The HR Challenges of Managing Attrition in Organization

There have been numerous news and stories in recent months describing how attrition is having a negative impact on numerous Asian firms, particularly in India's IT sector. Whereas in the western countries attrition is no longer a problem due to recession and the dire economic conditions. Layoffs are common in western countries. In better performing Asian countries attrition has come back to trouble the organization.

What is Attrition

Employee attrition is the process through which the employees leave the company or organization for any reasons may be voluntarily or involuntarily, such as retirement, termination, death, or resignation. The attrition rate is calculated by dividing the rate at which employees depart a business by the typical number of employees over a specific time period.

Various Reasons for Attrition

The inability of the employee to get along with the manager is typically the most important reason for departure. Various management professionals and organizational behavior theorists frequently use the proverb “employees leave managers not organizations.”

Despite this, it is important to keep in mind that attrition can also result from other factors, such as employees being dissatisfied with their pay or the raise they receive following their performance appraisal. Attrition may also occur because employees may perceive that the current organization is not performing well as compared to other organization in the same domain. In addition to this, attrition occurs as a result of employees finding positions in other businesses that are more satisfying and match their backgrounds and skill sets

How Companies Manage Attrition?

After knowing the possible reasons for attrition lets us understand how companies and the HR Managers manage attrition. Managers are frequently asked to identify the possible attrition issues before an employee actually submits his or her resignation. For example, a common practice among multinational corporations is to ask their managers compile lists of potential employees who are likely to resign. The list of employees is sent to the HR manager and senior manager so that when the employee quits the company or the organization is ready for the quitting event or can counsel the employee against quitting. The employee who wants to quit the organization is counseled if the manager recognizes the employee's value to the organization and views attrition as a loss to the business. The human resource department schedules meeting with the middle management and the managers so that they can retain the employees who wants to quit. During these meeting employees can express their frustration or discomfort to their managers and thus there can be a possible solution to prevent attrition and solve the employees concerns.

How Organization Suffers from Attrition

The organizations suffer from attrition as they loose trained employees who are skilled at their tasks. It costs money for the organization to recruit replacement for the employees who have left, train them and get them to be productive to the organization. Attrition is harmful as when few employees leave the company others follow the same. This is huge loss to company or organization as the hiring and training cost is high.

Loss of manager or senior manager due to attrition is very harmful for the organization as they were handling critical responsibilities and were frequently in charge of developing and putting strategy into action.

However, not all forms of attrition are detrimental to the companies. For instance, the voluntary or involuntary attrition of employees who are not performing well makes many managers and HR managers happy since they can now concentrate on hiring replacements who are more capable and motivated.