Human resource (HR) departments have a crucial role in building prosperous businesses and creating an effective workplace environment. In large companies, such as Google, the number and diversity of employees make HR management more complicated: maintaining their satisfaction with the job and building retention practices require considering various needs and developing workable retention strategies. Indeed, a member of staff should feel comfortable at their work, be willing to improve their performance, and have career-building options and bonuses or other rewards guarantees (Dessler, 2016). This paper aims to discuss Google’s employee retention practices and how the company may improve them to decrease their turnover rates.
Google is one of the most attractive companies to work at, and its continued expansion results in many offers with remote work options for candidates worldwide. Moreover, the corporation has a well-developed workplace culture, various opportunities for career development, monetary rewards and non-monetary bonuses, insurance, and valuable retirement options (Dessler, 2016). Nevertheless, Google still faced the need to address the increasing employee turnover rate by providing all employees with a 10% raise and a $1,000 tax-free holiday bonus. Although financial rewards are appropriate for improving job satisfaction, HR practices suggest that they are not sufficient. Turnover rates are based on voluntary leaves; thus, Google should conduct exit interviews to identify the key factors influencing their employees’ decision-making. The company could also enhance its career development options by including additional training or mentoring opportunities because the corporation has the recourses to attract the brightest coaches and educators (Dessler, 2016). Lastly, expanding the flexibility options for employees and providing them with more power over their working hours could be effective retention necessary for Google staff to manage their work-life balance.
Employee retention is essential for Google to keep its best talent engaged in developing the corporation; therefore, expanded career development options and flexibility at work are valuable steps for maintaining their interest. Dessler (2016) states that “formal career-oriented performance appraisals, counseling and mentoring with managers, and individual succession planning for high-potential employees are valuable” (p. 311). Flexibility is a complicated aspect, especially for high-performing employees, because their work tends to be time-consuming and demanding. However, providing the employees with an option to manage their load is beneficial for their engagement, and HR should identify where flexibility is possible based on the metrics and objectives (Dessler, 2016). For Google, the goal should be to create a working system that optimizes every involved professional’s performance and helps the corporation keep and develop its talent.
It is crucial to consider that Google mostly hires the best representatives for different jobs, and such individuals always receive many other job invitations. Consequently, employee engagement must maintain their current workplace’s advantage over the competitors. The steps to achieve results in that aspect are improving the corporation’s internal culture and implementing individualized career development options. Indeed, building a diverse community united by their work objectives and values is a powerful employee retention strategy because striving to be in the company of like-minded people is essential (Khan et al., 2021). Career development options are necessary for Google to demonstrate their talent and that they have perspectives in the company and recourses for achieving higher results.
Google is a large corporation with thousands of employees; thus, its engagement, retention, and turnover rates management practices include different and complicated approaches. The strategies to make the talent stay at the company, such as flexibility, education and mentoring options, career development, and building culture are effective because they address how high-performing workers are valued. Moreover, they increase Google’s competitive advantage and attractiveness for new talent, which is necessary because of the corporation’s continuous expansion.
References
Dessler, G. (2016). Human resource management, (15th ed.). Pearson Education.
Khan, N. A., Bharadwaj, S., Khatoon, A., & Jamal, M. T. (2021). Assessing the nexus between employer branding and employee retention: Moderating role of organizational identification. Management and Labour Studies, 46(4), 379-398.