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When it comes to opting for better avenues, there's virtually nothing that can stop an IT professional. A professional doesn't understand what company loyalty or accountability means, but still IT companies try to bind him, and HR plays a significant role in that. "Legal agreements" is the standard practice that IT companies normally follow. But, in a country like India, where legal process is not a time bound, this weapon is hardly effective.

Legal agreements
Most companies follow good HR practices to retain their employees but still organizations do use means such as 'lock-ins' to hold employees. "It is imperative that such means be subjected to two conditions: that circumstances mandate it, and that the employee is educated of the same and has willfully accepted it," says Milnd Jadhav, VP-HR, Patni. In most of the cases it's only an employee that ends up accepting it willfully because he has no other option but to agree to it. Fresh graduates become the victim of this weapon, as breakthrough in IT industry is more important for them rather than going into the nitty-gritty of legal consequences. But, very soon, they realize their mistake when they see that their peers, who were not part of any such agreement, have moved much ahead in their career by shuffling jobs.

Many companies favor such agreements as they think that if an employee leaves the organization within a stipulated time, it's a substantial financial loss to them in terms of loss of resources, man hours, computer time etc. Therefore, if the employee leaves within that period, he will have to pay 50% of the compensation paid to him; 50% of the total computer time utilized by him calculated at Rs 500 per terminal hour; 50% of the cost of recruitment that the company would have to incur to recruit a fresh engineer which includes cost of advertising, travel, loss of man hours etc. All this calculation sometimes ends up in lakhs and the employees have to pay back to the organization if they leave in between.

But HR managers say that legal bonds are just a part of the process and employees stick with the organization because of several other reasons "Retention is not seen in the context of compensation and benefits alone. There is a wide list of reasons why employees at Intel would want to continue working with it. We provide career development and growth opportunities that include mentoring, rotations, IU classes, career roadmaps, bench strength, and succession planning," says Ramon Eli, HR director, Intel-South Asia. 

"We meet the different learning needs of our employees in specific areas of technology, management, leadership, and other soft skills” "Retention is not seen in the context of compensation and benefits alone; there is a wide list of reasons why employees at Intel would want to continue with it” "Lock-ins should be subjected to two conditions: that circumstances mandate it, and that the employee is educated of the same and has willfully accepted it” Hema Ravichandar, Sr VP and Group Head, HR Development, Infosys Ramon Eli, HR director, Intel-South Asia Milnd Jadhav, VP, HR, Patni

According Jadhav, "Patni has institutionalized various policies and practices which, on one part, have helped us retain existing talent, and on the other, attract new talent. The basic premise of this is to create a mutually beneficial association between the employees and the organization, while effectively contributing towards the professional and personal development of each employee."

HR concerns
Well, quality workforce has always been in demand and creepy competitors try to raid work force. But can the law can be the perfect bug spray? It cannot be. HR managers think that legal bindings help them at least retain employees for sometime, and that's the only way they can get their returns on the investment. But if a competitor is hiring your employees, you are losing more than the cost of hiring and training replacements. The assets of any business walk home each night in the hearts and minds of the employees. Which is precisely why competitors may want to raid your work force, either to take advantage of the talent you've worked so hard to nurture or to gain access to confidential information about your business.

The solution
What can HR managers do about it? The first line of defense could be a contented work force. Satisfied employees are far less likely to jump ship. Still, in today's economy, competitors can tempt employees with compensation packages that are hard to refuse. That's when HR needs to know what protection they have in the law. There are organizations that value their employees and impart better training to groom them in terms of providing better infrastructrue, better growth opportunities within the organization, but not under any boundation. "We have a learning framework which is continuously enhanced with new programs and the latest learning techniques-and close-knit coordination across these initiatives ensures that it meets the different learning needs of our employees in specific areas of advanced technology, management, leadership, cultural and communication skills, and other soft skills," says Hema Ravichandar, senior vice president and group head, HR Development, Infosys.

BPO players under the Nasscom initiative had signed an anti-poaching agreement and such initiatives really help but there is a lot that needs to be done on this front. Many a times, employees use Indian companies as a stepping stone to their dollar careers by taking up overseas assignments as an excuse to hunt for better jobs in other countries. These things should be handled tactfully.

Therefore, the first question is whether there should be an employment contract. If yes, then the next thing is whether the organization has hired them on an "at-will" basis. The hallmark of an at-will status is that the employer or the employee can terminate the relationship at any time, for any reason, and with or without notice. In IT one or two years is like a generation. So, is there anything that can be done to keep a company from being damaged? Maybe there is. Financial loss cannot be the reason for signing an agreement with the employee, as the damages would be more if he leaves the company after the expiry of the agreement. The only reason is that the competitor does not gain confidential information about your business. You then have a legal right to protect confidential information that your competitors could use against you.

Rahul Gupta

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