by Raghu Nandhan | May 7, 2019 | Blog, Company Insights
We spend a lot of time talking regarding the importance of making positive candidate expertise, therefore, folks can come back to figure for our firms. Then we have a tendency to point out making positive employee expertise, therefore people are engaged and productive. And we discuss the requirement for a positive company culture to retain employees.
All of these things are true. And we must do them all. But let’s be real, no matter what we do, every day will not be sunshine and roses. Sometimes organizations have tough days. They experience setbacks.
But when handled properly, its culture that can help companies push through the very events that threaten it. When neglected, though, the damage can be irreparable. Here are a few tips for maintaining culture when things go wrong
KEEP CUSTOMERS HAPPY
Preserving your corporate culture might seem like an internal affair, but you should never forget that the reason your business exists in the first place is to serve its customers. That fact can become a powerful rallying point for those within your organization during difficult periods.
As your employees: How can we continue to serve our customers despite what’s happened? Renewing your team’s sense of its mission under fire can have a ripple effect on the company culture. High customer retention is a sign that your employees are working together despite setbacks, which can be enormously affirming. Customer attrition, on the other hand, might cause team members to question themselves and one another
PROVIDE TRANSPARENCY
When it hits the fan, keeping quiet is one of the worst things leaders can do. It causes a rift between teams and their managers, and the effect on culture can be strangling. Don’t stay tight-lipped about what’s going on. Inform your employees of anything they may need to know in order to keep doing their jobs well and to prepare for any further shakeups to come.
Of course, if the information is confidential for any reason, it ought to stay that way. If that’s the case, it’s worth pointing out explicitly that that’s the reason you can’t share certain details. Maintaining transparency tells the team that management understands their responsibility in the matter and that they trust their staff enough to handle uncomfortable information. That trust is an indispensable tool for keeping culture on track in any situation, particularly when things go wrong.
COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
Transparency is all about communication, but you need to go further in times of strife. Don’t just keep the C-suite door open, so to speak–increase both the amount and kind of internal messaging according to the scope of the difficulties you’re facing. Things naturally get tense when the company turns in an unexpected direction, which has a terrible effect on communication.
TALK ONE-ON-ONE
If you have the resources, it might be worth having senior leaders hold one-on-one conversations with team members. Communication isn’t just a one-directional thing in times of crisis. You also need to listen. Let your employees speak freely and comfortably about the issues facing the company. That tells each person on an individual level that their input means something. It can even yield potential solutions to the problems at hand.
Most important, though, one-on-one conversations during tough times helps bring your employees together, showing them that the organization substantively values their opinion, rather than just paying lip service. These chats don’t need to be solemn meetings, either. Simply catching up for a few minutes can work wonders for company cultures that are going through tough times.
One great example of a positive company culture comes from Pragna. This fast-growing company believes that the most important ingredient to success is positive company culture. Pragna promotes a positive corporate culture by offering special perks that help boost positivity and morale throughout the company.
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by Raghu Nandhan | Aug 27, 2018 | Blog, Company Insights, Talent Acquisition
“When building the perfect team, the single most important thing is to bring the right people”
Finding the right people startups will inevitably reach the point where they need outside help to keep growing. Retaining the talent to help grow the business is a problem.
The initial problem which most startups face is finding the people suitable for the job.
Budgets are usually low for open positions in startups. Where the startup organization pays very well, there is a risk of offering too high salaries to candidates as well. As a result, they either quit sooner or their performance goes down due to stress.
- Lack of Brand Recognition
This is quite obvious because the organization is newly set up and applicants may neither be aware of the upcoming brand. To solve this problem, startups can try to build a larger brand image using free platforms, such as on social media, print media and more.
- Not knowing what you want
Being unclear about any part of the job can lead to a potentially bad hire.
With a clear idea of what you need, it will be easier to see those skills in the candidate.
- Having an unclear hiring policy
One of the most critical mistakes a company can make is failing to define its hiring policies before beginning an employee search. An unclear policy can confuse the hiring managers and candidates at best
Starting it out as a small company, most often they have a lot to compete against; big branded companies, startups, other small businesses.
The less number of resources available at hand can prevent better hiring.
The true art of recruiting is combining knowledge of the company’s unique culture so that both parties succeed and grow together.
- Challenge of Finding qualified candidates
Finding qualified candidates as dozens of applications from unqualified candidates waste a lot of time.
- Not Conducting Market Research
Most startup recruiters fail to focus on the huge talent pool of passive candidates and lose out in the process.
Candidates always look for the reputation of the company in the business. Reputation is earned with years of quality services. It’s not something to achieve overnight.
Marketing battle matters a lot in successful startup business. It’s hard for a new firm to access specialised recruiter for marketing specialists for advertising.
by Raghu Nandhan | Jul 10, 2018 | Blog, Company Insights, Industry Trends
All that a merely successful organization needs is a bunch of employees with great flair. There is no much veracity in the saying “unity in diversity” as a work team would be formed with differences in forte yet striving for a distinct vision.
Here are Eleven ways small businesses can compete with big companies and find the right talent
1. Focus – People know what they do, they have complete focus on that. They have cause and mission, and they build team faster, so they are performing faster and more focused.
2. Clarity – in a smaller team, everyone has a line of sight to everyone else. Everyone is aware of the circumstances, the successes, the failures and the expectations.
3. Cohesion – smaller teams have a greater chance to be more cohesive.
4. Administration – You don’t need any. Of course only if you have that constellation, that some higher management don’t want any. But for team management, you don’t need any tool or any reporting. Everyone has track what has to be done and what is done.
5. Interaction – I can interact more easily with each individual and gain a sense of their commitment level
6. Visibility – Since it is harder to “hide” on a small team, I can quickly weed out those who aren’t up to snuff or just aren’t bought in to the program.
7. Energy— The energy in a small team, if you pick the right players can be extremely high and focused. You can all march enthusiastically to the same beat.
8. Flexibility is a must in a small team, which is a huge positive. You don’t have people who must be extremely specialized in one core skill as you have to have in a large team. And because of that, you can really move the team in a new direction if that’s where the market takes you. Larger teams are much more locked into a path that is hard to detour from.
9. Passion — In a small team, you can pick people who are passionate about the direction your team is headed.
10. Personal growth — Allowing people to work on many different things in order to help the team achieve its goals is extremely empowering and allows people to really grow.
11. Being close to each other — It’s amazing how important it is to be close to each other when working on a team
However, the synergy of individuals is a powerful and strong; don’t be fooled by the idea that working alone brings glory. Working alone may help your ego sometimes, however, will not necessarily make you a regular winner!
This exemplifies the crucial difference between a group of talented people and an effective team.
All successful companies are built on strong talent. However Mapping the right talent can be quite challenging for small businesses.
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by admin | Jun 20, 2011 | Blog, Company Insights
In the past year since we setup shop in Bengaluru, we have lots of interesting stories to share about hiring in India – sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying and in some cases depressing stories. That said, we do have a few nicer stories to tell as well. The other side though makes it for a more interesting read :-).
% of people showing up for Interview – The average must be about 50% or so after you have confirmed that they would come for sure over phone the previous day
% of people showing up on the start date – My guess is its probably in the 60% range for larger companies and 40% range for smaller companies. Most common reason is they are looking for their existing employer to match the salary; Or they are influenced by their friends, friends friends, family, size of the company, indecisiveness; Or the fear of unknown.
% of people who continue to work after 3 months: Maybe 40% range. I have seen all kinds of things happen in the past one year (below are some real reasons I have come across)
– Disappeared for 3 days; Says at hometown and my mom is not allowing me to go back (?!$#?)
– Disappeared for a day and says my girlfriend is so very sick and I cannot come back to office, am resigning immediately!
– I am having health issues and doctor asked me not to work
– Suddenly my sisters marriage is fixed and I have to leave for 1 month; might come back, not very sure!
– Best of all, one person left the laptop and email locked up (unusable) and could not reached at all!
Why? I wonder do people have to lie so blatantly and so often? I wonder if ethics and truthfulness are no longer thought in schools or at home here. Or is it the habit of their social life that’s manifesting itself in their professional life?
Anyways now for all those folks thinking of setting up shop in India, Hire three people if you need One so that the natural laws of percentages in India work out in your favor!!
by admin | Feb 10, 2011 | Blog, Company Insights
Well just 3 months ago, I had not heard of NPA. But the concept itself wasn’t new to us. We at Pragna were looking at ways to grow our business and we stumbled upon the idea of partnering with other staffing/recruiting firms to share requirements and leverage our trained team to help make placements. I found good level of interest among the folks I talked to and within weeks we were working with 3 firms on a split fee basis.
Then one fine day in Oct 2010, I bumped into a fellow owner of a recruiting startup. He said to me – what you are suggesting makes sense, but why not join NPA? You can reach out and partner with 100’s of firms instantly instead of one-by-one. Voila! this is no-brainer idea!
Here we are 3 months later. We are member of the network and very excited about the immense potential of this network. We are thrilled with the professionalism, attitude and responsiveness we have seen throughout the application process and interacting with member companies.
This is just a great way to increase the overall reach for our FTE positions and work with opportunities worldwide! I feel confident that we can provide better support to our customers using NPA network.
In a short time, NPA has become one of the key focus areas for the company!
by admin | Dec 22, 2010 | Blog, Company Insights
Working in a Start-up is always exciting, challenging and at times can be frustrating as well. People who have come from a corporate world can see huge difference if they enter into a start-up. Well both have its pros and cons.
Having been in Start-ups most of the time the main challenge I see is to motivate and retain employees. Employees need to be happy and satisfied more than any monetary compensation. The employees who always feel fulfilled are more productive in their work and can be an asset to the organization, and definitely stay longer with the organization. By implementing simple tips for retaining employees, you can keep your employees satisfied and can also be able to build lasting loyalty.
1. Share and Set Expectations- By sharing your expectations with the employees, they feel comfortable and stress free. You as an employer need to make them clear about the goals and objectives of the organization. You need to delegate authorities to them and assign responsibilities. Employees who really understand the importance of work can produce better results and really they enjoy being a part of a growing organization. Setting the right expectations will reduce misunderstandings and helps both employers an employee to achieve their goals.
2. Growth Opportunities- Employees join start-ups mainly to have good recognition and faster growth by taking risks. You can offer your employees different ways to grow ahead their current position. It is very important to tap their skills and assign right task and opportunities that yield recognition and promotion. The other way also can be by providing them ongoing education and training and also an option to learn while they are earning by providing extra and advance courses in your organization itself.
3. Feedback ( 360 degree): It is important to share feedback with employees. If your employees are doing good work then reward them by good words and extra perks. Incentives could be monetary also. Another important thing is also to listen to their feedback, which always helps a growing company in implementing new policies or procedures and for effective functioning.
4. Give Ownership: Ownership leads to responsibility and accountability. Motivate your employees to make good and better decisions that concern their job in the organization. If you throw your decisions on them they may react negatively to it. You should consider their ability to make decision and this will send the sense of responsibility among them and they can even perform better.
5. Work Culture: Employees spend good amount of their time at their work. The work culture and atmosphere matters the most. Treat them as your extended family and be sensitive to their needs. Create a fun filled atmosphere and have a weekly gathering and a monthly outing. These things are morale boosters and it helps them to get to know their colleagues have a healthy working environment. Always “We” culture works than “I”. Set a reminder for employee birthdays and have a small celebration, it makes them feel special.
At the end of the day Employees are our invaluable assets and retaining good ones helps an organization to grow into new heights. Follow these simple tips and techniques make your organization a good place to work where everyone is supportive and full of energy.
