Dear Kiran,

You have definitely touched upon a very prevalent problem in any industry.

But I dont think any company whether Big / Small can take their employees for granted. In the case that you have just spoken about, the company might have not done any succession planning for this particular employee but its not unfair for the employee to look for better opportunities if this company cant take care of his economic needs ( Just like in Maslow's Theory), he obviously will look out.

It is at this point that the company needs to realise the need for replacements and Succession Planning and take care of it in the future. Though the company may face a set back right now but if they can combat this and avoid this situation in the future then that SMALL COMPANY will very soon be amongst the BIG COMPANIES.

We may feel bad for the company when we are not the effected employee but when you think from the employee's point of view its not like he is leaving the company because it is SMALL OR BIG, he is leaving it because he needs more economic growth which his present company cant afford right now.

If the company maintains cordial relationships with him probably they could have him back and he will be happy to join them again when they are BIGGER and able to afford him and his growing aspirations.

I myself would not be in a position to continue work in an organisation just because I have learnt alot there and I love and am loved by people there, if they can not pay me as per Industry Standards and give me a Platform for my growth aspirations.

Really, very interesting case.

Thanks

Shweta

From India, Bangalore
This is really an interesting topic. I have a few comments to make.

A lot of good points have been raised, particularly by Rajesh (RV).

However, one point has been overlooked. The employee joined as a fresher and by dint of his own perseverence, and inclination to learn and better himself, has taken up and been granted a lot of new responsibilities and tasks, which it seems he is handling (currently) quite well. Suddenly he is dissatisfied with his emoluments and feels they do not match his current job content, and wants either the company to recognise this and reward him, else he will look for another opening elsewhere which will pay him better.

Come on guys, if a fresher joins your orgn at a junior position, and proves he is better than the others like him, because he has used a lot of initiative and has taken up extra responsibilities, you yourself will not immediately envelop him in a golden cloak, and without any further consideration, either raise his grade or his emoluments!!!

Instead, you will encourage him with a pat on his back, say his progress is being noted, and that if he keeps it up, his promotional prospects will be excellent.

After all, while his initial spurt is commendable, he has been with the organisation only six months, and that is too short a time to judge whether his initiative will be at the same level another six months or even a year down the line; it may even be possible that he will soon reach a plateau of achievement at which time his rate of progress will slow down considerably.

In other words, you will wait and watch his further progress before you take any concrete steps to either promote him or raise his emoluments, but you will in the meantime, constantly motivate him (see above).

On the other hand, were he to look for employment elsewhere, and you were his prospective employer, would you put so much value on his six months of very good work - because after all, it is only six months' work and while a lot of promise is being shown, you do not know for how long that promise will last?!

No, you will not. You may certainly take him on at a slightly higher package than what he is currently drawing, but will take your time to appraise him before offering him something better!!

Also, if yours is a larger and more professional orgn than the one he is currently in now, you will wonder whether he will perform as effectively in such an orgn as yours, where his peers will be equally good; after all, as some one already commented, in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, but when the one-eyed man travels to another kingdon where everyone else can see better than him (with two good eyes each), than how good will he be?

So my advice to the youngster would be, stick on at the same emoluments for at least six months to a year more, judge how good you are at the end of that time, and then approach your own management for a jump in emoluments/promotion, and if they cannot meet your expectations, try elsewhere. By that time, the new employer will also be able to judge you more equitably, and you will definitely end up with a better deal, either way!

Views, others?

Jeroo

From India, Mumbai
HI kiran,

First of all i agree that the company has givent his candidate the needed break to learn and grow in his field, but what's wrong in him asking for more salary.......when he thinks his potential can earn him a good bet somewhere else......dont you feel the organization should consider the value of this person and give him increment......In the end it's the organization also which is benefitted by this guys presence.......

I had a similar question to ask.....what if the people who own proprietary concerns dont keep promises, and at the time of appraisals show your work deficiencies. They are satisfied with the work that you are doing but dont want to give appraisals.......AGreed that their objectives and short time goal for the organization has changed, but still should respect individuals and understand their problems.....

I think people from big or small organization should atleast respect promises, practive good hr policies themselves and then advocate it to others..

Regards

Shiju

From India, Mumbai
Hi Kiran and all,

This is one of the nice descussion I have gone through yet. I very thankful to you and all responding people for giving the chunk to think.

I also have little to say.

No doubt the case is universal; rather the fact; happening in every organisation small or big! Only thing is small organisation affects very strongly.

In your case Mr X ( Let consider the name for employee) joined and wants to leave within 6 months. XYZ Organisation ( Let be Company's name) has given him chance to expose him.

From both the sides there is passion of growth. Both of them want opportunities to grow. As per SWOT they have their own strategies.

Let's think from Company's side:-

1. They wanted a person and so recruited Mr X.

2. XYZ assigned various responsibilities to X as he was capable for performing them.

From Mr X side:-

1. He worked for the company with full loyalty and interest.

2. He manned all the responsibilities given to him with his competancy.

3. Though the organisation is small one there are other employees also but only few grew because of the policy of XYZ and X is the one of the beneficiery.

Now a days it is very clear that there is always a demand for competant people globally. As HR is being strategic partener in business, persons like X are always demanding. It is not only that X is feeling underpaid, there are too many attraction from outside which will force X to fly.

I will my practical example. My boss manages me very nicely. I am medical doctor and working in a placement consultancy. I find my work very interesting and so went for MBA- HR to excel in HR.

I gettinf offers starting from 3.6L - 6.0Lpa when I am just having experience hardly of 1 year and yet to finish my MBA; no doubt I am persuing my MBA from very premium grade I institute.

My boss have changed the conditions for my remuneration from general salary to consultant and has given me the full freedom to work- timings, working hours, accesability, cliental base etc.

So what happened I came to know that I have to work same in other organisation also. If I work same here I will get far more.

It is like this is the time when employee should change the status of Mr X to emerging partener. If it is not done in that way, it is sure that people like X are meant to grow. They will fly.

To retain them XYZ should change their view to see at them only as worker but as business partners.

The solution which I find the safer and appropriate. Because this shows the candidates the sufferings of employer also.

Regards,

Dr Manisha

From India, Mumbai
Hi Kiran,

A good case to explore; in my view the company as well as the employee have their faults.

I will explore the organizational aspect in this case.

First of all an organization should have a job description which helps you identify what the employee’s tasks should be. Of course multi tasking is healthy if you convey to the employee that this is a requirement in the job; learning to handle all aspects of the organization which is a must in certain organizations.

It is important to understand especially if this particular employee is under probation (Short term as you say) that the company should not stretch the boundaries. If he was granted with a pay hike you can’t avoid other requests from similar employees or objections from senior employees which undoubtedly will cause major conflicts.

If I were the HR manager in this particular organization I will “talk” to the employee because I believe communication is the best way to sort out conflicts. It is important to make the employee understand his lack of experience and even if he resigns joining another organization will not be an easy task because his 6 months of work experience will be nothing to brag about.

However to solve the current situation it will be beneficial for both parties to come to a compromise. The organization can promise him a better increment weighing his performance at the end of 01 years time which will not only benefit the employee but the company as well.

From Sri Lanka
Hi Kiran/ Srikanth and all the others who contributed to this case study-

I am Renu and I am myself in such a situation. I joined a small company (which is an MNC) more than 3 yrs. back at peanut salary because I wanted to come to corporate and leave academics. With my ability to take additional responsisbilties and cosistence performance I have been able to prove myself in front of senior management. I am also facing the same probelm, I am much more qualified then most people who have been in the organization since more than 10 yrs., I am more efficienct and have more roles and responsibilities on my shoulders. Our company generally has annual increments every year and I have been given consistently highest increment every year but since I joined at a very low salary, I am still way behind my friends. This year I was given a salary adjustment also but though it improved the situation, the market rate is double of what I am getting.

I agree that the employee should be loyal but at the same time what would you say to a person like me- I got married 1.5 yrs. back in Mumbai and my company is based at Jaipur. In order to retain me they gave me an option of working from home and travelling to Jaipur 7-10 days every month. Now not only I travel for most of the time, I am frustrated that I can get much better paying job than the present one. Also, since I am good at so many things that its difficult to decide for me regarding the field I should choose for next company. I have given several interviews but I am sure they feel its not possible for one person to do so much in such little time and what would I be able to contribute only to HR.

After doing such a lot for the company, I am finding myself in the siuation where I cannot stay with the company and cant leave it also.

Do you have any comments on this?

Regards,

Renu


Dear Renu,

Please refer to my earlier comments yesterday. I was then referring to a new employee who had barely completed six months with his first employer and was raring to fly higher.

In your case, you have completed three years, and have consistently proven yourself by earning high increments and a salary regradation. Your constant travel between Jaipur and Mumbai is proving troublesome, particularly as you are newly married.

It is time now to look for a permanent assignment in Mumbai. You mentioned that the industry benchmark is way above the emoluments you are presently earning. Have you investigated what exactly the industry benchmark is in way of job performance? Have you got the requisite experience/abilities to justify being given the industry benchmark rank? If you think you do, then look for a position at that level in a multinational or professional Indian orgn. If you lack any experience/exposure, try to obtain this, either on the job or from the net, and try again.

If you do this, I think you will find it smooth sailing.

Jeroo

From India, Mumbai
Hi all,

I want to add one more situation in original case study , off course management should get some time to evaluate performance of each employee. If we consider a special case of employee who realy raised their bar and extremely performed well from last six months then should management consider him/ her for salary revision after six months of his/ her services. one thing to clear that company has the policy of salary revision after six month in case of exceptional good performance. other thing is that comparing other dept. if the salary paid to a particular employee is very less then should management consider him eligible for salary hike or should his reporting person recommend a respective employee for salary hike to management?



In this case employee is in dilemma what to do? don't want to quite this job as he/ she is getting good exposure and off course when it comes to salary issue ....... not satisfied with salary which is paid and so this satisfaction leads to demotivte this employee and employee cant give their best in this situation





Supriya

From India, Mumbai
Hi Renu,

The case is the same with most professionals working in small organizations or start ups.

My observation from the 2 years of experience in Career Counselling is that, the attitudes required to work in a larger organizations are quite different to that required to work for a smaller organization or start ups. To work in a start up needs an attitude to work in uncertainties and chaos. The prime motivating factor would be the ability to juggle around many roles at a single point of time. Money always takes a back seat for these people and they thrive on the chaos. They would love to see their effort giving fruits and the recognition becomes much more important.

On the contrary when you work in large organizations, it the people with the ability to follow a process who survive the best. Every thing is defined here and you will have to only follow the steps in doing the work. It’s highly structured and neighbors don’t like you poking nose into their work.

Creativity and flexibility depends on the industry you are working for in case of large organizations. It’s the lowest in manufacturing and the highest in the education industry.

Therefore all that you will have to choose is what drives you. Is it money or responsibility / independence. Then decide whether the company you are working tpsday suits you or not. Loyalty to a self is important than loyalty to the company. We do no good to the organization we work for by sticking around even when we are sure that its really frustrating being there. It will hurt you and your personal life badly. Always enjoy the work .. that’s the way to go!!

Regarding the focus on what roles to apply this is one advantage you have working for a smaller organization where in you can choose what you want to do. I should caution you that its not easy to migrate from a smaller organsation to a larger orgnisation and also in choosing the role. For your experience the culture fit would be critical. Therefore research on a few roles .. talk to friends and understand what it means to work full time in one role…. Basic research will help you understand what suits you best.. nest step would be to customize resume to highlight only those roles which you aspire to crack and live happily ever after enjoying the work life to the fullest!!!

In case you need more help please write to me at .

Regards

Srikanth Ch

From India, Hyderabad
HI to Every Body,

This case is quite interesting & very important issue too. I would like to share my view point here.

Nothing wrong if an employee search the new job, smaller company can't offer such a salary, though it could understand & properly evaluated the performance,etc. there will have a lot of constrains such as other dept head, senior, turnover of the co. (Expect if this guy is in marketing dept - where can encourage or sustain through incentive - indirectly salary increment which not affect others.)etc. By thinking of loyalty, faithful, whether you want to lose his better future such as salary, good environment, etc. It’s not possible in a mechanical & uncertain world. Everyone needs money & wants to settle in their life by buying home, car, etc. at the earliest

If a person doesn't have a skill, can he get such good opportunity, certainly not?

The smaller company gave opportunity to all equally at lower salary, but the employee who has good skills, he earns position, takes more responsibility, etc. If he has satisfied with job, salary then definitely he will work continuously.

Some people has satisfaction on salary, job etc, but he urge/look for to learn something new & work in new environment than the existing environment. or he wants to be equal with others who has same experience,knowledge in the same filed ( since they earn more than him).

So the company can expect only that the concerned employee has to complete the current most important work for that project & he must properly handover his Job*, (even it can get some help/guidelines etc. in future, if it has good relation with that employee). *Still then the company can hold the last month salary, relieving letter, service certificate etc. till the handover charge.

Regards,

Ramyashankar

From India, Pune
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