Successful people management tips

Back to my subject on People ... People ... People. Developing countries are exploding with IT services resources. Attrition rates in companies are very high due to high demand for skilled resources. It is important for companies to think through the following and see how many points they score on the steps listed.

1. When you hire in bulk(resources with no/little experience) provide budget to hire 1:10 mid level to junior level trained resource; 1:20 senior resource;1:50 management resource.

2. Have a good training program on various topics that include personality improvement. Have a system to identify good crop from the average ones. Have a program to bring the good crop to limelight. Pat them on their back if they are good.

3. Have them work on a project that will help them go overseas. Set some target/performance metrics for them to prove that they are capable of delivering. Provide high weightage for proactive & entrepreneurial skills. Tell them when they meet or fall short or what they can do to improve.

4. Keep them happy with good incentive plans & promotion plans at your offshore location. Have a system to find out if they are happy with what you are giving. Don't assume that you are giving enough and they will be happy.

5. Prepare their visa papers depending on which country you want to send. Start with a low cost option for eg. US assignments B1 or L1 visa cost of labor is cheaper compared to H1. Start with a B1 type of visa and send them onsite couple of times till they get enough overseas experience. Tell them why you are choosing this option. How they are being trained.

6.When onsite have a training program on personality skills, penetration skills etc. Identify people who will be good selling agents for you. A good Java programmer can be a good account management or a sales person in the time to come.

7. Move them into long term visa (like H1 in the USA) after a year. Position them with new clients. Time to make them feel important in the company.

8. Have a competitive compensation scheme and conversion to permanent residency scheme for targeted employees. Motivate them and mentor them on account management/penetration skills (this is not a one time effort). Most of the times the technology individuals will find their own ways to upgrade their tech skills but selling skills will have to be coached. One time referal programs won't help. You need to talk to them each month and coach them on how they can help.

9. After the permanent residence convert them into key roles with good recognition eg. Partner roles handling specific business lines.

10. The key thing about all this is that you need to show the complete road map (5-8 year) to each one as to when it will happen and what are the metrics they will be measured on. You can fall short of your commitment by 2-3 months but never give false promise. If you are not meeting your commitment talk to the resource/s and explain to them on when the commitment will be met.

The above calls for what I call as "Proactive HR". After you read the above you would say that I am stating the obvious. But take a piece of paper and assign your company 1 to 10 rating for each of the line item as to how you meet them. Ask yourself if you have the management oversight to perform that activity. You would see where you stand. How many of you have told your employess that I am recruiting you to take you through a 5-8 year path? If you retain 20% of your employees through this process you have a solid foundation to build on.

If you follow the above steps diligently you would see marked improvement (I mean reduction) in your attrition rate.

Have fun.