What Should Employers Do to Retain Competent Employees

In the present-day context, employee attrition has become a major problem. Companies are finding it difficult to retain their employees. Especially, when employees, who belong to the creamy layer and who have demonstrated and proved their competence, quit a company, it may be a huge set-back for the company. They may find it difficult to recruit a suitable replacement. 

Companies should realize that this problem can worsen because the number of employees who are hopping jobs is on the increase. This also means that companies should take suitable measures for retaining competent employees. One of the vital measures they must take is to help these employees in their career growth efforts. Let us see how they can do this.

1. Increased monetary benefits may not help always 

As an employer, you must understand that increased remuneration alone will not prevent employees from quitting. Nowadays, many employees want to learn and grow. A study reveals that 75% of those employees who are enthusiastic about their career growth look for learning opportunities. The only caveat is they want to learn at their own pace.

If you do not make such opportunities available to them, they may be reluctant to engage themselves fully in your company's affairs. If this disenchantment is allowed to grow, they may decide to quit your company soon. So, you should constantly keep reviewing the learning opportunities available in your company so these employees will understand that you value their aspirations and are ready to help them in achieving their goals. 

2. Creating a two-way path

Many organizations commit the mistake of discussing the career goals of their employees only when the annual ritual of reviewing their performance is conducted. In fact, many employers do not discuss the career goals of their employees at all but they just assess their performance during these annual sessions. In other words, employers are oblivious of the fact that circumstances keep changing constantly and not just once a year. This means the goals of the employees may also undergo changes often. That is the reason you, as an employer, should create a two-way path so you can have ongoing discussions with your employees. Such an ongoing arrangement for communication will help you keep track of their career goals and also in checking their progress.

You must also guide your employees suitably so their career goals are in complete synergy with the goals of the company. This means when an employee achieves his career goal, your company will benefit also. 

3. Be ready to invest in inclusive and holistic development

This means you must not only help in the professional development of your employees but in their personal development as well. For example, some of your employees may be interested in reading and updating their knowledge. You can create a budget for setting up a library so you can fulfill the desire of such employees. Similarly, there may be employees who may be interested in fitness and so, you can put in place a well-equipped gym for fulfilling their desire. This approach may also help in retaining employees.

4. Recognize and motivate

Never fail to acknowledge and recognize the unique achievements of your employees. Remember that no achievement is trivial. Recognition at the workplace will go a long way in motivating them. Apart from appreciating them verbally, you must make it a point to offer perks they are interested in.

When employees realize that you are interested in helping them grow intheir career, they may willingly stay with your company for a long, long time.

Removing Communication Barriers at the Workplace

A number of managers attribute "communication gap" as one of the main reasons for their wrong decisions. In fact, wrongly interpreted or misunderstood messages and information can wreck a havoc in workplace relationships also. Though unintentional factors may contribute to such wrong interpretations or misunderstandings, the individuals involved may have to undertake time-consuming damage control exercises once the damage is done. 

But what can be the barriers that may hamper effective communication? The main barrier for effective communications is not using the right gestures, tone, symbols and words. Of course, the communicator should also take into account the capabilities of the receiver in comprehending the information or the message. Let us now look at some of the ways to remove communication barriers.

Use simple language

Use simple words for communicating your message because not everyone will understand complex language. Point-wise presentation of the message will help in communicating clearly. Long letters, verbose messages and cluttered presentations may make the information incomprehensible. Similarly, avoid adding points that are irrelevant as well. 

The language you use should go well with the audience to whom you are sending out your message. In other words, the language you use should suit their levels of comprehension. 

Avoid information overload

Many people have a notion that they can convey a message with clarity only if they provide lots of information. This is wrong because the receiver will not even look at the message if there is information overload in it. Not only that, experts have found that the level of understanding will come down if the reader has to devote more time for reading a letter. Similarly, if the reader is expected to come out with more number of responses or actions, it will create a confusion over the priorities of responses or actions also.

Take into account the priorities of the receivers

Every manager or executive attaches a lot of value to his time. Likewise, he will have his own priorities as well. This means he will give preference to his tasks and priorities rather on the information or messages he receives from others. Even if the messages are marked as top priority or urgent, the receiving manager may not read them thoroughly because his priorities are different and he thinks that his time is highly valuable. 

Consider the emotions of the receivers

Experts categorically opine that emotions can cause huge craters in communications. For example, threatening words may cause emotions like fear, resentment, anxiety or anger in the receivers. These emotions may force them to behave unpredictably. There are chances of relationships going soar. Use of such words may result in legal issues also. 

Therefore, you should keep your emotions in check while communicating with others in your workplace. Even if you are not pleased with the work or performance of others, you must use subtle ways to communicate your mind.

Don't have pre-conceived notions

When you send a message and expect responses from the receivers, it is better not to have pre-conceived notions. Similarly, when you expect a message or request from others, don't pre-determine your response without knowing fully well about the content of the message or request. This will make the senders "communication shy." Once people around you become "communication shy," you cannot get their opinions or suggestions. This may hamper the decision-making process in your organization.

To summarize, if you understand these communication barriers and remove them as quickly as possible, you can create a conducive ambiance in your workplace.

How to Make Your Workplace Dialogues Pleasant

The purpose of workplace dialogues is not only for communicating but for gathering the required information and sharing ideas, feelings and thoughts as well. But you cannot always have smooth dialogues because you may be dealing with different types of people with different traits. Some people may differ from you and quite often, conversations may turn hostile. But remember that such conversations may cause stress which in turn may affect your health and also your productivity. Also remember that having smooth and pleasant dialogues at the workplace is possible, regardless of whatever may be the situation. Let us have a look.

Handling negotiations

Behavioral science says that it is easy to influence those who have a liking for you. You should therefore try to make people including your opponents like you. The best strategy for this is to find out the interests that are common to you and them. Never forget the old adage "birds of the same feather flock together." Common interests will create a bond between you and them. The goodwill created will improve the trustworthiness and this may help in negotiating successfully.

Another way is to discover relevant points using which you can heap praises on those with whom you are negotiating. This tactic can tilt the negotiations in your favor.

Handling conflict signs

When you conduct meetings, there are chances of conflicts and disagreements erupting. But if you allow them to become major issues, the very purpose of conducting the meetings will get defeated. So, regardless of whether the difference of opinion is with your boss, your peer or subordinate, you must make it a point to use your words carefully. Remember how a copywriter chooses his words for communicating his message. Never try to show that you know everything. Also be careful not to undermine the self-esteem of other participants. Present your points as valuable information without using the tone of arguing. When you present your data with clarity as a copywriting expert does, others may be able to view things with new perspectives that they may have overlooked. This may lead to agreements.

How to do your online marketing

Online marketing may involve a lot of interactions with clients. Never think that clients are asking silly questions. You are in the field and hence, you may be aware of the features of your products or services. On the other hand, your clients may be literate lay people and so, may not know fully well about the products or services you are offering. Therefore, chances of silly questins emanating from your clients are there. You must answer the queries clearly and with patience.

How to share a not-so-encouraging situation or trend

If you think that a particular situation or trend is not encouraging, don't rush to your boss and break the news. Instead, do an in-depth analysis and test the veracity of your discovery. Your way of communicating and the timing of sharing the information are important. You must break the news only when your boss is in a relaxed mood. Not only that, you must have some viable ideas for surmounting the situation. Your boss will not only be receptive to the news but will appreciate you for your ideas. 

Similarly, if you are at the receiving end of some bad news, you must be patient while hearing the information. Workplace dialogues become unpleasant only because people become impatient while listening to others. Due to impatience while listening, you may miss out on some vital information. This may terribly affect your decision making process. On the other hand, if you are patient and listen carefully, you may get all the necessary information that will go a long way in helping you make the right decisions.

Interactions with clients

Like employees, clients may also be of various types. Some clients may show their anger even for trivial things. So, you should develop your skills for dealing with clients. Apart from remaining composed, you must ensure to adopt inoffensive ways to deal with them. When clients raise an issue, request them to give you an opportunity to correct the situation. Tell them in a polite tone that your aim is to satisfy them fully and that you will never leave any step untried for achieving this aim. In short, the clients should be so impressed that they realize that only if they cool down, the issue can be resolved. Simply put, the focus of your approach should be to win their trust back and simultaneously, make them understand that.

To summarize, there are chances of conflicts erupting at the workplace but you must not allow yourself to be consumed by negative emotions. If you allow it, you may not be able to communicate properly and this will ultimately worsen the situation and cause you more stress. If you feel that your emotions may overpower you, resort to the age-old practice of taking a deep breath. Lungs full of oxygen may help you calm down so you can think in the right perspective.

Give a Boost to Your Marketing Efforts by Adopting the Right Strategies for Customer Retention

A number of business owners commit the mistake of focusing more on expanding their client base rather than on retaining their clients. In other words, for them, adding new clients alone is synonymous with marketing. They should realize that retaining their existing customers is as important as acquiring new clients.

A study by Bain & Company reveals that on an average, the expenses incurred for attracting new customers are seven times higher than what is spent on keeping them. Not only that, if you are able to retain only 5% of your existing customers on an annual basis, your profits will increase by 125%. In short, retention efforts do yield results even in the long term and you will be able to build your business more efficiently.

This means you must create smart retention strategies for retaining your existing customers and also for converting your new clients into loyal and long-term customers. In short, right strategies will help you earn more by spending less. 

The following suggestions may help you put in place an effective customer retention program.

1. Have an efficient CRM system

By having an efficient CRM system, you can track the effectiveness of your communications with your customers. Though an automated CRM system that consists of customized messages pertaining to issues, product information, etc. may be preferable, things should be manually monitored also because you may have to address the specific issues many of your customers may have. In other words, an efficient CRM will help in customer retention.

2. Move up retention in your priority list

You should accord more priority to retention than to acquisition. This means you should increase your budget for communicating effectively and purposefully with your existing customers. Hesitating to hire competent copywriters for crafting high-quality emails, messages, ads, press releases and other forms of communications may prove to be an expensive mistake. Copywriting professionals alone will understand the needs of your customers and craft contents suitably. Your marketing team should also be educated suitably for focusing on the existing clients with an aim to retain them as loyal customers.

3. Have a system for measuring customer value

You should have a system for measuring the lifetime value of your customers. This means instead of focusing on individual sales, use your database for measuring the total sales you get from every customer. Details such as frequency of their purchases, the monetary value of the purchases they make, etc. will help in determining their lifetime value. But at the same time, do not commit the mistake of ignoring the value of small customers. Remember that the present-day world is highly connected. Dissatisfied customers can spread about it through word-of-mouth as well as word-of-mouse.

The purpose of knowing the lifetime value of customers is to determine how much you must invest in your retention efforts for those with high lifetime value.

4. Customer service is very important

Customer retention is possible only if you focus on customer service. You and every employee working for you should have powers to make on-the-spot decisions for ensuring customer satisfaction. Employees should not delay handling the problems of customers. Remember that by delaying action on the issues faced by customers, you will be sending them away to your competitors.

5. Communicate frequently with your customers

Keep in constant touch with your customers. Send them messages about upcoming sales, offers, etc. You can also send “thank you” notes along with coupons for ensuring you get repeat business from them. Again engaging the services of a competent copywriter is very important for communicating effectively. But do not commit the mistake of irritating them by sending unsolicited emails.

6. Make the best use of social media

If you think that social media is just for pushing your messages or sending your likes, you are wrong. You can engage your customers and communicate with them effectively through social media. By sharing, commenting and thanking people, you can use these platforms effectively. It is not necessary that you must be on all the platforms. Be choosy but make the best use of them.

7. Every issue is an opportunity

Every issue you may face may have a kernel of opportunity in it. So, delve deep into every issue and find out the ways to improve yourself, your business and your products and services.

If you keep your focus on customer retention, you will get several ideas. You can implement the most suitable ones and derive the best benefits of your online marketing efforts.

How to Manage IT Staff

It appears that our planet does not believe in equality and that may perhaps be the reason men are so different. Even if we take the example of an organization, there are several departments manned by various kinds of people. This means as a manager, you will come across different types of employees. Unless you have the imagination and acumen of a copywriter for communicating properly and managing these employees in the right manner, you will be a glorious failure. Let us now look at how you must manage the staff working in the ITdepartment of your organization.

Those who work in the IT sections of organizations are commonly known as geeks and you, as a manager, may think that these geeks are hot-headed, arrogant and egotistic. You may also think that many of these IT people behave like know-it-alls and that they are over-paid. You are not alone. Many managers think like you. In fact, many managers think that handling their IT staff is a nightmare. The following points may help you.

1. There is no denying the fact that these IT staff play a significant role in organizations. If they are not handled properly, their productivity may nose-dive and their performance may be lackadaisical. As a manager, don't forget the fact these geeks are very much different from the rest of the employees working in your organization. Their mindset is completely different and so are their ambitions. But at the same time, they are not impossible to manage, though many of them may be difficult to handle. This means regular management rules may not apply to these folks. You should be as creative as copywriters are.

2. Learning their language and using their terminology may help you in conversing with them more freely. If you fail to take this step, they may look down upon you as a lay-person. In fact, they don't tolerate "ignorant" people. As far as they are concerned, those who do not understand their language are ignorant people. But at the same time, guard against pretending that you understand whatever they talk because they can easily spot it. This means you should patiently and politely ask them to explain those topics you don't understand.

3. IT people hate ambiguity because they are used to ordered reasoning. You should therefore be precise and specific while interacting with them. In other words, you should communicate your message as clearly as copywriters do.

These folks do not like inconsistency also which means if you talk one thing and do just the opposite, they will not put up with it.

4. There may be people with poor communication skills among IT people. You must understand the limitations of such people and handle them accordingly. After all, they are not in the copywriting profession and therefore, you cannot expect them to have impeccable communication skills. Similarly, there are may be employees who lack social skills also. But refrain from pointing out these shortcomings to them or discussing such things with others.

5. IT people like challenges and crisis situations. But don't command them to solve such situations. Instead, request them if they can help you in tiding over the situations.

6. Never micro-manage IT staff. Once you entrust tasks to them, allow them to put appropriate strategies in place so. But your tasks should come with well-defined guidelines. This means you should communicate the desired goals as clearly as a competent copywriter does.

7. IT departments work very well if you create a suitable team environment. But ensure that the teams are not very big. It has been found that the productivity of large teams is low.

8. Identify a leader among the team members but ensure that every member accepts the role of the leader. Otherwise, the leader cannot motivate the members properly.

9. Consult the IT staff of your company while making business decisions. This will not only help you in aligning the projects suitably with business strategies and implementation but in selling the decisions to them. Not only that, IT staff will be able to point out shortcomings or weaknesses, if any, in your strategies also.

In short, IT employees expect that their manager should be supportive, helpful and logical. They also like managers who provide them with clear instructions as competent copywriters do and who adopt a fair approach while handling them. If you have these traits, you can easily manage them and contribute to the success of your company. 

Tips To Succeed In Your Career

"How to succeed in my career?" This is a common question that may haunt the minds of almost all employed people. Though this appears to be a tough question to answer, everyone should find out ways to succeed in their career because there is competition everywhere. If you are also obsessed with this question, you can use the following tips for beating the competition in your workplace and getting ahead.

1. Set your goals

You must first set your career goals. Unless you are clear about them, you can not achieve success in your career. You should have short-term as well as long-term goals so it will be easy for you to cross your milestones one by one. By setting goals, you can monitor your progress easily also.

2. Have priorities

Secondly, you should learn to set priorities and the task of setting priorities should be done on a daily basis. In fact, planning your day involves making a list of urgent and important tasks you should complete.

3. Never lose your focus

You may carry out a number of tasks during the course of your work but at no point of time, you should lose sight of your goals. Even if you go on a holiday, the aim should be to rejuvenate yourself for working with added vigor so you can achieve your goals on time. There may be a number of distractions but you should never give in. 

4. Keep widening your skills

The job market is never static and your organization may not be an exception. You should therefore keep acquiring new skills. Sometimes, you may have to acquire skills that you think are not related to your current position. But companies expect that people should have complementary skills. For example, a marketing executive should know the basics of accounting, an accountant should know administration and marketing and so on. In short, you should be a continuous learner.

5. Never hesitate to socialize

Though man is a social animal, not everyone may be willing to socialize. But you should learn to socialize if you want to advance in your career. By making friends with new acquaintances and attending social functions, you can gradually develop your social skills. You should be genuinely enthusiastic when you meet new people. If you improve your listening skills, you can certainly become popular among people. Being a good listener will help you learn new things on a continuous basis.

6. Use the SWOT tool wisely

You should do an honest assessment of yourself to know your strengths and weaknesses. If you feel that you deserve a pay rise or promotion thanks to your merits, you should not hesitate to claim it.

7. Face challenges squarely

There are many people who are afraid of challenges. They can never advance in their careers. But if you want to develop into a complete person, you should accept challenges. This attitude will help you explore areas you have never ventured earlier.  On the contrary, if you cozily remain in your comfort zone, you can never grow or learn new things. This attitude will impede your progress. 

8. Communicate effectively

Effective communication is the key to success in any career. Effective communication involves not only passing on your ideas and thoughts but listening also. When you imbibe ideas and communicate effectively, you can persuade people and will also be able to gather all the information you may require for carrying out your tasks.

9. Never indulge in gossips

This rule is applicable not only for career advancements but for leading a successful life as well. You should show respect to everyone and be good to the company as well as other employees.

10. Get sufficient rest

This is for rejuvenating yourself so you can execute your tasks more efficiently. You need not be a workaholic for succeeding in your career. Instead, you must learn to relax and manage your work-related stress effectively so that your productivity keeps improving constantly.

11. Be responsible

You should have a responsible attitude. If you own responsibility for whatever you do, others will respect you. On the other hand, if you disown your responsibilities, you will very soon earn the wrath of your co-workers as well as managers.

12, Work to boost your confidence levels

You can be confident only if you acquire the required knowledge and skills in the job you do. If you work with confidence, you can move ahead very quickly. But there is only a thin line that divides confidence and arrogance. You should understand this and refrain from being arrogant. While confidence can help you advance in your career, arrogance will demolish all your dreams.

13. Try building strong relationships

You should make efforts to have strong relationships with everyone in your company. Developing strong relationships does not mean developing friendships. It means building trust. Likability, respect and trust are very important factors that will make your journey towards your goals smooth.

If you bear in mind these tips and work sincerely, you will certainly succeed in your career.

Quitting Is Not The Right Option When Employees Are Unable To Achieve Work-Life Balance

In the recent years, a considerable number of employees including those of popular companies have quit their jobs declaring that they could not achieve work-life balance at all. These employees might be thinking that the step they have taken is right and may do good to them. But in reality, they have not done good either to them or to their companies.

Most importantly, their step of quitting does not help the thousands or may be, millions of other employees who may experience the same plight of over-working and not being able to spend quality time with their friends or family members. But since they may have other problems including lack of other resources, they are not able to quit their jobs.

One of the classic examples of those who quit their jobs due to this problem was Max Schireson, former CEO of MongoDB, who could not balance his roles of a dad and a CEO. Similarly, Patrick Pichette, former CFO of Google, quit the company citing the reason that he wanted to spend quality time with his family. Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco’s CEO, resigned when he was given a list by his daughter how he had missed more than 20 childhood milestones due to his work pressure. Thanks to their work-packed hours, these people lost the time they had to spend with their families. 

But instead of quitting, they should have chosen to make use of their experience and creativity to find work-life balance. In fact, if CEOs and managers strive to bring a good change in the corporate policies, all the employees will benefit. Their organizations will ultimately benefit also.

"Flexible working hours - A perk or a smart decision?

Companies have all along been thinking that flexible working is a perk to employees. But management experts opine that it is a smart decision made by business owners. Flexible working can do immense good to departments such as finance and HR management and most importantly, to employees.

The best benefit to companies is they can save substantially if they utilize the services of telecommuting employees. Further, these employees remain more engaged than the normal employees. Studies reveal that in companies that offer the flexible working option to their employees, employee satisfaction levels increase by more than 80%. Likewise, these companies are able to retain talents also.

How a flexible working program can be implemented

Assess the current situation as well as requirements of your company 

You must first know the problems the flexible working program you are offering will solve. Never make a guess but try to gather as much data as possible so you can know what work-life balance issues will get resolved by your offer. You can explore what types of options are available to you. You can offer the working-from-home option or you can accede to employees' request of choosing the starting and ending times of their working days. You must keep an open mind so when you stumble upon unique and new options, you can add them to your list of offers.

Change may take time

You should put in place a good strategy for testing new policies. The details of the policies you introduce in your company must be communicated in lucid terms to all the employees. You are not advised to implement the new policies in a full-fledged manner while taking the first step itself but at the same time, you need not hesitate to make a beginning. But be committed to your implementation goals so you can move forward steadily. For example, you can initially offer flexible working hours for a day in a week. If you think it works well, you can increase the frequency. You can make suitable changes to your policies as and when necessary. Do not hesitate to solicit feedback from your employees because this is a very good trust-building step.

Be a role model

When you introduce the flexible working policy, you must be the first to use the option. Most of the employees may not feel safe when they observe that their bosses themselves do not use the new option. So, you must inspire your staff to follow suit by leading from the front.

Your managers must be suitably equipped with excellent techniques

If your employees think that just attending office and being at the desk or the workplace throughout the day are enough, you must bring about a change in their attitude. They should understand that being productive is much different from being present in the office. Employees who choose the option of flexible working should know that they must focus on the company's goals and targets and work towards achieving them. This means your managers must proactively and clearly communicate the targets as well as goals of the company to their subordinates. Managers must also collaborate with the employees for making them work towards these goals. If employees realize that the company has realistic expectations from them, they may not hesitate to take all the steps to optimize their productivity.

Managers should get rid of all the passive and useless techniques they have all along been adopting and switch to new skills that may suit employees who work the traditional way as well as those who choose flexible working.

Findings of a study reveal that by 2020, more than 50% of employees will opt to work remotely. So, companies must provide employees with more control so they can choose where they work from, when they should work and how they intend to work. This will boost their productivity and their health will also improve. They may derive more satisfaction from their job. They may work for longer hours than the employees who work the traditional way. This will ultimately lead to better work-life balance.

So, those employees, managers as well as CEOs who decide to quit because they are not able to find good work-life balance must choose to stay so they can spur the necessary changes in their respective organizations. This will improve their relationship with their families. Thousands of employees who are forced to stick on to their jobs despite the fact that they are not able to balance their work life and family life will benefit also if business owners and managers introduce this viable option of flexible working in their organizations.