When rolling stones gather the moss...
Employment is no longer a life-long option. Job security is no longer important; job satisfaction is, reports Vandana Ramnani.
Short term is the new job mantra. Employment is not a life-long option anymore. With growing affluence and greater exposure, the workforce is becoming more demanding with choices galore.
From an employee’s perspective, he is no longer wedded to an organisation and the definition of a job term today is much shorter, perhaps ranging from one year to five years. People, especially in the IT and the services sectors are constantly reviewing themselves and looking for opportunities, feel HR experts.
“The term 'a life-long job' had a paternalistic approach. Today, an employer is not too keen on carrying along ‘plodders’ and the low performers as it maximises its productivity. From an employee perspective, too, the term no longer holds true as he focuses on climbing the road to success,” points out S Varadrajan, Executive VP and Chief HR Officer, Quatrro.
Job security is no longer important but job satisfaction is. “With a plethora of choices available to an employee, what would possibly hold them back is not necessarily money but whether the job is challenging enough, whether it provides them opportunities and an environment to grow at a fast pace,” said Praneet Mehrish, Country HR Director, ST Microelectronics on the sidelines of the HT HR Summit where HR managers deliberated on the topic ‘Challenges in recruitment and retention.’
Points out S Y Siddiqui, Executive Director, HR, Maruti Udyog, when Maruti was set up in the 1980s there was a culture of staying in an organisation for a lifetime. But in the last five years, one has observed a shift, especially with the younger generation moving in. There is more mobility in the company today. The life long model is no longer valid anymore.
And, yet, what is surprising is that Maruti still has a large part of its workforce, at least 50-60 per cent, employed with it since the 1980s.