What corporations can do to control exit of women?

What corporations can do to control exit of women?

Recent research indicates that women are leaving corporate at twice the rate of men. Companies are tremendously affected by the exodus of the women executives and it causes a negative effect in the team morale and the cost of finding replacement is very high. The National Foundation of Women Business Owners (NFWBO) finding suggested that, many of these women go into business for themselves and become entrepreneurs. This article examines the differences and provides suggestions for corporations who wish to attract and keep top women.

The study called Paths to Entrepreneurship-New Directions for Women in Business, was released at a conference sponsored by Simmons Graduate School of Management found that, women started their own businesses and another strong impetus was inspiration of winning business concept: roughly half of the women surveyed were motivated by the combination of hitting upon a great idea and identifying a market niche. Other major reason was the desire for more flexibility.

How companies can respond
- Identifying the gender equity
- By more rewards and recognition for the contributions made by the women
- Flexible work arrangements
The following measures would foster hospitable workplace for women employees

Examine the current scenario  

According to The Paths to Entrepreneurship research finding, large number of women leaving the organization were not going home to have babies as assumed, but they remained in the workforce or starting their own businesses.
So, we need to identify the number of women in the upper management position and who are in the pipeline, positioned for future advancement and talk to them and find out what’s important to them. These conversations would help the organization to offer program to help women managers to advance in their career.

Avoid gender equity issues

Women fell that, a host of factors such as Gender-based stereotypes, absence of female role models and objective performance standards, informal business networks, mentoring opportunities and exclusion of women from male-only tradition are mostly affecting them. So, there should be common language for discussing gender-related issues and these issues should be removed from the sphere of individual personalities, and should be discussed from a business point of view.
Remove invisible barriers to women’s success

Organizations should eliminate the male-dominated hierarchies and perceptions and stereotypes and adopt interim measures to ensure safety of women and organizations should promote female approach to management.

So, corporation can reduce the departure of women executive, if such issues are avoided.

Reference 
Kristen B. Donahue S. Retaining your best people- from A Timesaving Guide- THE- RESULTS-DRIVEN MANAGER.  Harvard Business Press

Author   :  Subburam N.N
College  :  Amrita School of Business, Bangalore
Email id : subburamnn@gmail.com

History and importance of Human Resource Management

History and importance of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management or the HRM is considered as the heart of any company. For any organization small or large, the employees are the biggest assets.  Some of the important principles of human resource management were found since the prehistoric times.  During 1000 B.C to 2000 B.C, the selection of tribal leaders was based on the knowledge on hunting, health and safety. Later Chinese used the employee screening techniques during 1115 B.C.

Human Resource Management has seen numerous naming from its history, based on its vital function. It was known as “Personnel Relations” then evolved to “ Industrial Relations” , “Employee Relation” and then finally to “Human Resources”.  I think this is the most apt name since it demonstrates the importance of human beings in the organization.  Earlier human resource management was followed as a social welfare approach.  They helped the immigrants to adjust to their jobs and American lifestyle. They assisted the immigrants in learning English and helped to get housing and medical care. These approaches were used to promote supervisory training to ensure an increase in productivity.

After the advent of the labour unions during 1790, the responsibilities of the employees increased tremendously and accelerated at a rapid pace during 1800s and 1900s. This made the HR department more effective. By the end of 1970, the HRM became famous all over the world and most of the large and medium scale industries have a separate department to manage their recruitment, record-keeping, training, employee relations, salaries and wages, etc.  During the 1980’s the importance of Human resources extended to increase the skilled labour, training, regulation, dismissal, etc.   The HR manager plays a vital role in recruiting and dismissing the employees.

In the current trend, the importance of HR has increased in corporate. Their responsibilities have multiplied substantially and they are accountable for converting employees into valuable asset for an organization.