Posts

Employee retention strategies for Millennials

Image
  Millennials are not only the future of employment in the services industry, they have slowly become a major force within businesses everywhere. This generation of workers has forever changed the workplace environment and it is critical that companies understand how to meet their cultural expectations in order to retain them. According to Deloitte (2014), Millennials will account for 75% of the workforce by 2025. As the workforce changes, business leaders need to understand how to not only attract Millennials to their companies, but how to keep them around. The employers need to develop positive work environment, flexible workspaces, effective training programs, provide constant feedback, maintain transparency and engage the millennial workforce keep millennials motivated. Develop positive work Environment Millennials seek a great work atmosphere and culture that values collaboration, innovation, and empowerment (Stewart et al., 2016). Like every generation, enjoying where the...

Motivating performance through organizational culture

Image
Culture can be defined as the shared beliefs, thoughts, morals, beliefs, prospects, attitudes, and norms that interweave a community together. Organizational culture is common beliefs and practices in the organization about how they should operate and interact within the organization (Prajogo et al., 2010). Organizational culture is a driver of organizational innovation and accomplishment (Ceausu, et al., 2017). What motivates employees are organizational behaviour which is based on organizational culture (Kanfer et al., 2016). Previous studies have suggested that there exists a relationship between organizational culture and its performance (performance is the ability (both physical & psychological) to carry out a particular task in a particular manner that can be measured as low, medium or high in scale. Uddin et al., (2013) debated on this point that organizational culture is essentially connected to company practices; therefore, organizational performance is dependent on orga...

A common reason diversity initiatives fail

Image
Workforce diversity is becoming increasingly important with rising awareness of the existence of overt and subtle forms of discrimination and the negative implications from them. While hiring a diverse workforce is strategic to an organization, a diverse workforce does not necessarily guarantee an inclusive workplace. Diversity programs are not increasing diversity (Dobbin et. al, 2016). Equal employment opportunity/ affirmative action (EEO/AA) laws promoting diversity are not necessarily translating into tangible diversity efforts or outcomes (Ng et. al, 2018). Leaders have long recognized that a diverse workforce helps to build competitive edge in terms of selling products or services to diverse end users (Sherbin et. al, 2017). “Diversity” and “inclusion” are used interrelated, but they are different (Hafeez et. al, 2020). Diversity is only a representation; hence it is measurable. On the other hand, inclusion is intangible and it relates to the emotions of diverse workforce. Incl...

Benefits and challenges of training and development

Image
  Benefits of training and development Training and development act as a motivator for employees. This can be justified through motivational theories such as Hergberg’s two factor theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Hergberg’s two factor theory, training and development act as a motivator resulting in advancement and growth. Therefore, the theory suggests that when employees are motived, it leads to job satisfaction (Carson, 2005). Further, as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Figure 01), training and development addresses physiological, social and fulfillment needs of an individual (Ganta, 2014). Induction training sessions meet physiological needs as they prepare employees to the job and familiarize them with their job roles. Trainings designed to enhance communication skills, public speaking and team cohesiveness meet social needs of the employees. Leadership programs to prepare highly skilled employees to their next role as part of succession planning meets fu...

Understanding training and development processes to achieve organizational goals with individuals and teams

Image
Training refers to activities that helps to acquire new knowledge, skills and abilities which will be applied in the near term or immediately whilst development refers to acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities that has no immediate application (Borman et al., 2003). As Khan et.al, (2011), states the goal of training and development is to integrate organizational interests with the workforce. Training and development is important in Human Resources practices as it enhances efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Organizational performance is dependent on employee performance. Training and development increases employee performance. The role and perceived value of training have tremendously changed the way how HR professionals look at training and development and companies are vastly investing in training and developing their workforce. According to Tharenou (2001), Training is now viewed as a learning process. Learning during training is influenced by job/career attitudes prio...

Redefining learning and development success metrics

Image
  Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge and skills useful for the organization (Akella, 2020). The learning function of an organization plays a strategic role in five areas. They are attracting and retaining talent, developing people capabilities, creating values based culture, building an employer brand, and motivating and engaging employees (Kiyana et. al, 2017). Figure 01: 5 strategic areas of learning and development Source: Kiyana et. al, 2017 Organizational performance is a multidimensional construct and a dependent variable on the investment in training, human resources, operational and financial dimensions (Garavan et. al, 2019). L & D programs are difficult to evaluate in monetary terms (Schoeb et. al, 2019). Technology has grown to influence the success of each department in an organization with the data measurement at every customer touchpoint. This has brought drastic changes on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other success metrics from marketin...

Recruiting trends shaped by the pandemic

Image
   The Pandemic has increased the challenges for recruitment and selection. Employee recruitment and selection happens when there is a shortage of human capital (Mwita, 2020). Recruitment in private organizations were largely affected than public organizations which continued to operate during COVID-19 as they were considered essential businesses. Many organizations were forced to curb their recruitment plans. Therefore, they had to retain existing staff and design layoff strategies to minimize cost (Elsafty et. al, 2020).  The concept of virtual workspaces has led to changes in organizational culture (Kingma, 2019). It has become much more difficult to hire talented employees (Ahmed et.al, 2020). In traditional business environment, recruiters meet with prospective employees for assessment. However due to the potential spread of COVID-19, HR professionals are currently focusing on online interviews. Job opportunities are published electronically and candidates are able t...