The Hindu Business Line : IT cos give seed capital, support for aspiring entrepreneurs to retain staff

“Attrition is a fact of life, but we have to learn to tackle it,” said Ms Anu Aga, Director, Thermax Ltd, at the sidelines of the Prerana Business Meet, NITIE. Realising that competent salary and other incentives ( such as free lunches and breaks) was not enough to retain employees, Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Vice-Chairman, Nasscom and Deputy Chairman & CEO, Zensar Technologies, said Nasscom has set up an innovation forum, where employees of IT companies can approach the management with business ideas and after a screening process, obtain the necessary funding and other support.

“Earlier, it could have been difficult to do business, but today, there is enough and more venture capital available in the country and sectors such as hospitality, micro-finance and airlines easily lend themselves to self-financed businesses,” he said. Some employees leave their organisations to pursue the business on their own, but rather than being threatened, the forum encourages such behaviour, he said. Zensar has been able to bring down its average attrition rate to 15-18 per cent from 20-22 per cent of the previous years.

The maximum attrition is seen amongst employees with two to four years experience, he said, as they are looking for a combination of better opportunity with higher income in this phase and not afraid to take risks. At the managerial level, the attrition rate is at three per cent or less for Zensar, he added.

Thermax has also been able to bring down its attrition rate with the introduction of an assessment centre, which recognises and rewards better performance on a regular basis.

Occasions of an employee leaving the organisation after receiving training are not uncommon, but it does not affect the CEOs. “Lets face it; loyalty to an organisation is no longer there. I would not be bothered if an employee leaves for better opportunity, but I will be highly concerned if they leave with bitterness,” said Ms Aga. Thermax employees have returned to work for the company, years after they left the organisation, she said, because of this culture of openness.

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