CIO's Guide To 'People Skills'

Every employee loss at the mid- to high-level costs a company almost 25-40 percent in salaries and a change at the ‘C-Level’ can cost an astounding loss of almost 100 percent. Even then, the CIO community had turned a blind eye to the people issue till the recent past, leaving it to the realm of the HR department alone.

Today, CIOs stand on the brink of a business leadership role and hence are getting attuned to the challenge of talent retention. Now as they don the HR hat and hone their people skills, retention strategies vis-à-vis ICT strategies have started fighting for the CIO’s mind space.

Talent Loss Woes

A senior person leaving an organisation can cost a company dearly. Not only does it have to hire a replacement at a much higher cost, there are many additional expenses attached to it.

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Ashish Panjwani, Director, Single Point HR Solutions – an end-to-end human resource Solutions company – explains, “The amount of time lost in hiring a replacement and the gestation period for that newly hired person to settle down and start being productive is a straight loss to the company. In addition, there is also the cost of hiring through a consultant or a HR company. All this cumulatively costs a company almost 25-40 percent in salaries.”

A key employee leaving means an expensive search for replacement. In addition, there is the loss of time, effort and money spent on training people. By the time an employee is trained and is made business-ready, he/she decides to move on, leading to knowledge drain.

Interactions with various CIOs point out that employee attrition is one of their biggest management challenges. Not only is it extremely difficult to find a person who is a right fit but holding on to him/her is a mammoth task.

It has become more important than ever before for IT leaders to don the HR hat and ensure that their team is working in a cohesive and growth-oriented environment. However, not much can be done about people who are looking for short cuts and change jobs as per their whims and fancies.

“There are people who job hop every six months just to get a pay hike. This can be done for only a couple of years because post that, its starts reflecting negatively on the CV. I would rather not have such a person and would be very happy to let go,” says Ritu Madbhavi, Senior VP-IT, Draft FCB Ulka.

User Companies Vs. IT Vendor Companies

User companies quite often lose talent to IT companies. This is mostly because exposure to newer technologies and opportunity to master various areas of IT is much more in IT organisations vis-à-vis an EDP set-up.

“Losing talent to the vendor side is a big challenge for CIOs and it is sometimes beyond their control. CIOs have to work on limited budgets and cannot always invest in newer technologies. Hence, they cannot provide an extensive learning ground to their team. Another aspect is that they do not need to adopt every new technology. If business is running smoothly and a certain new technology is not aligned to business goals, he/she will definitely not invest,” shares Panjwani.

IT team members also feel that their growth opportunity is stunted. In a user organisation, they can grow to be a senior manager at the most. In comparison, their growth opportunity is much more in vendor companies. However, CIOs can salvage this situation by defining roles and charting a growth path for their teams. A healthy succession plan also goes a long way in retaining talent.

However, Madbhavi disagrees, “I don’t think CIOs have to fear losing talent to IT companies. As I see it, work at a vendor company is more project-based as compared to in a user organisation where an IT personnel is part of the business. Once a project ends, so does the involvement of the IT expert in that company’s business.”

She further explains that such fear is justified in a company that sees IT as a cost centre. “My company looks at IT as a business enabler. Our IT set-up looks at helping the business increase productivity, lowering costs and boosting the bottom-line. We are part of the bigger picture,” she adds.

Pull Out All The Stops

IT leaders, today, have woken up to the peril of attrition. While they realise that it is one of their core responsibilities to create a favourable work environment and ensure employee satisfaction within their team, there is still a huge room for improvement.

CIOs and HR experts share some key guidelines that can help IT leaders ride through their attrition woes.

Find the right fit: Retention is directly linked to hiring right. It is imperative that hiring is in sync with company requirements and growth plans. CIOs should check if the aspiration of the person he/she is hiring is in sync with business goals. If one manages to retain a person for more than three years or more, then the hiring is right.

Talk: The importance of bonding and talking to your team members cannot be stressed enough. “Communicate, communicate, communicate,” says Tamal Chakravorty, CIO, Ericsson India when asked to share his retention best practice.

“It is important to talk to your team members. CIOs should share their various experiences with team members as it is of significant use in their learning curve. Sharing your hardships, accomplishments, failures, etc. will prepare your juniors better. This will also help in effective succession planning as it will help your second line to grow in to your role,” he adds.

Align with business: CIOs should make their team a part of the business. They should be imparted with a strong understanding of how business works and how IT can felicitate business.

This has already been put to practice by a few leading CIOs. One such example is that of Chakravorty’s. “Business partnership is of utmost importance. People in my team are part of various business units. They are part of those business teams’ strategy meetings and participate in key decision-making,” he explains.

Provide training: IT team members should be given continuous training to whet their technology appetite and also sharpen their business knowledge. With thorough knowledge of business, technology leaders can not only help use technology to run business but also participate in expansion of business.

Empathise: Every manager should mandatorily be a HR manager. “CIOs are more technology-oriented. They mostly lack people skills and empathy. It is critical that IT leaders learn to create a relationship with their team members and ensure they are happy. This can be done by providing exposure to technology, giving the right compensation and creating a politically free work environment,” opines Panjwani.

Go beyond pay hikes: Just a pay hike is not always the answer to retaining talent. It has to be balanced approach. Monetary needs of every person keep changing. When you no longer can meet those expectations, that person is bound to go. So it is a short-lived strategy.

Let loose: No good comes out of keeping a check on every action of your subordinates. “I do not believe in micro managing and hence let them loose. I encourage them to take decisions. Also important is to free them up from mundane jobs. Such routine jobs should be outsourced and people should be freed to think,” says Chakravorty of Ericsson India.

Madbhavi shares a similar view. She believes in delegating work and empowering her team to take right decisions. She says it is critical to give team members a lot of technology exposure so that they are abreast of the latest technological development. Equally important is to hone their leadership skills. This can be done by handing over responsibility and enabling them to take key decisions.

Map career growth: It is of utmost importance to define a growth path for each of your team members. Madbhavi of Draft FCB Ulka stresses that it is imperative to put forward a clear roadmap of roles and responsibilities for your team members in a five-year growth plan.

“Whether a person stays with you or not does not always depend on his/her designation or salary. It has more to do with their personal growth and the knowledge they receive at their jobs. Though money is vital, 80 percent of the time people stay behind in an organisation is because of job satisfaction and a work environment that encourages growth,” says Madbhavi.

Successful Employee Retention = Business Success

For any company’s long-term success, it is critical to have robust retention strategies in place. Having your core members on board ensures good health of the company, smooth business continuity, satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning, general well being and deeply embedded organisational knowledge.