Retain Trainees After Traing Period

hi ajitha,

im an HR student and would like to share my ideas with u.... i hope they are of some help to you....

since you said that yours is a small firm i think you should go B or C grade institutions.. students from these colleges have immense desire to work... try and pick up three to four students from the same college... fristly they will be competitive among themselves and also be willing to work since they will have someone whom they know in the same organisation

how often is performance appraisal done in your firm if done half yearly tell the candidates that they will recieve the hike in their salary as to whatever it is according to your companys norms.

a fresher will always go for a good working environment even if the salry offered is average. they would want an environment where they are not treated as no knowledge workers... include them in the companys problem make them feel that they are a part of the comapny........... ask them to give their suggestions when u face a problem......

motivation through participation is the best way to retain the employees., especially freshers.

i hope my idea will be of some use to u

regards

priyanka

Dear Ajitha,
The Trainees should be nurtured, valued, consider their views, give certain amount of freedom, if they go wrong give them a chance try to rectify themselves, and suggest them whenever required as a mentor but not as a boss.
This is the one of the best way to retain the Trainees.
D. V. Ramana Rao

Hi Ajitha,

The issue you are discussing is universal now. Your professional clarity about not adopting the practice of paying them half salary for retaining is appreciated. Also the laws are very much against 'negative covenants' in bonds.

We should be practical enough that 35-40 % are likely to stay with us beyond the training period. Paying high salary is not going to help.

You have to go into Psychological aspect of youngsters. What they want? Money / posision / challenges in work / career advancement opportunity ?

Ofcourse they want all :)

But you can priorotize these and address them accordingly.

I personally feel that discussing a clear career path with them should help. Where they will be at the end of 3 years.... such projection will help.

Also you should try to have assignments lined up for them in advance for a period of 1 year. (Easy to say but difficult to do. But must be attempted)

You should keep them on Training for 6 months, then when u confirm them project a salary ries. Then when they complete 1 year (6 + 6) give another ries. (Two small rises look better than one larger one). After this they should be subjected to increment policy at par with other based on performance.

Their performance appraisal should be quarterly. With clear inputs from superiors.

What we adopt for our manufacturing facility is like this - We take 6 students for our requirement of 3 and train them, the stars we pick and nurture, others we extend the training period with slight rise. They may stick or go.

Share your views.

- Hiten

Hi Ajitha
Its a wonerful issue that you have bring into the forefront.
Well I am working as a Management Trainee in an organization. Actually even I was retained by my Manager after my training period. Its really a beautiful feeling .
So from my personal experience I can say that while the trainees are working under you make them work with ease, try and maintain Interpersonal relations and inculcate in them the feeling of belongingness.Most important of all is that the day they join your Organization offer them with the proposal of hiring them if they work hard.
I can assure you that you will get extraordinary results.
What I feel is that comfortable and respectable working environment
attracts every employee.
Pooja

Ajitha,

I have faced this question many a times in my career.

We all train freshers as it is not always feasible for smaller organizations to recruit Talents from the industry. We have got various checks and measures developed over a period of time to address retention after training. Since you have brought up this interesting topic for discussion let me share our philosophy with all.

1. We have a a two sided bond or what legal experts say a valid and binding bond by law. This is not a 100% deterrent for all.

2. We have ensured after training each new trainee is assigned to a team lead who is responsible for the trainees growth for the next three months.

3. We have tried to identify friend of the trainees who are senior members in the organization and got them involved with the trainees.

4. We have been fair in the appraisal and made sure the trainees are rewarded at least twice a year with monetary appraisals so that they don't feel cheated. This is very important factor as we will be usually paying trainees very less. Don't ever hold back the salary you pay to a trainee. Give him what he deserves.

5. Trainees need to be made feel important. Give them small jobs (under guidance of a senior) to execute independently. Don't mark them for the mistakes they make all the time. Correct them and encourage them to do better things.

6. Trainees are knave and don't understand the importance of a long career. They are more enamoured by what their friends say. As HR it is our duty to keep a good relationship with them keep making them aware about our industry and the importance of our company in the industry.

7. How ever small an organization we are we will still have our unique selling point. We use this when we recruit the best talent. We can always recruit the best and retain them if we get the existing employees to be involved in the process or training.

Remember there is no greater factor for an employee to work for a company than Achievement. Make sure every one gets a chance to prove something and feel contented.

Hope the above mentioned points helps many.

Regards

Praveen

Hi Ajitha,

Here is something you can try... these are the practices we are implementing in my organization and has been quite successful with us.

1) Mentorship Programme: Each trainee should be assigned a mentor who would be responsible for trainee's transition and his overall development in the organization. Mentor should be trained on effective Mentorship. 2) Performance Feedback: the trainees should be given regular feedback on their performance and they should be told where they are heading to. Every reporting manager of the Trainee should hold such feedback session once in a month and the report of the same should be filed in the trainees' personnel file. this will make it easier for taking decision of continuation / discontinuation of the trainee.

3) Growth Path: The trainees should be shown a growth path as to what they are expected to do and how it will improve their level of competency. What growth do they get if they perform as expected.

4) Motivation: Awards like Best Trainee of the year, Best Achiever of the year, Oustanding contribution etc. for the trainees.

5) Feedback from the Trainees: HR should take regular feedback from the Trainees about their level of satisfaction and the problems they are facing. The reporting managers should be passed on this feedback.

6) Most important is EMPOWER them.

I hope this helps you....

Regards,

Priyanka Upasani

Sam's Suggesstion is good. It will really work i hope. And also if we create a mindset that the trainees will have a great future with our company, then it will help to some extent i hope.
Its our part to present an induction program to impart the values of our organization.
Padmavathi G.

HI,
I partly agree with the view that most of the trainees take up the training and quit but what we had done was that we had made the trainees pay 50% of the training as this would ensure us that they would not leave once they are trained.
Those who could not afford paid a token and some amount was deducted from the stipend.
Regards
Karuuna

Hi Ajitha,
You can also make a provision in the contract that they would be getting incentive/bonus,like retention bonus if they stay longer,that is the monetary part apart from it if you keep them engaged and not let their work get monotonus,then surely they will stay for long.
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar.