Fundamentals of Corporate Alumni Management
When it comes to the Corporates and Tech Giants, “Grow with the company” has become a mantra of their work culture. This idea of mutual growth not only promotes a healthy work culture but also strengthens the relationship with their current and former employees. But when it comes to the management of former employees, we are faced with a series of questions like:
- Why should a company have an alumni program?
- Who are the potential former employees of an organization?
- How effective will the corporate alumni program be?
- What will be the takeaway for the organization through the program?
A simple understanding of your former employee’s personas will help you in designing and running an effective alumni program. With our experience in working closely with corporate leaders like Bosch, Qualcomm, and Tata, we came up with four major parameters that will aid you in building an effective alumni community that mutually strengthens the organization and its former associates.
Based on the tenure:
This parameter is based on the years an employee was associated with the organization. The number of years spent by the former employee along with the organization serves as a milestone for their closeness and accountability. Ironically, we have seen former employees with two years of experience in an organization are more readily available as a “boomerang employee” than the former employees who spent 15+ years in the same organization. It doesn’t mean the former employee who associated the longest with the organization is least bothered, but they form a community of potential advisors who are readily available.
Type of Position held:
The role/position of the former employee has its own weightage when determining their rate of engagement. For instance, the relationship between a former Chief Technology Officer with the organization is different from the former Digital Marketing Trainee. Based on the hierarchy, employees tend to understand the major functional area of the organization comparatively. This helps in identifying the potential contributors to an effective program.
Retiree and Non-Retiree:
Based on the total years spent in an organization, we categorized the former employees as Retiree and Non-Retiree.
Retiree: This group of alumni includes former employees who shared a vast year of service with the organization. Usually, they are the group of leaders, who retired from the organization with humongous success in their career. They are considered the most valuable assets of any organization, and corporates extend their gratitude through various schemes and programs for their benefit. They indeed are considered a valuable advisor for the organization.
Non-Retiree are the employees are the ones who left the organization before the given retirement age.
Voluntary Exit and Non-Voluntary Exit
Based on the mode of exit of an employee, they are still entitled to the alumni benefit from the organization. The two major categories are Voluntary-exit and Non-Voluntary.
Voluntary Exit: A former employee can exit an organization for multiple reasons. It includes health factors, change of role, personal reasons, etc., They include a cumulation of personas like boomerang employees, potential ambassadors, and potential advisors. They can also give referrals and suggest potential leads for the organization’s growth as they were closely associated with the organization.
Non-Voluntary Exit: These employees do not cover or have a restrictive policy for such benefits from the organization.
- Companies might not want to directly engage with the non-voluntary exit employees.
- Certain organizations would enroll them in the alumni program, with restricted access to their community
- Companies can design specific guidelines for the non-voluntary exit members, which also act as a platform for them to re-engage with the alumni members and rebuild their relationships.
By understanding the parameters of the organization’s alumni diversity, one can run an effective corporate alumni management program.
Here at Vaave, we designed a powerful alumni management tool that takes care of your alumni community. With 10+ years of leading the market, Vaave has been at the forefront of enabling meaningful alumni relations.
Visit: https://www.vaave.com or write to us at hello@vaave.com to understand more about Alumni relations.
