Bpo Attrition- the Problem and Its Solution

Human Resources In Indian Business Process Outsourcing Organizations- Attrition. Is there any solution? Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is likely to be the next big thing for services in this decade. The industry is very diverse, with several sub-segments, each displaying its own unique characteristics. The BPO players need to be excellent in every facet of operations as the market is highly competitive at every level and re-defining itself every day. Being a People-Centric industry what are the people issues that, the HR will have to handle? What are the challenges faced by HR in dealing with them? HI Before this, one needs to gain an understanding about BPOs and what businesses are Indian companies doing in this segment? BPO is based on the premise that whatever competencies are not very important for an organization   (not their core competencies); outsource or ask somebody else who is adept at doing it, to do it for the organization. In this way the organization can concentrate on its core competencies and not worry about on trivial issues, which are not strategic in nature. But these days we even find organizations outsourcing their core competencies or the core business aspects to BPOs to gain the advantage of cost cutting and quality issues. Typically, BPO would include call centers, problem solving in insurance sector to other sophisticated activities like research and other back office dealings. India has the advantage of low cost, highly qualified English speaking labour, thus most of the BPO ventures in India are call centers, although of late, companies are entering into high-end areas like research. But for sometime at least we can assume that most of the companies would be doing the call center kind of business. Most of these kinds of jobs get done in the night in India to account for the 12-hour time lag between US and India. Over a period of time the biological rhythm of the employee changes, causing various kind of disorders like indigestion, fatigue, headaches etc. so the health of the employee is a major concern for the HR, more so because most of them are graduates in their early twenties. In addition the jobs are monotonous, often nerve wracking. So it is a challenge for HR to adequately rotate the jobs of employees and provide them with enough time to refresh, so that they are able to deliver service of highest quality. Although many companies are targeting fresh graduates, they are not able to retain them. Attrition continues to be high 35%. HR has to ensure that a proper career path is chalked out so that graduates increasingly see this area as a potential career for them. Clients in US, UK and other European Countries are very quality conscious and as increasingly complex jobs get outsourced, it becomes important that HR ensures right quality people are selected and the right quality of training is provided to them. This ensures that later they do not face embarrassing time from their clients. There has been enormous requirement in this sector for manpower and huge salaries are up for taking. The times are good for this industry, but one has to keep in mind that this industry is still in its way to figure out in the growth stage. One cannot predict the future so easily and the sour experience of software companies is still fresh in minds. So a little bit of caution is to be exercised in this matter and proper trends have to be forecast by the HR to ensure that they do not go the software way when ultimately the industry stabilizes. Attrition †¦ A major problem rocking the Industry. Some Facts to Ponder about†¦ * 95% companies in the industry have Attrition problems * The small-sized and medium-sized companies loose more people * Turnover rates are as high as 30% in some reputed BPOs and over all around 35% in the Industry. Employees move to smaller companies for exciting opportunities and greater identity and move to large companies for defined roles, clearer career paths and better HR systems. Loyalty towards their employer or towards the organization has slowly seems to have disappeared. Executives know that fast-moving markets require fast-moving organizations that are continually refreshed with new talent, and they have become quite adept to outside hiring. Even companies are quite comfortable with bringing in talent; they remain distinctly uncomfortable about seeing talent leave. The competition to headhunt employees with good performance ratings of other organizations is an open ploy. The mediators (so called Consultants) make this job easy for the organizations by gaining the data bases of employees and they lure the employees by offering huge pay packages finally making them to move from their job. One of the biggest assets of the BPO Industry is manpower. So, the biggest challenge in this industry is to attract and retain knowledgeable manpower. Today, BPO companies are facing a shortage of knowledge workers because the rate at which they lose employees is almost ouble the rate at which they hire. A major proportion of the turnover issue is attributed to the movement of manpower to the Companies who lure them by offering either better pay or higher designation. The average stay of an employee in bpo companies has dropped to one year. In such a scenario where companies are fighting to combat global business competition, and struggling to survive, employee turnover comes as a double blow. And the issue of managing employee separation often gets ignored. Just because a business is dependent on Communication skills, for instance, doesnt mean that it has to go to great lengths to retain its employees. If theres a large pool of people with good communication skills available, it might want to focus on recruitment rather than retention. Moreover, since new hires have lower salaries than long-term employees, the company is able to keep a lid on compensation levels. Cooperating with competitors is another way of dealing with retention. Because of the intensity of talent-war, companies instinctively view retention and recruitment as competitive exercises. But history shows that cooperation, even among competitors, can be one of the most effective ways of dealing with talent shortages. A New concept called Anti Poaching agreement between BPO organizations is on the Move. According to this agreement, the parties getting in to the agreement will share their employee databases with each other and so will restrain employees to shift in to each other companies. Lets hope that this works good for the BPOs. Frequent job-hopping of employees is not good for any one, neither for the company nor for the employee in terms of Growth.

Bill Levitt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bill Levitt - Essay Example Unquestionably, Bill Levitt, whose family had been in the custom home building business, envisioned how this atmosphere of new found prosperity and the lack of adequate housing in the overcrowded cities of the East could pave the way for mass production home construction that would forever change the landscape of America - Suburbia was born. Prior to the post-World War II era home ownership in urban America was primarily reserved for the affluent. Custom home building was the norm and the cost was prohibitive to many people. The vast majority of the urban population lived in cramped apartments and row houses and, for the majority, home ownership was only a dream. Levitt, however, seizing on his experience and knowledge of home building understood that through streamlining the building process and standardizing the home designs, he could mass produce homes affordable to the average family. Levitt, though, went a step further by creating massive housing developments on the outskirts of urban industrial cities which offered the prospect of middle class comforts at a price almost any young family could afford (Hales 1). Levitt did not stop with merely building affordable homes; He astutely created communities within these huge developments that offered the convenience of shopping, recreation, church and schools all designed and created within the developments. Levitt sold more than homes; he sold a new way of life complete with a sense of upward mobility and community to the burgeoning young families of the early 1950's. In order to mass produce affordable homes, Levitt drew on several different sources: the efficiency of assembly line production with interchangeable parts coupled with simplistic architectural designs the emphasized open floor plans and modern conveniences. "Levitt sacrificed individuality and custom design for low-cost efficiency" ('Building' 3). To accomplish this Levitt offered only a few models of home choices in each of his developments. Additionally to save on the cost of construction these single family homes were constructed on slab foundations instead of the traditional basement. He did not skimp on quality, however. All the homes constructed used quality products in the building process and the homes offered modern conveniences that appealed to his target audience of young families looking to own their own home on the outskirts of the urban hubs. A testament to Levitt and Sons Builders was the fact that "between 1950 and 1960, 20 million people were drawn to mass housing d evelopments on the outskirts of America's cities" ('Building' 1). To facilitate the low production costs of his homes, Levitt streamlined every facet of home construction. He assembled groups of workers that performed the same tasks over and over again moving from home to home within the development. One group would prepare the building site. One group would pour concrete. One group would rough frame. One group would apply siding. In short, each and every task had specific workers to complete each specific task. This ensured efficiency, speed, unsurpassed productivity and cost containment previously unheard of in the home building industry. Additionally, as there were limited home models constructed his company saved on material cost by purchasing in bulk. His building plans were so well designed

Marketing Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Marketing Management - Assignment Example theless, applying a simple but effective strategy before facing a competitor usually gives businesses first hand advantage even before the real battle starts From the story of the warrior and the lion, I have learned that victory is not always for the strongest. All that one needs is to spot a target, stand at a safe distance and make the attack. In relation to business and competition, we can say that it is not necessary that we use lots energy in fighting our competitors; in contrast, we should develop effective strategies that can help finish the competitors at only one strike. The only thing that marketer should ensure a better marketing strategy. Moreover, competition is important because it leads to improved quality product and better services. This is due to the fact that all the business will be competing to remain relevant and not to made exit. It also protects the public being manipulated with sole businesspersons who have selfish stakes. As a result, both the economy and the quality of product will continue to improve making business more` effective and efficient (Viardot 70). Conclusively, applying a simple but effective strategy before facing a competitor usually gives businesses first hand advantage even before the real battle starts. From the short story of the lion and the warrior, we can conclude that one does not need to apply a lot of energy but just use tactics that can paralyses competitor (Viardot 40). Therefore, for continued existence of a business, it must ensure that it develops effective strategies that can act as shortcuts and tam their