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Today HR is expected to comprehend, conceptualize, innovate, implement and sustain strategies that will contribute towards giving the organization a winning edge. With a changing market, especially with erratic attrition trends and cut-throat competition, a need for placing sound mechanisms for attracting and retaining top talent is vital for the organizational survival and growth.

The new age workforce is now techno-savvy, aware of market realities, materially focused and has a higher tendency to switch jobs, and explore new opportunities. The new age are high risk takers with higher expectations and generally have a different mind-set about their career.

The economy is on the upswing with employment figures coming up, durable orders increasing, consumer confidence improving, and the GNP rising. Statistics show:

• 55% of employees are not engaged

• 1/3 of employees are negative

• 64% of the workforce plan a job search when economy improves 48% of middle managers are relatively unhappy

It is not a secret that good workers are hard find and also hard to keep. With this in mind it is important to assess the following:

• Do you have a retention strategy? Is it effective? What is your turnover percentage?

• How do you measure the employee climate in your organization?

An effective mechanism to gauge comfort, contentment and commitment levels becomes critical in the design and implementation of any retention strategy. There are several ways to assess the climate including, employee satisfaction surveys, organization climate audits, open forums, one-to-one sessions, exit interviews, ex-employee interviews, case studies and a multitude of trend analyses based on hard attrition data. Whatever the instrument, used by itself or in combination, the success depends on collection of unbiased responses and direct and indirect information.

On one hand, a compelling brand image, astute leadership, an enduring culture that is trusting, caring and nurturing, credibility, transparency, empowerment, responsiveness and creative policies on compensation, recognition etc. would create a positive influence on individuals, on the other hand, compliance, control, rigid power structure, knee-jerk changes, unexciting and drab jobs, unjust discrimination and unrealistic deadlines would be debilitating.