Infrastructure helps retain staff

There was a need to create social infrastructure for better employer-employee relation and for reducing attrition rate, said speakers at a day long seminar on human resource development organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

In the post-liberalisation period HR practices have changed considerably, calling for a change in the employer's perspective in retaining talent pool in an organisation, they said.

Suggesting ways to retain talented employees, Anand Nayak, executive vice-president of ITC, said making employees stakeholders in a company was a good HR practice. The most common reason for an employee to leave an organisation was disagreement with superiors.

Sanjay Muthal, president-HR of Nicholas Piramal, said the average work life of an individual had come down in a market-driven economy, and lifetime employment was a thing of past.

Pointing out some of the notable differences in HR practices over the years, he said irreversible shift of the economy from industrial age to information age made prolonged retention of key people difficult. There was a growing propensity among people to change jobs.

"Earlier HR practices were designed to create loyal employees, but not efficient ones," he said, adding, "previously people needed companies, now companies need people."