Show a fresh graduate a `No vacancy' board and she'll probably burst out laughing. Better still, she might just go and join that acting course she's been dying to attend. In times like these when fresh-faced undergraduates are being wooed off their campuses and middle-level managers choose between multiple job offers, the buzzword is retention. The market belongs to the employee. Just a few years ago, the word `job-hunt' meant exactly that. A dearth of opportunities, endless bargaining on salary, being caught in the vicious `no-experience-no-job-no-experience' cycle were just a few of the challenges a job-seeker faced. But not anymore! This article explores several techniques followed by employers to retain and to engage their best talent. After all, there's nothing as good as having an employee married to the organization!

Today, it's not a struggle to find a job. Instead, it is the organization that is in pursuit of potential employees. And once the person is in, enormous efforts go into retaining and engaging the employee. The phrase `No one is indispensable' may be true, but the damage caused, when a skilled employee quits his/her job, is enormous. When people leave the organization for better opportunities, they take with them skill sets that are valuable to the organization.

Let us first of all discuss the reasons that play a critical role in employees leaving the organization. One probably expects compensation to be right there at the top of the list of reasons for a good employee leaving the organization. But that may not be the case. The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called First Break All The Rules.

HRM Review Magazine, Retention, Global Human Resources Services Company, American Society for Training and Development's, ASTD, Satyam School of Leadership, Project Management, Advanced Management, Performance Management, Indian Economy, Tata Consultancy Services, TCS.