'Golden handcuff' awaits retail execs

Upsurge in poaching of senior managerial talent in the retail segment has propelled leading retail chains to churn out attractive retention packages for star performers. Leading retailers like Future Group, Reliance Retail, Ebony and even RPG Retail have either worked out or are in the process of evolving innovative ‘golden handcuff’ schemes to reduce frequent top level churns. Simply put, ‘golden handcuff’ in HR parlance means rolling out special employee retention or loyalty packages that bind employees emotionally and/or monetarily to the company. For starters, Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has worked out such an innovative scheme for providing ‘security’ to the top three levels and their family members. The group’s flagship Pantaloon Retail India has tied up with insurance companies - MetLife India and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance - to insure their employees’ cost-to-company (CTC) in case of an untimely demise. This means, in case of an employee’s untimely demise, the family will continue to receive his monthly CTC for the balance years of service till his retirement age. While the scheme has been doled out for Pantaloon Retail India’s top three management levels, the group plans to roll out similar packages to all the employees across the board. Incidentally, the group has on its payroll some 17,000-odd employees till date. Company officials declined to divulge how much Pantaloon Retail would need to provision for such an ambitious mass employee retention exercise. Confirming the development, Mr Biyani told ET: “With this package, we are trying to secure the future of our employees.” Elaborating, Future Group HR-head Sanjay Jog said: “We propose to extend similar packages to other group companies as well and are in discussion with 2-3 insurance companies for the same. Apart from this, we are also trying to understand our employees’ aspirations and fulfil these pro-actively.” Interestingly, all this comes at a time when most of the retail players are rocked by an all-time high attrition rate of nearly 28%. Exit of top management employees on a weekly basis to new retail biggies like Aditya Birla Group and Bharti-Wal-Mart is a regular feature these days. Therefore, the emphasis is on offering retention packages with a mix of monetary and emotional benefits. Ebony has appointed consultants to draw up relative compensation packages in sync with those offered by competitors. “Apart from compensation, we are also trying to create an emotional bonding with employees. The top performers have been given independent responsibilities in the company’s growth plans as well as cross-functional roles,” Ebony Retail Holding CEO Lalit Kumar said. This apart, retailers are also speeding up appraisal cycles. “Monetary benefits like half-yearly incentive schemes are becoming more popular. Some have also offered ‘retention bonus’ whereby an employee receives a lumpsum amount of Rs 40-50 lakh after 2-3 years of service,” said Mr E Balaji, COO at Ma Foi Management Consultants, an employee recruitment firm. Reliance Retail is also believed to be working out an employee-retention package. A senior company official said the package, being worked out by the company’s talent design team, is likely to be ready in a week’s time

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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