One of the most recent events of a leading ed-tech brand switching over to a new policy of employee compensation has generated a lot of buzz and unrest among the existing employee pool according to the media reports. The company has said to be moving to an inside sales model from a direct sales model, a new initiative to restructure the business itself and an effort towards cutting costs and drastically containing losses.
From a business model perspective, most start-ups in their journey end up burning cash severely as they go all out towards customer acquisition. That often leads to accumulating losses on the way, defeating the very methods of the business done traditionally, and requiring course corrections during this journey.
Salaries are often linked to job satisfaction, however, there are plenty of other factors too that affect employees’ satisfaction, happiness, and overall work productivity. While financial rewards matter, there are many intrinsic elements like joy at work, learning opportunities, and achievement of challenges that play on the minds of employees. And often intrinsically motivated employees outperform those motivated by only strong financial growth.
Employees at an individual level may treat money very differently. While for some money might remain of prime importance, for most it might never be the case at all, and they could have completely different motivations. Companies do offer their employees many things beyond a salary via various perquisites, bonuses, profit-sharing opportunities, etc. depending upon which level they operate within the company.
Now the issue is, how much can a sudden change in policy framework affect the employees, their morale, their performance, and eventually output for the company they are working with? Whenever there is a disruption in policy, or there is an abrupt change in salaries and compensation structure, it is bound to trigger waves of panic among the employee base, leaving many of them feeling insecure and worried about their jobs.
In times of disruptive changes, the organisation needs to consider the above sensitivities in mind and have a communication plan to address such changes with the employees. With disruptive policies, the impact can be great on poor or mediocre performers, as they may either shape them or ship them out. However, even those who are performing well might have some psychological that may end up hitting their performance.
Ideally, some communication, training programs, meetings, and roadmaps with ample clarity on the new policies always help the existing teams acclimatise well to the upcoming changes. Insecurities and confusion can rise manyfold when it comes to money and may result in disillusionment.
A well-designed corporate communication programme targeted at the employee pool, addressing the possible queries internally, pre-empting any issues that may come out as a result of the disruptive policy changes, and the solutions proposed from employees’ perspective can be discussed and executed before such implementation.
When the employees are better prepared and have a good understanding of the possible impact the changes of policy framework may have on them, they will accept and deal with it in a progressive manner, thereby contributing towards the common goals of the organisation.
As long as the employees feel connected with the common cause of the growth of the organisation being in sync with their personal development, they should be able to sustain any abrupt and disruptive change brought in by the organisation in order to streamline their operations.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Praveen has been closely associated with many national and international events related to cinema for children, art and culture. He has a well-rounded experience that cuts across all key sectors of PR & Corporate Communications.
He started his career with URJA Communications, an advertising agency specialising in technology brands, where he was instrumental in developing the PR division. Post this, he had a stint with Horizons Porter Novelli, a global public relations consultancy. Thereafter, he was heading the IT & Telecom division at Clea PR, a leading Indian public relations and communications company followed by a fairly long stint with Omnicom Group agencies viz. TBWA\India and Brodeur India.
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