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Bangalore , Nov. 14

THE greatest challenge for a BPO outfit in India stems from an expectation mismatch.

"Agents come expecting to have a clubby, fun kind of environment while in reality the job demands a lot of discipline and learning a whole lot of metrics," according to Mr Mohan Lal P. Menon, Director, Customer Care, Dell International Services.

Another reason for dejection on the job is that the intellectual horsepower of the agent is not in tune with the demands of the job. There is underutilisation of talent that may lead to exits.

Mr Menon was speaking at a Nasscom ( National Association for Software and Services Companies) seminar on achieving `Operational excellence through managing people and process management' in Bangalore.

Listing the challenges facing the industry today, he enumerated on factors such as compensation spiral, leadership challenges and social dilemma, he said "Young people used to youthful lifestyles have to get used to working nights which is difficult."

Mr Deepak Dhawan, Vice-President, Human Resources, EXL Service.com, felt that about 60 per cent of the attrition happened because `people feel that they are not cared for.'

According to him, no other industry focuses on training as much as the BPO does.

He also concurred on the `cold facts' issue and said that employees were faced with a huge amount of metrics that there was a danger of dehumanising them.

"And we should also remember that in a BPO, 95 per cent of the people are client facing, therefore the sense of accountability is very high. They are capable of benefiting or damaging the organisation."

The prime reason for attrition in the industry according to Mr Jyotirmoy Bose, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young, is the `relationship or lack of it' between agents and seniors.

In his opinion, agents desire clear and consistent communication, clearly defined objectives and sensitivity in handling work-life balance.

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Why BPO units see high attrition

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