High Attrition Rate in BPO : A Big Challenge
posted in Outsourcing News and Top Outsourcing deals |The IT enabled services (BPO) industry has been looked upon as the next big employment generator. Nasscom predicts 1.1 million job requirement in the BPO sector by the year 2008.
Intelligent employers always realise the importance of retaining the best talent. In an intensely competitive environment, where HR managers are poaching from each other, organizations can either hold on to their employees tight or lose them to competition.
It is not an easy task for the HR manager in the BPO sector to bridge the ever increasing demand and supply gap of professionals. The HR manager’s responsibility includes finding the right kind of people who can keep pace with the unique work patterns in this industry. Adding to this is the issue of maintaining consistency in performance and keeping the motivation levels high, despite the monotonous work. The toughest concern for the HR manager is however the high attrition rate.
In India, the average attrition rate in the BPO sector is approximately 30-35 percent. It is true that this is far less than the prevalent attrition rate in the US market (around 70 percent), but the challenge continues to be greater considering the recent growth of the industry in the country. The US BPO sector is estimated to be somewhere around three decades old. Keeping low attrition levels is a major challenge as the demand outstrips the supply of good agents by a big margin. Further, the salary growth plan for each employee is not well defined. All this only encourages poaching by other companies who can offer a higher salary.
Why people leave?
In an industry like BPO, the work can often be monotonous and opportunities for career growth minimal. So when opportunities beckon, the high rate of attrition is not surprising. However, there are some common reasons that especially cause people to leave. Recent surveys on BPO attrition have listed that some parameters like night shifts, money, inability to handle various types of stress, monotonous work, company policies, lack of career growth, problems with those in senior positions etc., as some of the most common reasons given by the BPO employees, as reasons for quitting jobs.
Many individuals, especially fresh graduates enter the BPO sector and take it as a pass-time job. Once they start working and understand the requirements, they are taken aback by the long working hours and sometime later monotony of the job starts setting in. This is the reason for high attrition rate as many individuals are not able to handle the work pressure.
The high percentage of females in the workforce (constituting 30-35 percent of the total), adds to the high attrition rate. Most women leave their job either after marriage or because of social pressures caused by irregular working hours in the industry. All these things,translate into huge losses for the company, which invests a lot of money in training them.
So, all this has induced the companies to take necessary steps, both internally and externally. Internally most HR managers are busy putting in efforts on the development of their employees, building innovative retention and motivational schemes (which was more money oriented so far) and making the environment livelier. Outside, the focus is on creating awareness through seminars and going to campuses for recruitment.
