In a hot job market situation, employee churn is inevitable. The new generation of employees is ambitious and is in a hurry. Ambition, as noticed today, may be defined as moving to a place where you don’t want to stay. Opportunities for better salary, more glamorous designations, choice of locations, and handsome sign-on bonuses have only fuelled the churn and mobility. Welcome to the world of corporate reality! Here are both the good and the bad news.

In Strong Winds, even Turkeys will Fly
During good times with soaring demand for talent, a couple of proverbs come to mind. Firstly, rising tides lift all boats; and secondly, in strong winds, even Turkeys will fly! Simply translated, when opportunities outstrip availability, even those that are considered marginal performers find ready takers with a decent hike in salary. A friend of mine summed up the trend in somewhat humorous terms, “If you are a good performer, you get a 20 percent hike in your company and you stay put. If you are an average performer, you will likely get a 10 percent and so will jump for another job with a 30 percent raise; and if you are a poor performer with no raise (and indications are that you should look out), you probably will end up with a job overseas with double or treble your current salary!” Exaggerated as it may sound, the reality is not far from it.

Irrational Market Exuberance & Frenzied Hiring
Well, the message is not how we interpret this irrational exuberance in the market place and the even more frenzied hiring by organizations. Market forces will correct over time. There is, of course, an urgency to protect and preserve the employees who are key to an organization’s success. Ideal situation is where you have a 10 percent or so churn every year, and this 10 percent is not from your prized top talent of 20 percent. If we are clear about this end result, we must do a few things which are clear common sense. As everyone knows, common sense is not always put into practice! Let us look at what I may call as the common minimum program: As managers we must deliver so that the intended result may be achieved.

Common Minimum Program
This program will cover the following actions: