There has been a rapid shift in talent demand in the last two years. Given the changing landscape, how can organisations become employers of choice? Is there any one proposition that can set an organisation apart from others?

At People Matters’ Total Rewards and Well-being Conference earlier this year, Sunaina Khanna, CPO and Head -Transformation, Bajaj Capital; Pritpal Singh Kular, CHRO, Indus Towers Limited; Kartik Rao, Group CPO, Good Glamm Group and Saurabh Arora, Director, HR, Amazon discussed the role of three ‘Rs’- recognition, reward, and respect, the vital elements of a good workplace culture.

“Organisations should focus on creating a good culture that ultimately helps in attracting, developing, and retaining the best available talent for future needs. Creating office culture is not an overnight thing. This has to be done on a day-to-day basis to energise the organisation in one direction. Also, it is important to create rituals around your culture,” said Pritpal.

According to Pritpal, the value propositions of the organisation and an individual need to be in sync. “If you get that marriage in place and you get people in that space with you, or you can sell that concept to your team you have the best mix to take forward,” added Pritpal.

“It’s not about hiring the best but developing the best that makes the overall culture of the workplace,” said Saurabh.

Changes introduced to retain talent

To ensure talent retention, some organisations such as Bajaj Capital introduced a new policy and changed how they have been functioning so far.

“To battle the attrition and win the talent war, Bajaj Capital adopted the three ‘R’ model which is respect, recognition, and reward,” said Sunaina. According to her, there is no ‘mantra’ or shortcut formula to retaining talent: it’s just having the basic things right.

Elaborating on the ‘R’ model, Sunaina said that each needs to be respected irrespective of their performance.  Every professional should be given due respect for their contribution. Further, she said that it is leaders’ and managers’ responsibility to support those who are not able to perform better due to personal or professional issues. “Holding their hand and being with them during that tough time is a great way to retain the talent,” she added.

The second ‘R’ is recognition. “Apart from monetary gain, people wish to feel wanted, important and included. There should be an instant and continuous recognition culture in offices. It is a must to recognise our people frequently to infuse a sense of healthy competition and influence each other to perform better at the workplace.” While the third ‘R’ is the reward. Instead of having an annual appraisal, having a half-yearly appraisal in place is another better way to retain talent.

Bajaj Capital also initiated a NEEW—Nurture, Engaged, Evolved, and Win program. “The initiative was launched to help employees who quit their job due to work pressure. Under NEEW, employees are rewarded for their effort, not for their outcomes.

Like Sunaina, Kartik also talked about instant reward systems to make people feel included and wanted. “Everything the world is offering you is instant. Keeping this in mind, we created a ‘T’ shaped reward system where you have enough instant gratification. Also, it has provisions to ensure short-term and long-term strategies for the benefit of people,” said Kartik.