The Hindu Business Line : Now, `stay interviews' is a trend

HR is now looking at the `pull' rather than the `push' factor among employees. In other words, companies are realising that information on what makes employees stick to a job is as vital as why they quit. At Bangalore-based Symphony Services, for instance, the HR department conducts `stay interviews' regularly to get `top of the mind positives of the company' from employees.

Says Mr C. Mahalingam, Senior Vice-President, HR, Symphony Services, "We kicked off this concept about 15 months ago and are creating an employee engagement model based on employee feedback."

While exit interviews are more of a post-mortem exercise, stay interviews give valuables that help in strengthening our systems, he says.

The concept is based on the Hawthorne Effect, which states that people who are given attention are a motivated lot. "Lend people an ear and they feel good about being heard," explains Mr Mahalingam.

Dr Pallabh Bandyopadhyay, Chief People Officer, Scandent Solutions, agrees that stay interviews are becoming a trend and that they are used to reinforce good HR practices within the company.

"One of the methodologies used here is appreciative inquiry which is usually done by consulting firms."

Dr Bandyopadhyay says this exercise creates a positive energy for change. Some companies are also looking at reverse mentoring where juniors advise senior employees on building company culture, according to him.

Though the concept is not new to HR managers, not many are actually experimenting with it, says Mr Mahalingam. At Philips Software, for instance, the exercise, called `Celebrating the positives,' was a one-time affair where 20 per cent of the employees were asked their opinion. "At Symphony, we're trying to make it an on-going process," he says.

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