Ring Fence Your C-Suite Execs Before it is Too Late

C-suite executive attrition in India is at an all-time high as reported by the Economic Times on 17 July 2022. In the last one year many global conglomerates and large Indian companies have lost their top leaders to new-age firms/companies in high growth sectors such as tech, health care and education. 

Now, these companies are looking at engaging these execs in more sweetened but binding contracts, using ‘golden handcuffs’ to ring fence these execs. Some actions being taken organizations:

• Longer tenure employment contracts (5 years now Vs 3 earlier)
  
  
• Extended Notice period (6-9 months now Vs 3 months earlier)
  
  
• Backloading of long-term incentives (ESOPs, RSUs, Performance shares, guaranteed cash incentives) with scope of significant financial loss at an abrupt exit
  
  
• Using ESG metrics in KPIs with direct linkage to LTI payouts
  
  
• Giving more freedom to top leaders even in key financial decision making

HRPI View: While senior leadership has always enjoyed special status because of the impact they create, their market demand seems to be going up because of many startups taking on the status of Unicorns, increasing their leadership talent and more. Multinational business activity seems to have increased in India, as China becomes less attractive. Overall, the Indian economy has also been doing well.  While the changes have been noticed over the years, however suddenly there is hyperactivity and senior management has also been engulfed by the great resignation era. It may be a good idea for global companies to discuss expectations and aspirations of their in-country leaders to avoid sudden departures.