This article was originally published here -
Today, organizations invest a lot into resources and amenities- be it mechanical, technical, or physical. You can get innumerous books in their libraries on C, Java, Python, Hadoop, or any-other-topic-that-employees-do-not-care-of. You can get various sports, spa parlors, gymnasiums etc inside the campus. They spend a great amount of money and efforts in different team building activities outside campus like dinners/ luncheons, night-out trips etc. This entire show is for their human resources to feel BETTER in the office in various ways. I deeply appreciate the efforts!

But the same organizations are also facing HIGH ATTRITION RATE. Surprising it is!

What is triggering employees to leave the firm every once in a while? Or what is probably missing in employees to stop them from leaving the firm?

A few months back, we had a new member in our team. There was no formal or informal introduction given to us or to him of each other. He started sharing a seat with us in the workplace, cafeteria, sport-parlors etc- trying very hard to make relations with each of his team members on his own in all possible ways. A few weeks later, he resigned from the job. His relentless efforts of fitting himself in the organization reached to a certain point beyond which he could no longer strive on.

Apart from all that investment into everything else, what organizations lack in is“investing into people”. They need to see their employees and the team members as humans first. They need to empathize with their employees’ feelings, problems, concerns, or even small ideas etc. An informal hour every week with the whole team, and every month with each team member is worth great returns. It builds up an environment of positive energy. When employees know that there is a trust circle where they can speak about what they feel, they feel important.

The team should be like our family with whom we share our ups and downs. It should be a Learning Circle (let’s call it an LC) where we can discuss our viewpoints, celebrate success and learn from each other. We all come with different strengths and competencies. The great thing about working in a team is that we can use one’s strengths to the benefit of the project outcome, and improve on one’s competencies at the same time.

Let’s have each team meeting followed by an informal 5 minutes get-together. This can be in any form. A small guitar note played in the same room; or a walk to the terrace if weather permits. This will not only motivate employees to be actively present in the meetings, but will make them wait for it.

For sake of life, let’s put some life into those lifeless meeting rooms!!!

Please share your ideas, comments, suggestions or feedback! They are important for every reader who is reading it. Thanks! :-)