid or support to a social cause they feel strongly about, makes their continuance in the company even more worthwhile.

The need to retain seasoned employees is very clear and simple.  Unless a random employee accidentally becomes a seasoned employee quickly, only seasoned employees can create more seasoned employees.

BEE THE CHANGE

A good friend of mine from college has always explained to me how there is so much to learn from the bees. Patient, hard working, disciplined , meticulous are some of the many virtues that the bees  have , he would explain.

While initially I didn't pay too much attention I was impressed with the amount of passion he showed every time we would have a conversation about bees. Eventually I started ‘listening’ to him and realised why he was so enamoured by the bees.  Watching the bees at work was a truly an amazing experience.

I hit upon this article by Dr N Ganapathy, a professor at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore who explains that there are several management lessons that we could learn by standing before a hive and watching the ways of the bees from the bees. These are the 6 lessons he outlined:

LESSON 1 : DIVIDE DUTIES

Bees lead a structured life. Their roles are well defined, and they are genetically programmed not to trespass into another’s territory. The drones mate with the queen. The queen lays eggs, and the worker bees are beasts of burden. The last lot handles every responsibility from scavenging, storing pollen and processing the nectar to feeding the queen bee. There is no conflict of roles, and that’s the perfect model to adopt in any organisation. Let’s say, you define waking up and going to work as a daily goal. That’s not a definite goal. A professional goal needs clarity. It must be worth achieving so that a specific outcome can be expected, as is the case with bees working towards one clear goal — to produce honey.

LESSON 2: CO-OPERATE

The spirit of cooperation is more important to bees than the spirit of competition, explained Ganapathy. It takes a cluster of them to derive honey; they know they can’t do it alone. And this is possible only because they coexist. Members of a professional team must bring in their own experience and expertise to a project to help create an effective product. Communicating and sharing ideas is crucial, as is mutual respect for each member’s contribution.

LESSON 3: BE LOYAL

Loyalty to one’s community is key to its long term survival. If bees are storing pollen and processing nectar from a mango plant, they will not be distracted until the time they are done working on that particular plant. Ganapathy said, “In a very silent way, there’s a mutual understanding between the flower and the bee about what they’d like to achieve from each other. The flowers trust them because over time, bees have established themselves as a loyal species.” A loyal employee is one who sticks to guidelines, working hours and meets

LESSON 4: WORK HARD

Ever watched a worker honey bee do her job? She’s perpetually on her feet, just like the matriarch who saves for the future. The honey bees’ work ethics have even inspired adages (‘being busy as a bee’, ‘be the bee’s knees’). “Drones (male bees), however, are lazy. They do no work, which is why the worker honey bees (female) end up attacking them,” said Ganapathy. “This could happen to you some day, if you sit around warming your chair, letting others take the workload!”

In the modern workplace, loyalty is an ethic that’s highly valued. Remember, most employers want to hire professionals they can nurture so that the company stands to gain. Over time, this loyalty reaps benefits for the employee too, whether it’s through perks or promotion.

LESSON 5: BE PUNCTUAL

Punctuality is a common professional ethic that most of us fall short on. For bees, everything depends on the sun. They start their day soon after the sun rises, and return to their hives around 3.30 pm (unless the skies are overcast). Keeping time helps them deliver optimum results. In a professional set up, the workplace operates smoothly when workers stick to time. Being late often ups stress levels, and that’s not the best state to be in if you wish to be productive. Being habitually late can lock you into a pattern. When tardiness becomes the norm, even your job might be in jeopardy.

LESSON 6: DUTY COMES FIRST, RIGHTS NEXT

For bees, society comes first, the self comes later. It’s a fiercely protective species. In a hive, one worker bee serves as a guard who prosecutes intruders who try breaking into the hive. If threatened, it stings. “When a bee stings, it dies. It sacrifices its own life to protect its community and colleagues. For bees, it is duty first,” said Ganapathy.

Look around and you will always learn.....