Lack of skills and high attrition rates are the twin challenges corporations face in human resource (HR) management even as most employment opportunities are set to rise across cities next year.

To tackle the problem, companies are drawing up innovative retention strategies for skill enhancement, say industry officials and experts. IT company Syntel has a health and wellness mission for its employees and a women’s forum to support women employees in their career endeavours. Mahindra & Mahindra has ‘MPower’, an online career rotation and management tool. Auto Passion and Farm Passion are two other channels that aim at educating employees about the business model.

According to Pankaj Bansal, co-founder and CEO of PeopleStrong HR Services, the major determinants of employee dissatisfaction are lack of career growth, dissatisfactory compensation, work environment, lack of learning opportunities and lack of recognition. “A big fat salary alone cannot help you retain the best talent. You need to provide ample growth and learning opportunities,” he said.

Executives say HR initiatives should focus on three key elements — skill enhancement, employee wellness and equal opportunity.

Rajeshwar Tripathi, Chief People Officer, Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors, M&M, noted the single factor that impacts employee engagement the most is wellness. “Realising the importance of this parameter, we launched Way 2 Wellness, wherein we look at the total health of an employee. We introduced healthier eating options in our canteens. We have gyms at all our major locations and keep having regular webcasts with health experts,” ” he said.

Rajesh Save, Global Head-Human Resources, Syntel, said: “A certain amount of stress and eustress is a given. Successful organisations have adopted a proactive approach to promote their employees’ wellbeing and enabling a work-life balance.”

The three Es Syntel has a wellness mission that follows the three ‘Es’ — empower, enable and enrich. “Empower creates awareness on preventive care. Enable offers courses on yoga and meditation, and Enrich exposes staff to alternative therapies,” said Save.

At M&M, similar initiatives were rolled out. “There is a unique Mahindra Experience that we promise our employees. We also have different initiatives like IdeaDrive and Young Mahindra,” said M&M’s Tripathi.

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