Focus : Channelizing Manpower

Focusing on employee retention at a time when companies are experiencing

mass layoffs may seem like an oxymoron. Yet, high-level players will always be

in demand. Inspiring, satisfying and retaining top players in an organization

are the key business objectives in any economic environment. The best companies

are those who focus on performance-driven reward strategies. A recession is a

period of reduced economic activity. The current US financial crisis has had

quite an impact on India as well. The Indian IT industry has witnessed a

slowdown of approximately 40% in recruiting new people.

Speaking about the preventive measures that need to be taken by companies at

this time, Harish Jayachandran, HR, Apsis Technologies said, We at Apsis are

not much affected due to the economic recession as far as manpower is concerned.

However, we are taking preventive measures to address key issues, such as

retaining our manpower and utilizing maximum current resources available within

the company.

Retention During Recession



According to experts, employers, recruiters and workers are becoming

concerned about their job security as the US credit crisis is deteriorating. In

most of the companies, be it an IT company or in the corporate house, the

employers are often concerned about retention. IT companies, engineering firms

and export-oriented industries such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and automotive

components are all likely to feel the pressure.

Talking about challenges faced by companies during recession, Navnita

Nair, Manager, HR, NewWave Computing said, In a recession, the challenge is not

to retain employees but to motivate them to perform their 200% to achieve

results. Being in a sales focused organization, the easiest thing for an

employee to do is to shrug his shoulders and say recessionno business and

quit. The question here is: what makes an excelling organization different from

the others?

Why do some organizations withstand pressure, while others crumble? This is

the time when employees have to understand that they need to think different.

Talking about the challenges faced by most of the companies RS Shanbhag, CMD,

Value Points Systems says, Recession purifies the system and helps in

bifurcating the best from the rest. We are gearing up from today itself to

prepare for the best to come and go cracking when markets turn around from this

recession. We are back to basics, redefining and fine-tuning every aspect of

doing business.

During financial turmoil cost cutting measures are inevitable for companies.

Nevertheless, employee retention remains a mystery to many companies. We should

be optimistic and hopeful to see significant positive movement by mid 2009. The

job market shall deteriorate and will see much more softening. It is the time

for industry to take necessary steps before the economic headwinds take a toll

on employment. This situation would last for at least one and half year more.

The pain is not anywhere close to being over; it is yet to begin!

Lipsha Das



DQ Channels


maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in