The Hindu Business Line : `Seat them facing north or east' — BPO firms at wits' end over attrition

Gone are the days when, providing good working conditions, above-par pay and perks could motivate people to stay and perform. With the face of business changing in almost all organisations, the factors that currently attract and help retain personnel are opportunities to learn and grow.

A study by Elixir Web Solutions, a talent search firm, reveals how to retain employees by breaking all the organisational rules. It provides various tips and sops to keep employees back, and if even these do not work, `Vastu Shastra' is the last resort.

According to the study, companies today lose about 25 per cent of their annual revenue as a result of attrition. Deficiencies such as inability to influence employees' perception of growth, not aligning them to roles based on their individual talent and inflexibility in leadership styles are causing conflicts at a very intrinsic level.

It is not any single factor, says the study, but the overall package — a synergy between money, environment, acquiring the right skills through training, convenience, security, challenge and a whole range of other issues that are involved in making the employees stay in place. It's true that it is difficult to put together a recipe for total job satisfaction. However, with the right training, the team leaders, supervisors and managers can ensure that they put up a recipe.

Here's an example of how things have changed. When the ex-CEO of GE, Mr Jack Welsh, instituted his policy of annual appraisals, he generously rewarded the top 20 per cent `A' grade performers, developed the middle 70 per cent `B' grade performers and fired the bottom 10 per cent `C' graders. In the current situation, forget firing the bottom 10 per cent, the BPO firms would talk about re-training the bottom 10 per cent in their endeavour to curb the high attrition rates.

Adversely hit, in particular, is the Indian BPO industry. To pre-empt employees from moving out, these companies are resorting to various strategies. These range from giving "luxury" comforts to its employees such as housing schemes, low-rate loans, pick-up and drop and attractive catering to having spouses working in the same organisation.

In some cases, anti-poaching agreements are being signed to retain people. In short, BPO firms are trying a fix-all solution for retaining their trained manpower for a longer period of time.

According to a report on offshore contact centres and outsourcing in India, about $232 million has been invested in call centres in the country. The big question being asked in the IT and IT-enabled services industry today is how to stop these job hoppers.

Quite a few firms have experimented with innovative ways. For instance, EXL Service has taken 125 flats in Noida (in Uttar Pradesh ), where for a nominal rent, it houses young staffers.

Wipro Spectramind has tied up with BITS Pilani and the Symbiosis Institute of Management to provide distance-learning programmes to its employees. The software major, Computer Sciences Corporation gives its employees a six-month sabbatical to work with any NGO of their choice.

Similarly, ICICI OneSource, the Bangalore-based BPO, gives scholarships of up to Rs 50,000 to its employees who want to join distance-learning programmes.

Despite all this, the study notes that, to some extent, the domestic industry is bound to follow the trend in US call centres which face attrition rates as high as 50-80 per cent. In many cases, it is 100 per cent, as the entire staff is known to have undergone a change.

"Around 60-65 per cent of the call centre agents leave within one month of their joining when they realise that the offerings by the organisation are not in line with their expectations. Keeping this in mind, we offer our clients a one-month `guarantee bond' wherein we take the guarantee that the agents we hire will stay for at least one month," says Ms Perry Madan, Manager, ITES practice, Elixir Web Solutions.

All in all, it's tough times for software firms and call centres. And guess who's stepping in when even threats and pleas don't work! Vastu consultants. Certain software companies have approached Vastu experts for solutions to check the attrition rate. Even corporates who built their offices in keeping with Vastu are now verifying whether modifications are required.

"Employees should either face east or north. If the seating arrangement is wrong, then the chances of people leaving the organisation at the first opportunity is more," says a Vastu practitioner.

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