Training, training, training
Ownership and communication only work if employees have the confidence to earn and use them. That comes with training, the one area that all loyalty leaders address in common. And with good reason. Training is important even in relatively stable environments. In Asia, as technological developments and industry shifts change job descriptions in practically every sector, no company can keep up without organization-wide training.
Motorola Philippines staff average 40 training hours a year. Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems (M) Sdn. Bhd. allots nine and a half training days per employee and 8 percent of payroll on training, against a national average in Malaysia of 4 percent.
By investing generously in training staff―particularly management and sales employees―U.S. chemicals producer Rohm & Haas in China helped foster team spirit and sharpened workers skills.
In particular, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit, the companys salespeople received training to help them emphasize the value of the companys high-technology products and handle price objections―at a time when rising costs have forced the company to increase prices by 100 percent over the past two years.
Training has also made them stay. The joint venture experienced zero turnover in 1994 and 1995―almost unheard-of in China or anywhere else in Asia.
Training doesnt have to be delivered by the company itself. First Pacific reimburses 100 percent of job-related training costs. TNT Singapore subsidizes employees part-time education courses. “We find that staff acquiring tertiary education provide depth of know-how, analytical and problem-solving skills to the organization. It also helps in succession planning and future deployment of staff,” says Tang.
Instituting competitive compensation and benefits
Compensation is either first or last on the list of HR tools, but its on everyones list. “Of course, the most important factor in staff retention is a competitive compensation structure,” says TNT Expresss Tang. TNT constantly adjusts compensation; benchmarking even helped it to adjust the pay structure of its part-time employees.
Dusit Thanis Van Ogtrop says, “In our case, base salary is the number one motivator, especially in our industry, where more than half the payroll belongs to the rank-and-file.” Though that percentage doesnt hold for 3M, it still makes sure its compensation levels are at the upper 70 percent in its industry.
Others focus more on variable income. Both Siemens Nixdorf and TNT Express use it. Rohm & Haas initiated a profit-sharing bonus scheme in China, which on average represents 35 percent of the total annual salary.
Benefits are particularly important in China. A housing scheme which presents Rohm & Haas employees with a lump sum―enough for a down payment on an apartment―after five years further helps Rohm & Haas hold on to its valued employees. Hongkong Banks management trainees qualify for a generous housing scheme when they return to China from their training stint in Hong Kong. The scheme allows them to borrow up to 100 times their monthly salary at 2 percent interest.
Long-term solution. Still, one of the constant management debates is about the importance of compensation by itself. Some analysts say it accounts for no more than 20 percent of the factors that contribute to work satisfaction. The other 80 percent comes from items that dont have serial numbers―everything else listed in bullet points above.
No single program, however, attracts or retains people. Even trying to find a combination wont work in the long term. All of these HR techniques wont matter much if the companies practicing them dont connect them to what Stanford University professor Jeffrey Pfeffer calls an “overarching philosophy.”
He explains: “An overarching philosophy provides a way of connecting the various individual practices into a coherent whole. Practices adopted without a deeper understanding of what they represent and why they are important to the organization may not add up to much, and are likely to produce less than stellar results.”
Companies that have found a long-term solution to the turnover problem gather around a common philosophy. And as long as youre attuned to the new meaning of the term, its called loyalty.
Dinna Dayao is an associate editor of Chief Executive Asia. With additional reports by Nazir Husain Keshvani in Singapore and George Thomas in Kuala Lumpur.
来源:世界管理者文摘