I recently got frustrated by the really bad service provided by my ISP… I had been patiently complaining and bearing up with all the lame excuses for too long… and sent them a letter requesting cancellation of my account. I was curtly told that I have to fill up a form that required all sorts of attachments including the original receipt (given to me when the account was started).

"But I cannot locate that now – can’t you check your records?", I requested them.

 I was again curtly told – "Sorry but we cannot cancel your account in that case."

Ok, so I located the original receipt and the allotment letter and all that and then I noticed a note on the form, a clause  that says - Please get a confirmation from the bank manager or a court officer that he personally knows you." How the hell does this relate to me cancelling my account?

I have no idea – do you have any? 

Recently I found a smart, modern bank demonstrate prompt customer service totally lacking in imagination and they lost good business because of that. Here is what happened and what they could have done:

I had a decent sized fixed deposit with Yes Bank which matured recently. The bank promptly issued a cheque for the maturity amount and sent to my registered address. I was happy to receive the cheque without having to remember the maturity date, fill up forms and then follow up on the payment. However this lacked basic marketing. If only they would have called me once to ask me if I wanted to reinvest my money with them, I would have gladly agreed as that meant no loss of interest and zero work on my part.

Are you spending all your time hunting for new prospects without bothering to do anything to retain your existing clients? Think about it. You can get more business from your existing customers much more easily.

I recently attended an interesting seminar hosted by Nasscom on employee attrition management. The main message of the speakers, Shelley and Arindam was on highlighting the cost of attrition. They also brought focus on watching early symptoms of discomfort in the key employees.

I have myself noticed that the financial compensation is only one (and it comes 3rd or 4th) of the considerations for which the employees leave your organisation. Most of the times, they are uncomfortable with either the lack of clarity in the company’s future plans or their own growth path. Some of them consider moving if they cannot develop good relationships with their seniors.

So what can you do to retain more of your employees and avoid the massive hiring and training costs? Naturally this will vary from company to company but here are some quick pointers:

• Take steps to ensure that all the people have an idea of their role and future progress scope in the company. This will be easier if the invidual departments hold periodic briefings for their people.
• Try to setup systems to identify enthusiastic executives and give them serious and challenging jobs. Every organisation has some very excited workers who either become dull or move away when consistently assigned boring and routine things to do.
• You should also have some system in place to notice early signs of discomfort in your employees and take suitable action at the earliest to put their mind at ease. Some are disturbed by any new development in the workplace, some may be losing sleep over professional or personal relations with colleagues or even concerned about their future growth in the company hierarchy.
• Give an occasional pat-on-the-back to people who do something more than ordinary. This is more encouraging than even financial rewards. However this should not become routine and predictable or else, it may even backfire on you if you miss someone sometime.

Of course, you must realise that some people will move on despite all the great strategies that you have implemented. Stop pulling out your hairs and have an effective replacement strategy in place to cater to this. Having a basic level of redundancy, specially for key people is one good strategy. However you will have major improvement in your attrition rates if you apply the above tips.

But what about improving attraction? How to get the best talent in the industry to look forward to working for your company? We will discuss this in a blog post coming soon.

Meanwhile I will appreciate if you make a comment below and share what has worked for you in reducing attrition in your company.