The dangers of losing senior members of staff have never been higher for Ukrainian employers, and while the recruitment market continues to expand there is a growing interest in the ways in which companies can keep hold of their key employees. Managers are increasingly aware of their worth as well as the opportunities the dynamic Ukrainian job market presents, to the extent where three years in one position is often regarded as more than enough. “Whereas in many western countries people look to change their jobs every five to seven years on average, in Ukraine the figure could be as low as once a year or every year and half. If the company does not foresee professional, personal or career development for its personnel, that makes people nervous,” says Alex Yurchenko, Ukrainian Country Manager with the US-headquartered Hudson, an international provider of permanent recruitment, contract professionals, outsourced solutions and management services.
More than money: motivating the workforce
As the job market develops employees are becoming increasingly demanding and looking for a lot more than a big pay package in a potential new position. Yurchenko’s company offers an employee satisfaction audit service that can include as many as sixteen factors, depending on the individual employer. Salary is but one of these.
“Skilled middle and senior managers tend to consider moving on for a number of reasons. It may be because they don’t like their direct boss and complain that he underestimates them or ignores their career development.”
There is a markedly different approach to motivation at different rungs of the management hierarchy, as Yurchenko explains. “Factory workers tend to regard a reasonable wage, easy access to their workplace and good working conditions as priorities, whereas the general director does not really care how long it takes him to get to the factory or whether his monthly salary is USD 7,500 or USD 8,500. He is more interested in what kind of knowledge he will acquire in the post, what training he will be offered, and how much he will be worth on the job market in three years time.”
However, money continues to matter, and often a lack of communication is a major factor in creating dissatisfied middle management. “Wages are still a factor,” says Yurchenko. “It is common for managers to feel they are not paid enough or that they are underestimated compared to a colleague at the next table who earns more because he is friendly with the boss. If the company could persuade them that their salary is in line with their skills they would probably agree to stay, but many companies continue to ignore this.”
This lack of communication can also undermine a team when managers are not reassured that the company can offer them long-term prospects. “Many managers remain unsure about their career prospects, even when the prospects themselves are actually good. Often the problem is simply that nobody has taken the trouble to inform the staff specifically of the opportunities they have. A good manager should act as a mediator between the general director and his employees, but sometimes they can fail to pass messages on effectively, which makes people nervous.”
To counter this kind of seemingly avoidable problem Yurchenko recommends paying added attention both to vertical communication down the management chain of command and horizontal interdepartmental communication, while counseling companies on the need to take into account not only the volume of internal communication but also its quality. “Directors should be aware not only of what they are saying to their teams but how they are saying it. This emotional element is also extremely important.”
The importance of retaining talent
Retaining staff members is becoming more and more important as the Ukrainian economy and job market develop and evolve, making it no longer profitable to simply hire new employees to replace those moving on. “The personnel market in 2007 has changed drastically from the situation as it was in 1997 when the first foreign companies entered the Ukrainian market. Ten years ago it was enough for a Ukrainian applying for a job to know English. Today the picture is different. Ukraine now has a good supply of highly skilled middle and senior managers who now need much more than just a decent wage to motivate them,” Yurchenko says.
‘The practice of hiring new people is no longer cheaper than retaining existing staff, even when you take into account the additional costs entailed in retaining staff of extra training programmes and salary rises.”
There are no universal laws which can be applied across the board to help companies that are facing the dangers posed by a restless workforce, and Yurchenko is practiced at adopting a personalised approach. “Stage one involves identifying the root causes of the problem. After all, if you are ill you visit a doctor for a diagnosis,” he reasons, “so the first thing to determine is the exact nature of the problem.”
“Many companies realise that all is not well and respond by pursuing a wide variety of issues at once. Some think the company should raise everyone’s salary by 15%. Others might suggest something else, but all companies are different, and the first step to successful treatment is to question the staff, study their answers, discover the problem and search for the right solution. Once a company has listened to the comments of its personnel and conducted its own internal research, they will start to develop a clear vision of what should be done to improve the situation.”
Assessing employee flight risk
The process does not only focus on addressing the grievances of employees, but also attempts to evaluate the human capital within the company. “We classify employees into four categories: ‘inspired,’ ‘happy campers,’ ‘improvers’ and ‘distanced.’ Inspired employees are generally satisfied and want to make an impact. They tend to be younger and full of ardour. In other words, they have yet to be disappointed. Happy campers tend to be more or less satisfied with their working environment and situation, and do nothing even if they would like to improve things. Improvers tend to be more mature members of staff who are less satisfied than their younger colleagues but want to change their world for the better. We’d classify a member of staff as distanced if they are unsatisfied with their lot but do nothing about it. Employees in this category are the most likely to leave the company,” Yurchenko explains.
Studying the make-up of a company’s personnel enables experts to pinpoint where problems may originate and allow them to be addressed, even in cases where the root cause is also at the very top of the management tree. “At one Ukrainian company we found that 36% of employees fell unto the distanced category, which at less than a half was not critical, but alarming. Once we began studying who these people were it became clear that most happened to be senior management level, so we told the general director: ‘a fish begins to rot from the head. Perhaps your management technique is too robust. Perhaps you are underestimating your staff or overlooking their achievements. The task of your direct subordinates is to motivate their workers, but your task is to motivate them.’ We held a few coaching sessions, equipped him with the necessary methodology, and in 12 months we conducted a fresh evaluation. The percentage of staff considered to be within the distanced category had fallen from 36% to 24% and a far smaller proportion came from the higher echelons of senior management.”
In practice relying on the responses of employees does impose its own restrictions on analysts attempting to help companies retain key employees. “The key problem is that people often don’t believe that their voice will change anything within the company, so they don’t fill in our questionnaires and as a result their voices remain unheard. Employees are also afraid that their opinions will not remain confidential. They would rather share their troubles with their friends. They fear retribution if they tell the truth,” Yurchenko says, adding, “This characteristic is deeply imbedded in our mentality.”
These cultural barriers can threaten to invalidate the whole assessment of a company’s employee well-being and reduce the chances of retaining its workforce, presenting Yurchenko with considerable difficulties. “We do our utmost to combat such prejudices, even using a few tricks if necessary, like offering free tickets for a lottery in returned for completed questionnaires. In general we try to address company management and persuade them not to interfere. We say ‘Dear manager, please don’t dictate the desired answers to your staff. Don’t check their responses and don’t offer suggestions by putting up a model questionnaire in the office.’”
