Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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CHAPTER TOPIC
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
During the past decade, employee turnover has become a very serious problem for
organizations. Managing retention & keeping the turnover rate below target & including
norms is one of the most challenging issues facing business. All indications point toward
the issue compounding in the future and even as economic time change, turnover will
continue to be an important issue for most job groups. The causes of turnover are not
adequately identified & solutions are often not matched with the causes, so the fail.
Preventive measures are either not in place or do not target the issue properly, and
therefore have little or no effect, and a method for measuring progress & identifying a
monetary value (ROI) on retention does not exists in most organizations. Managing
employee retention is a practical guide for manager to retain their talented employees. It
shows how to manage & monitor turnover and how to develop the ROI of keeping your
talent using innovative retention program.
Employee are the most important and valuable asset of an organization.
Organizations today are doing their best to hold on to their employees. Retaining them is
as important as hiring them in the first place. Retention is the next challenge after hiring
the employees. Retention is important because to make good people stick in the
organization.
Employees today are different. They are not the ones who dont have good
opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current employer or the
job, they switch over to the next job. It is the responsibility of the employer to retain their
best employees.
Definition
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OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
The main objective of doing this study was to understand the nature of work,
employment, and labour relationships in call centres (BPO) and its impact on workers.
This effort aims at identifying and exploring the shared interests to counter the
preexisting belief that employees (the human resource) and the human resource
management bodies in both the developing and developed world are divided.
One of the biggest challenges companies are facing is the attraction and retention of good
employees and top performers. The purpose of this project study was also to prove how
employee retention is essential in this day and age, and if the organizations are not awake
to the situation and immediate actions are not taken to that effect, what repercussions lay
ahead and how they would affect the organization and the industry.
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METHODOLOGY
The steps in which the project was carried out was by collecting secondary data. This
collection of data was done by means of reading various materials such as books,
journals, magazines, newspaper articles, etc.; looking for similar content online (i.e., on
the Internet).
Time is one of the constraints which are mainly faced during this study.
The data which is given in various sources are not fully accurate.
CHAPTERISATION
Chapter-1 Introduction
The introduction chapter elucidates the background of the study. It presents the
introduction, objectives of the study, methodology of the study and limitations of the
study.
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CHAPTER 2
EMPLOYEE RETENTION
AN OVERVIEW
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EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Retention of key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of any
organization. It is a known fact that retaining the best employees ensures customer
satisfaction, increased product sales, satisfied colleagues and reporting staff, effective
succession planning, and deeply embedded organizational knowledge and learning.
Employee retention matters as organizational issues such as training time and investment,
lost knowledge, insecure employees, and a costly candidate search are involved. Hence,
failing to retain a key employee is a costly proposition for an organization. Various
estimates suggest that losing a middle manager in most organizations costs up to five
times his salary.
Intelligent employers always realize the importance of retaining the best talent.
Retaining talent has never been so important in the Indian scenario; however, things have
changed in recent years. In prominent Indian metros at least, there is no dearth of
opportunities for the best in the business, or even for the second or third best. Retention
of key employees and treating attrition troubles has never been so important to
companies.
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The 3 Rs of Employee Retention
To keep employees and keep their satisfaction levels high, any organization needs to
implement each of the three Rs of employee retention: respect, recognition, and
rewards.
Figure no1
Recognition is defined as special notice or attention and the act of perceiving clearly.
Many problems with retention and morale occur because management is not paying
attention to peoples needs and reactions.
Rewards are the extra perks you offer beyond the basics of respect and recognition that
make it worth peoples while to work hard, to care, to go beyond the call of duty. While
rewards represent the smallest portion of the retention equation, they are still an
important one.
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You determine the precise methods you choose to implement the three Rs, but in general,
respect should be the largest component of your efforts. Without it, recognition and
rewards seem hollow and have little effect or they have negative effects. The magic
truly is in the mix of the three.
When implemented, the 3 Rs approach yields reduced turnover and the following
benefits:
Increased productivity,
Reduced absenteeism,
A more pleasant work environment (for both employees and
management/employer),
Improved profits.
Shifting markets
Demands for specific skills
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Business conditions
Demographics
Lifestyle changes
Technology issues
Trends in work life decision as employees needs change
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IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Now that so much is being done by organizations to retain its employees why is retention
so important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a definite no. Its
not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of retaining employees
but also the need to retain talented employees from getting poached.The process of
retention will benefit an organization in the following ways:
1. The Cost of Turnover: The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of thousands
of money to a companys expenses. While it is difficult to fully calculate the cost
of turnover , industry experts often quote 25% of the average employee salary as a
conservative estimate.
2. Loss of Company Knowledge: When an employee leaves, he takes with him
valuable knowledge about the company, customers, current projects and past
history. Often much time and money has been spent on the employee is
expectation of a future return.
3. Interruption of Customer Service: Customers and clients do business with a
company in part because of the people. Relationships are developed that
encourage continued sponsorship of the business. When an employee leaves, the
relationships that employee built for the company are severed, which could lead
to potential customer loss.
4. Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee terminates, the effect is felt
throughout the organizations. Co-workers are often required to pick up the slack.
The unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff.
5. Goodwill of the Company: The goodwill of a company is maintained when the
attrition rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join
the organization.
6. Regaining efficiency: If an employee resigns, then good amount of time is lost in
hiring a new employee and then training him/her and this goes to the loss of the
company directly which many a times goes unnoticed and even after this you
cannot assure us of the same efficiency from the new employee.
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HOW TO INCREASE EMPLOYEE RETENTION?
Companies have now realized the importance of retaining their quality workforce.
Retaining quality performance contributes to productivity of the organization and
increase morale among employees.
Four basic factors that play an important role in increasing employee retention
include salary and remuneration, providing recognition, benefits and opportunities for
individual growth. But are they really positively contributing to the retention rates of a
company? Basic salary, these days, hardly reduces turnover. Today, employees look
beyond the money factor.
Figure no2
EMPLOYEE RETENTION CAN BE INCREASES BY THE
FOLLOWING PRACTICES:
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key issues. Most importantly, they need to know that their opinions matter and
that management is100% interested in their input.
Employee Reward Program: A positive recognition for work boosts the
motivational levels of employees. Recognition can be made explicit by providing
awards like best employee of the month or punctually award. Project based re
recognition also has great significance. The award can be in terms of gifts or
money.
Career Development Program: Every individual is worried about his/her career.
He is always keen to know his career path in the company organizations can offer
various technical certification courses which will help employee in enhancing his
knowledge.
Performance Based Bonus: A provision of performance linked bonus can be
made wherein an employee is bale to relate his performance with the company
profits and hence will work hard. This bonus should strictly be productivity based.
Recreation facilities: Recreation facilities help in keeping employees away from
recreational programs should be arranged. They may include taking employees to
trips annually or bi-annually, celebrating anniversaries, sports activities, etc.,
Gifts at Some Occasions: giving out some gifts at the time of one or two
festivals to the employees making them feel good.
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EMPLOYEE RETENTIONS STRATEGIES
The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the employee retention strategies are:
Standing up for the Team: Team leaders are closest to their team members. While they
need to ensure smooth functioning of their team by implementing management decisions,
they also need to educate their managers about the realities on the ground. When agents
see the team leader standing up for them, they will have one more reason to stay in the
team.
Providing coaching: Everyone wants to be successful in his or her current job. However,
not everyone knows how. Therefore, one of the key responsibilities will be providing
coaching that is intended to improve the performance of employees. Managers often tend
to escape this role by just coaching their employees. However, coaching is followed by
monitoring performance and providing feedback on the same.
Delegation: Many team leaders and managers feel that they are the only people who can
do a particular task or job. Therefore, they do not delegate their jobs as much as they
should. Delegation is a great way to develop competencies.
Focus on Future career: Employees are always concerned about their future career. A
manager should focus on showing employees his career leader. If an employee sees that
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is current job offers a path towards their future career likely to stay longer in the
company. Therefore, managers should play the role of career counselors as well.
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These practices can be categorized in 3 levels: Low, medium ad high level.
Figure no3
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TIPS FOR EMPLOYEE RETENTION
The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the
organization is another key factor in employee retention.
Involve employees in decisions that affect their jobs and the overall direction of
the company.
Recognize excellent performance, and especially link pay to performance.
Provide the opportunities within the company for cross training and career
progression.
Provide opportunity for career and personal growth through training and
educations challenging assignments.
The quality of the supervisor an employee receives is critical to employee
retention
The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the
organization.
Talent & skill utilization is a key factor to seek employees in workplace.
Select right people
Offer an attractive, Competitive, Benefits package
Provide opportunities for people to share their knowledge via training sessions,
present actions, mentioning others & flexible house Retention tips
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SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM
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At the office
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have a positive impact on retaining skilled employees, as well as on attracting
high-caliber recruits.
Implement competency models, which are well integrated, with HR processes like
selection & recruitments, training, performance appraisal and potential appraisal.
Night shifts
Have doctors to advise them about health problems and the ways and means to
deal with them. Provide dietary advice: Dos and donts. Help them to maintain
their health.
Organize programs where people from other professions, who have night shifts
talk to BPO employees about their experiences. Other organizations like Army,
Railways, Hospitals and various government services etc., also have night shifts.
Organize training, counseling and development programs for employees. Tell
them that their work is important. Encourage the best performers to share their
experiences with others and guide others. The emphasis is to create the desire to
learn, enjoy and be passionate about the work they do.
If needed, provide special lights in the office/workplace to ensure that their bodies
get sufficient vitamin D.
One distinct disadvantage of night shifts is the sense of disorientation with friends and
family members. Concentrate on this problem and develop innovative solutions and
ways to deal with it. Additional holidays for work on national holidays and festivals,
holidays for family functions, etc., can go a long way.
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EMPLOYEE RETENTION STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER COSTS
It is widely understood that time is money to any organization. Every minute of every
day that the employee retention problems persist, the organization is losing valuable time,
energy, and resources. Following are the strategies with which employee turnover costs
can be reduced to a great degree.
Identify top performing team members and develop strategies to ensure they stay
with your organization,
Identify the reasons why an employee leaves before they are ever hired,
Select and hire great employees who are well fit for the job and the organizational
culture,
Improve communication and morale - two key elements that affect employee
retention,
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STUDY SUGGESTS EMPLOYEES LEAVE BOSSES, NOT
JOBS
Careful selection of employees and managers can have a huge impact on your employee
retention efforts and employee turnover costs at your organization.
It has been said more than once, and for good reason, that employees leave their bosses -
not their jobs. A Florida State University study scheduled for full release in the fall 2007
issue of Leadership Quarterly confirms this. The study shows that 40% of employees
work for bad bosses based on survey results. The reasons that employers score poorly are
varied and many:
o 31% said their supervisor gave them the "silent treatment" during the past
year.
o 27% report their supervisor made negative comments about them to other
employees or managers.
So what does this all boil down to? The effects of having bad bosses in your organization
can be devastating. High turnover, poor employee morale, employee theft, diminished
customer service, substandard employee performance, lower production, and an
organizational culture of fear and mistrust can all be blamed in part on poor bosses and
managers.
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CHAPTER 3
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BPO SECTOR INDUSTRY
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a broad term referring to outsourcing in all
fields. A BPO differentiates itself by either putting in new technology or applying
existing technology in a new way to improve a process.
When there are so many benefits associated with BPO industry, when there are so many
privileges for the BPO employees, then what makes them change the company/industry?
Is it only MONEY that matters or is there anything else as well? After sitting through
exit-interviews and analyzing the trend, I have been able to list out following reasons for
a BPO professional to change his/her job.
No growth opportunity/lack of promotion
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For higher salary
For higher education
Misguidance by the company
Policies and procedures are not conducive
No personal life
Physical strains
Uneasy relationship with peers or managers
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. Surveys
have listed 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 by BPO employees as reasons for quitting
jobs.
Brand Equity
People still consider BPO to be "low brow", thus making it difficult to attract the best
talent.
Benchmarks
There are hardly any benchmarks for compensation and benefits, performance or HR
policies. Everyone is charting their own course.
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Customer-companies tend to demand better results from outsourcing partners than what
they could actually expect from their own departments. When the job is being done
10,000 miles away, demands on parameters such as quality, turn around timeliness,
information security, business continuity and disaster recovery, etc, are far higher than at
home. So, how to be more efficient than the original?
Lack of focused training and certifications given this background, the recruiting and
compensation challenges of HR departments are only understandable.
Service Example: Customers calling to check on their order status, customers calling to
check for information on products and services, customers calling to verify their account
status, customers calling to check their reservation status etc.
Service Example: Customers calling to resolve a problem with their home PC, customers
calling to understand how to dial up to their ISP, customers calling with a problem with
their software or hardware.
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Service Example: Outbound calling to sell wireless services for a telecom provider,
outbound calling to retail households to sell leisure holidays, outbound calling to existing
customers to sell a new rate card for a mobile service provider or outbound calling to sell
credit or debit cards etc.
Service Example: of this service include level 1 and 2 multi-channel support across a
wide range of shrink wrapped and LOB applications, system problem resolutions related
to desktop, notebooks, OS, connectivity etc., office productivity tools support including
browsers and mail, new service requests, IT operational issues, product usage queries,
routing specific requests to designated contacts and remote diagnostics, etc.
Service Example:
Service Example:
Data entry from Paper/Books with highest accuracy and fast turn around time
(TAT)
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Data entry from Image file in any format
Business Transaction Data entry like sales / purchase / payroll.
Data entry of E-Books / Electronic Books
Data Entry : Yellow Pages / White Pages Keying
Data Entry and compilation from Web site
Data Capture / Collection
Business Card Data Entry into any Format
Data Entry from hardcopy/Printed Material into text or required format
Data Entry into Software Program and application
Receipt and Bill Data Entry
Catalog Data Entry.
Data Entry for Mailing List/Mailing Label.
Manuscripting, typing into word.
Taped Transcription into word.
Copy, Paste, Editing, Sorting, Indexing Data into required format etc.
Service Example:
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Text to PDF and PDF to Word / Text / Doc
Data Compilation in PDF from Several Sources.
E-Book Conversion, etc.
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8. Scanning, OCR with Editing & Indexing Services
Service Example:
Service Example:
General Ledger
Accounts Receivables and Accounts Payable
Financial Statements
Bank Reconciliation
Assets / Equipment Ledgers etc.
Service Example:
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11. Internet / Online / Web Research
Service Example:
In general, a person with any graduation can join any of the BPO companies. Some
BPO's like to take people with MBA but then the specialization of the individual hardly
makes any difference. Again, this is the industry where reference checks are hardly
carried out and very often people don't even specify there exact age. Here are a few
reasons as to why people prefer to join a company.
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Why people leave BPO?
When there are so many benefits associated with BPO industry, when there are so many
privileges for the BPO employees, then what makes them change the company/industry?
Here are some of the reasons why a BPO professional changes their job.
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BPO for HR Practices
The BPO company values/operating principles are broken down into behavioral
indicators that are observed and measured on a regular basis, which in turn linked to the
personal effectiveness parameters in an individual's performance review. There is also an
ongoing emphasis on training needs assessment and people development.
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5. Recreation, Cafeteria, ATM and Concierge facilities: The recreation facilities
include pool tables, chess tables and coffee bars. Companies also have well
equipped gyms, personal trainers and showers at facilities.
6. Corporate Credit Card: The main purpose of the corporate credit card is enable
the timely and efficient payment of official expenses which the employees
undertake for purposes such as travel related expenses like Hotel bills, Air tickets
etc
7. Cellular Phone / Laptop: Cellular phone and / or Laptop are provided to the
employees on the basis of business need. The employee is responsible for the
maintenance and safeguarding of the asset.
8. Personal Health Care (Regular medical check-ups): Some of the BPO'S
provides the facility for extensive health check-up. For employees with above 40
years of age, the medical check-up can be done once a year.
9. Loans: Many BPO companies provide loan facility on three different occasions:
Employees are provided with financial assistance in case of a medical emergency.
Employees are also provided with financial assistance at the time of their
wedding. And, the new recruits are provided with interest free loans to assist them
in their initial settlement at the work location.
10. Educational Benefits: Many BPO companies have this policy to develop the
personality and knowledge level of their employees and hence reimburse the
expenses incurred towards tuition fees, examination fees, and purchase of books
subject, for pursuing MBA, and/or other management qualification at India's top
most Business Schools.
11. Performance-based incentives: In many BPO companies they have plans for,
performance based incentive scheme. The parameters for calculation are process
performance i.e. speed, accuracy and productivity of each process. The Pay for
Performance can be as much as 22% of the salary.
12. Flexi-time: The main objective of the flextime policy is to provide opportunity to
employees to work with flexible work schedules and set out conditions for
availing this provision. Flexible work schedules are initiated by employees and
approved by management to meet business commitments while supporting
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employee personal life needs .The factors on which Flexi time is allowed to an
employee include: Child or Parent care, Health situation, Maternity, Formal
education program
13. Flexible Salary Benefits: Its main objective is to provide flexibility to the
employees to plan a tax-effective compensation structure by balancing the
monthly net income, yearly benefits and income tax payable. It is applicable of all
the employees of the organization. The Salary consists of Basic, DA and
Conveyance Allowance. The Flexible Benefit Plan consists of: House Rent
Allowance, Leave Travel Assistance, Medical Reimbursement, Special Allowance
14. Regular get-together and other cultural programs: The companies organizes
cultural program as and when possible but most of the times, once in a quarter, in
which all the employees are given an opportunity to display their talents in
dramatics, singing, acting, dancing etc. Apart from that the organizations also
conduct various sports programs such as Cricket, football, etc and regularly play
matches with the teams of other organizations and colleges.
15. Wedding Day Gift: Employee is given a gift voucher of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 7000/-
based on their level in the organization.
16. Employee Referral Scheme: In several companies employee referral scheme is
implemented to encourage employees to refer friends and relatives for
employment in the organization.
17. Employee Stock Option Plan
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CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS,
RECOMENDATIONS and
COCLUTION
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FINDINGS
The reasons for attrition are largely attributed to competitors, better salaries, etc.
They cope with attrition by providing training, personal development. Also,
reward and Recognition are our main retention strategies..
The difficulties with which the organization is faced in retaining employees are
high salaries of competitors, unhealthy competition, etc. However, the company
is not faced with the problem of poaching; they have policies in place to deter
poaching.
BPO motivates its employees with the concept of better growth, personal
development through training, etc.
Also, the middle level of the organizational hierarchy results in leaving their jobs
due to various reasons.
The method of calculating employee turnover is number of the employees at the
beginning of year divided by the number of employees at the closing of year
multiplied by 100, i.e.
After implementing various initiatives that the company has so far, the attrition
rate has come down. Both the HR department and the concerned Business Head
are the ones who have the responsibility of retaining the employees. There is no
different sub-department within the HR department dedicated to employee
retention.
Night shift allowance, conveyance allowance, food coupons, incentives,
transportation are some of the employee benefits provided by the company.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
To improve employee retention, one needs to understand what they value the most.
Attrition rates in BPOs are alarmingly high, so immediate solutions need to be derived
and acted upon in order to check the high attrition rates and retain the employees.
As a suggestion, there could be a separate department for employee retention within the
realm of the HR department. The constant endeavor of this 'sub-department' should be to
bring down employee turnover rate on an ongoing basis. If the company goes with this
aim, they can surely achieve the goal.
There are two things that are critical in achieving the objective of keeping the attrition
rate in check and increasing the degree of employee retention; they are:
a. Right people must be hired for the right job, with an emphasis of following the
right procedure and focus on their developmental needs such as training, etc.
b. Right reason as to why the employees leave the organization must be found out
and addressed so as to prevent such a turnover.
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CONLUSIONS
Retention programs often fail because managers do not know and, therefore, do not act
on the most important areas affecting an employees intention to leave. Across the
organizations, individual development and career advancement stand out as both frequent
and critical key drivers of any employees intent to leave.
While the general conclusions across organizations may appear similar, at a more micro
level, the composition and ordering of specific retention key drivers is unique to each
company. In addition, the meaning attached to specific drivers (e.g., opportunities for
personal growth and development) and, therefore, the actions to be taken may vary by
organization.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Websites
www.employee-retention-hq.com
www.employeeretentionconsulting.com
www.retentionbenchmarking.com
www.managementparadise.com
www.citehr.com
www.employeeretention.com
www.employeeretentionstrategies.com
www.highretention.com
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