BPO industry — Winning from within
THE INDIAN BPO industry is poised for exponential growth. However, if BPO companies are to grow and prosper, they must first tackle the escalating attrition rates, a key challenge for the industry. According to Nasscom, the current attrition rate is 35 per cent in the non-voice outsourcing industry and 45 per cent in call centres. Attempting to garner good growth rates, companies often poach on each other for the right talent, thus further fuelling employee turnover. Clearly, the cause of the problem BPO companies are facing is rooted in the nature of the industry itself. Attrition is not easy to resolve in an industry where the workforce is young, has high growth expectations and is willing to change jobs easily in search of professional fulfilment. Add to that the pressures of cost-cutting and global clients who expect 24x7 service, and you have a panic situation.
Companies have adopted various measures to stem attrition. Some are offering housing schemes, low rate loans and catering facilities. Others are entering into anti-poach agreements to retain employees. But do these measures suffice?
It's a general belief that the BPO industry requires smarter people-management tools. An average BPO employee no longer does basic tasks like answering customer queries or selling goods. Rather, he/she is a skilled and well-qualified professional, who sees his/her job as a means to a comfortable standard of living.
However, it is not necessary that a BPO worker is interested in monetary considerations only. Rather, creativity, job satisfaction, workplace atmosphere and brand equity are equally important drivers.
To retain the young, skilled and ambitious BPO employees, there is a need to look beyond compensation. Companies need to overhaul HR practices to contain attrition and optimise hiring and training costs.
With their expertise in outsourcing, some companies have learnt that people have different career aspirations. They believe that by instilling a sense of pride in the employees, they can foster long-term ties with them. .
One such BPO initiates the process of bonding through a three-day induction and orientation programme in line with their international HR practices. The idea is to introduce employees to an interesting and challenging work environment and build a strong sense of identification with the global parent. The CEO instructs the inductees on company offerings, including finance transaction processing, customer relationship management, IT help desk support, applications development, maintenance and management or support for various software applications. Icebreakers, quizzes and photo sessions help inductees warm up before the formal induction process shifts on-site. At the induction programme, the inductees get a sense of the information, quality parameters and tools and technologies available to them.
Given the nature of the BPO industry, ennui and isolation can set in. Face-to-face interaction, exchange of ideas and `people skills' are necessary if BPO is to be viewed as a long-term career option. Therefore, `communities' of 120-130 employees that work as informal support groups for the exchange of information and ideas are the need of the hour. Here, every employee is `buddied' with a mentor who initiates him into a community. Such communities are active in out-of-workplace initiatives like stress camps, sports and cultural activities and act as informal channels of communication for the company's vision, message and goals.
The `community' concept and the induction programme may be small steps to achieve high value goals like employee retention but such innovative people practices encourage creativity in work that could become `routine' and `boring '. Given the high attrition rates in the industry, no BPO can afford to ignore such innovations.
PANKAJ VAISH
faqs@cnkonline.com
(The author is `India BPO Lead' at Accenture)
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