Singled out

"What I encourage the guys to do is to get involved in the business more than just IT."

You can get any IT person who knows a lot of technical things, but at the end of the day you have to know what your business is all about.

"Coming up with an initiative that helps strengthen the relationship with the client is more important for me than day to day support which anybody can do," he continues.

While it's quite easy to suggest that CIOs should be more open and encouraging with employees, provide growth opportunities and reward fresh thinking, it's quite difficult to see if these steps are actually fostering loyalty among employees or making the company more attractive to prospective talent.

Vineet Chhatwal, managing consultant for PA Consulting's Global Business Transformation Group suggests that there are several measures to check how enterprise employees are responding to good management.

"One, CIOs can use satisfaction surveys to measure and drive their behaviour. The second is around softer issues which are obviously harder to measure."

"I know of companies that have implemented significant alternate channels for people to air their views rather than just through their line manager, things like having a mentor - not directly related to your job - in the organisation that you can speak to."

"The third is your retention rate, which is a very hard measure of how satisfied your people are and what are the specific reasons why people are leaving," says Chhatwal.

Indigo's Fletcher says that from her HR perspective, an environment where the employees feel appreciated is easy to detect.

"When we meet clients, if we don't see their people out in the market looking for jobs or don't receive their CV, it's a good indication that they've got a happy workforce," she says.

Fletcher explains that candidates for IT positions are typically motivated by one of three things - money, job satisfaction or career advancement. Employers that understand which one of these motivates their staff are better equipped to handle the resultant issues.

"I don't think any employer in this market can get away with not being competitive with regards to money. They don't have to be the top payer, but they do need to make sure that their pay is market rate."

"In terms of job satisfaction, is there a productive work environment where employees are encouraged, motivated, have one on one time with managers, have an appraisal system which monitors performance, are set clear objectives, have the job description expectations clearly outlined at the very beginning?"

"In terms of careers and skill training, are you as an employer offering training incentives and buying your employees in with accelerated promotions?" she asks.

Discussing ways to incentivise the workforce, Chhatwal says that Nagarajan's individual approach can have strong results: "Transparency itself is a huge motivator and isn't just about ratings and performance."

"It's about having honest discussions on capability and feedback, not just one-way traffic. That's a big motivator - a senior guy sitting with them, seeking feedback."

"This can be tough for a lot of senior guys, because they sometimes believe taking feedback might completely undermine them."

Many unpopular CIOs faced with flagging morale in the office end up turning to the somewhat hackneyed staff outing to boost team spirits. However, Chhatwal cautions that this approach rarely has results.

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