Why do people leave organizations?

Disclaimer: This article is meant for experience sharing, resulting out of my professional experiences, clubbed with experiences shared by like minded HR professionals. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is unintentional and purely coincidental. The point of view is solely an HR Manager's perception. Feel free to comment.

Why do people leave organizations?

Group dynamics has been the single most intriguing factor during my entire career so far. I have changed companies to get a flavour of a different industry sector, just to observe how human beings behave in an organization under different environments. Not much has changed since Maslow scripted the Theory of Motivation. Just that the magnitude of needs have grown multi-fold, or let me put it this way - 'wants' replaces the 'needs' to quite an extent.

People tend to leave a Large Organization due to any the following reasons:
• False commitments - Commitments while hiring, that never get fulfilled post hiring (When recruitment becomes merely a performance target and not quality standard, the end result is disaster);
• Pay or role Parity / equity issues.
• Lack of challenge in work - Absence of a learning curve, no one to technically look up to; No desire to achieve higher goals; No scope of exploring opportunities within the organization; overseas opportunities etc.
• Lack of direction - Sink or swim scenario, absence of documented processes & procedures.
• Hiring mistakes - Gap in aligning people's skills to the right job.
• Performance Appraisal process - When the process becomes a number game and managers have no choice but to skew ratings on a normalized bell curve.
• Work relationships - Personal biases, wavelength issues, absence of a common company culture.
• Un-ethical business practices - e.g. - Compromising on quality; breach of mutual trust, compromising on core org. values, etc.
• Micro-level management - Un-due work pressure from the reporting authority, absence of a clear well documented goal sheet, Intrusion in personal space than focusing on result.
• Bad Boss – Humiliation by boss, un-fair treatment, undue work pressure, stretching the teams to work beyond limits and without purpose
• Work environment, logistics – Monotonous work ambience or infrastructure, e.g. poorly lit work space, insufficient number of rest-rooms, lack of hygiene at work place, Non availability of food and beverage around the work premise, transportation challenges, shift timing issues, non-availability of crèche.

Besides the reasons mentioned above, People tend to leave a start-up Organizations due to any the following reasons:
• Financial crunch - Delayed payment or non-payment of wages / salaries
• Lack of aggressive sales plan; lack of enough business
• Lack of empowerment amongst teams
• Lack of basic amenities, facilities and benefits
• Lack of direction / business plan
• Lack of organizational vision
• Lack of communication between management and employees

Passion for Excellence

I received an extremely inspiring e-mail on the real definition of Excellence. I am glad to share it with you!

Excellence...

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency...

Some one initiated the below topic on Linked:hr
Should HR Professionals be political? Is there a reality between playing politics and pleasing others? Truely this profession is meant to de politicize the organisation,while many still play politics and call themselves HR professionals. This a lie
My response to the question -
I do not understand why this question is directed only towards HR professionals? I construe that the topic might have been an outcome of a bitter experience with an HR professional.
Ideally, it is not required for any professional to be political, if he/she is competent and equally convincing. Business operations turn out to be successful if they are built on strong foundation of ethics, trust, transparency and competency. Politics crops up when there is some amount of insecurity and lack of clarity; hence, professionals should work on the basis of facts & statistics. Data is the strongest weapon in the hands of professionals, and data alone distinguishes between performance and non-performance. I would suggest that all the decision points should be well documented in the form of an email or letter, duly signed by the decision maker, so that there is no lack of clarity in messages. Important messages need to be communicated by the decision making authority, so that there is no rumour mongering amongst stake holders. Any thing that is not validated in the form of data is a rumour, and rumour has no place in any organization. HR professionals have an instrumental role in advising the management on techniques of arresting unnecessary rumors within the organization, and facilitating forums for information dissemination. It is a human choice to distance oneself from the political environment. After all, work should be one's passion, and not merely a job!

My experience in Human relations management

I have enjoyed the Human Resources profession. My experience has not been Human Resource Management but Human relations management, and I have lived every moment truly, to the brim. Every individual that comes across you through out your career is special. Every moment of your career is memorable. When you roll back in time, standing at the peak of your career,you savor the past..!Unless you share a personal rapport with each individual, you do not understand the human dynamics. I have been very fortunate to have worked with a varied sector of businesses and people from different nationalities and cultures. It is not easy for teams to work in new and multi-cultural environment, where opinion clashes are common. It helps when all managers are good people managers, besides being domain specialists. The first important trait of an HR manager, that experience taught me, is to develop people skills amongst leaders. By doing that, you are developing multiple human resource specialists in the organization, each one managing his/her teams efficiently on hard and soft skills.
I observed that, what most people appreciate, is - Clarity in business/individual objectives, fairly decent work environment and an understanding superior. Of course, it is a feel good factor, if there is a clear career path, fairly decent compensation and opportunity to voice opinions.
An interesting observation is that if you wish to implement change, there is resistance only when things are not fairly transparent. Most stake holders appreciate a direct dialogue, free from sugar coated and misleading words. Most change catalysts are people who anticipate benefits, post change. I will write on Change Management and my experience with various business models, in my forthcoming blogs.

Side effects of Recession

This monster called 'RECESSION' has snatched sleep from over a million eyes. Both employers and employees sail in the same paper boat! Do we really have a water-tight mechanism to fight this monster? Every single day, I see glum and expressionless faces of people, who are not sure of tomorrow!! All that goes on in their minds is - "God knows whose turn it is today!"
There has to be a way out and we must explore ways to fight the lows out!
Comment on this blog and suggest ideas to overcome this crisis.