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CHAPTER – II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Review of Articles

The researcher has undertaken extensive literature review to strengthen his

research work. He has reviewed 41 references available in the form of books, articles

etc.

2.1.1 Raghwan, G., Das, A., and Gopal, R. (2008), in their article titled as

“Challenges in the BPO Industry”, mentioned that it is one of the biggest

contributors to the country’s GDP, with soaring revenues, increased job

opportunities, and a promise to change the lifestyles of the educated Indian

youth the BPO/KPO/ITES industry is the brightest star in the business

firmament. The industry is currently sized at $2.3 billion, and is forecasted to

grow.

The better margins expected at the higher end of the value chain might act as a

deterrent of companies in accepting low-end work. As more and more

companies decide to become involved in BPO and KPO, the number of

working professional will increase. This will further drive the trend towards

the migration of low-end services to high-end services. During 2000 to 2003,

the US off-shored 2,38,000 IT service jobs. Evalueserve predicts that this is

likely to increase to 7,75,000 jobs by FY 2010.

2.1.2 Rangana Ghatak (2008), in his article titled as “How to Attain

Sustainable Growth in the BPO Sectors in India : An HR Perspective”,

concluded as – India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the

world. During 2005-06, the BPO industry’s size and growth exceeded their

forecasts. The global KPO industry is likely to become worth $17 billion by

2010, wherein India’s share will be $12-$14 billion! It is expected that

IT/BPO sector to create 1.6 million jobs by 2010 and provide indirect

employment to 6.5 million people by 2010. Indian will face a shortage of

5,00,000 knowledge workers by 2010 (IT Services: 1,50,000 and BPO

Serives: 3,50,000) and total demand for IT professionals, (more than 1.1 mn)

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will exceed supply in 2007-08. In terms of job creation, the ITES-BPO

industry is growing at over 50%. India confronts a potential shortage of skilled

workers in the next decade. Talent management is a matter of great concern.

This paper is an effort to identify the various problems the BPO and KPO

sectors are facing and to find out what steps are taken or need to be taken so

that Indian can the world’s third largest economy by 2035, as forecast by

Goldman Sachs’ report.

2.1.3 Bhattacharyya, R. and Kohli, S. (2010), in their Research Paper “Women

Empowerment – Role of the BPO Sector” – Women form half the

population in the country. With changing times the girl child is given equal or

enough opportunities as far as education is concerned. The government has

also played its role by making education totally free for girls. All these efforts

have resulted in a large population of educated girls, but jobs have not been

easy to find. The emergence of the BPO sector has changed this. It has been

noticed that BPOs are the best places for women empowerment and growth.

Women are given ample opportunities to prove themselves in the BPO sector.

This is the only industry, which has witnessed high growth for women and

helped them move to higher positions in large numbers. Gender equality,

which is a distant dream in our society even now, is clearly visible in the BPO

industry.

2.1.4 Mathew, T.V., Peris, N., Bhosale, S., and Manjrekar, P. (2009), in their

article titled as “Consumption and Saving Habits of the Individuals”,

conclude we can say that while there has been stated that – The BPO sector is

to India – a significant economic groth driver. This sector has put India firmly

on the global map. Today, a call center to the Orange U.K. helpline is

answered in India. International companies are turning to India for quick,

cheap and efficient medical transcripts. The instances can be multiplied…

The size of the industry is expected to reach over $ 5.7 billion. This growth is

in keeping with past experience. The sector saw total revenues of $3.9 billion

in 2003-2004 representing a 45.3% rate of growth over the previous year.

2.1.5 Pareek, R., Srinivasan, R., Tripathi, S., and Sharma, P. (2008), in their

article titled as “BPO in India, The Road Ahead”, concluded as – This

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research paper aims to capture the changing hues of the off shoring industry

and provide critical insight into the key strategic and operational issues that

service providers are being asked to address. The research paper contains best

practices with respect to delivery models and reflecting the grow in

competitiveness and uniqueness of the Indian BPO sector.

This paper identifies the challenges that the BPO sector will face in the near

future and understands the factors to control the costs and quality of service.

We have laid out the SWOT (strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and

Threats) of the sector and location-analysis based on empirical data to get the

deeper insight about the BPO industry’s evolution.

2.1.6 Henri, B. (2010), in his article titled as “Employee is the King : Exploring

Various Issues and Challenges of BPO Companies”, opinioned that – India

has turned into a hot destination for global offshore outsourcing companies. It

has become the unanimous choice across the globe due to the availability of a

large amount of cheap but skilled manpower. However, the flip side of the

industry cannot be ignored. Among the complex problems that the Indian

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is battling, labour attrition

seems to be the one that has been affecting the industry the most. In the world

of consumerism “customer is the king”, whereas in the BPO industry

“employee is the kind”. The present study is focused on various issues relating

to employee satisfaction and retention in the highly competitive and young

industry. The study is to understand employee’s needs and aspirations to

bridge the gap between employees and employer that helps to reduce the

attrition rate.

2.1.7 Manjarekar, P., and Aggrawal, A. (2009), in their article titled as “360

Degree Appraisal System in BPO Industry”, analyzed that performance

appraisals are essential for the effective management and evaluation of staff.

Appraisals help develop individuals, improve organizational performance, and

feed into business planning.

Performance appraisals are important for staff motivation, attitude and

behaviour development, communicating organizational aims, and fostering

positive relationships between management and staff. Performance appraisals

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provide a formal, recorded, regular review of an individual’s performance, and

a plan for future development. In short, performance and job appraisals are

vital for managing the performance of people and organizations.

2.1.8 Manjrekar, P., and Aggrawal, A. (2008), in their article titled as

“Employee-sensitive BPO Branding – A Case Study Approach”, they

highlighted – as A look at a typical BPO/KPO employee will throw enough

light on what compels this quick turnaround in jobs. Higher salary plays a

major role when there is nothing more to look forward to in any BPO/KPO.

Promotions don’t come easy; policies are stringent; and the light security

measures at work are an everyday hassle. Retaining talent calls for a

transformation in the approach of the HR departments. This is where an

Emotional Surplus Employee Branding can play its part to make the

workplace a preferred one for employees.

2.1.9 Ramnath, R., and Shetty, K. (2011), in their article titled as “Attrition in

the Indian BPO Industry : A Big Challenge” concluded as – Business

Process Outsourcing (BPO) has become a critical agendum for many

multinationals in this era of globalization. India is known for the comparative

advantage that it has in the engineering of software and is emerging as the

worlds, support center for Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES).

This is, primarily, on account of low labour cost and the strategic location

advantage. The Indian Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is

increasingly perceived as facing a major challenge in retaining employees. To

remain the leader in global outsourcing (off shoring), service providers must

work both at the micro and the macro levels to manage attrition and other ills

of the industry to ensure that the country may retain its share of business.

In spite of, having the geographical advantage, and wide range of manpower,

the attrition rate in the BPO industry always seems to be on the rise. An

industry which was once termed as the future of India is now being labeled as

an industry looking to cause a brain drain in the youths. The term ‘Attrition’

means a reduction in the number of employees through retirement, resignation

or death. The biggest challenge for the BPO industries today is undoubtedly,

ATTRITION!!

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2.1.10 Bhargava, H. (2010), in his article titled as “BPOs: Emerging Processes

and Challenges”, the author further mentioned that – This paper addresses

four key issues for the BPO industry namely, IT-BPO Convergence, Need for

Innovation, Emerging Processes and Opportunities and lastly Intellectual

Arbitrage. The convergence of IT and BPO capabilities has been demonstrated

by leading Indian companies in the recent past. Such convergence helps both

the client as well as the service provider. However, for the convergence to

succeed the industry needs to address certain issues which are further

identified in the paper. Innovation plays a key role in modern business. This

paper brings out the key role in modern businesses. This paper brings out the

key dimensions in which innovative measures are to be applied in the BPO

industry. The paper thereafter lists the emerging processes and associated

challenges. Most of the above work is based on the field studies and industry

interaction undertaken as part of a format-free and multi-disciplinary elective

titled ‘BPO Management’ taught by the author at a leading Business School in

Hyderabad, India. The paper then examines the concept of ‘intellectual’

arbitrage as opposed to conventional ‘cost’ or ‘labour’ arbitrage. It concludes

with a thought provoking idea of elevating it to ‘knowledge’ arbitrage and

ultimately ‘wisdom’ arbitrage. The Indian BPO industry needs to change its

mindset about outsourcing and think out of the box to consolidate its position

on the global BPO pedestal.

2.1.11 Bhargava, H. (2010) in his article titled as “BPOs: Emerging Processes

and Challenges” says that there arefour key issues for the BPO industry

namely, IT-BPO Convergence, Need for Innovation, Emerging Processes and

Opportunities and lastly Intellectual Arbitrage. The convergence of IT and

BPO capabilities has been demonstrated by leading Indian companies in the

recent past. Such convergence helps both the client as well as the service

provider. However, for the convergence to succeed the industry needs to

address certain issue which are further identified in the paper. Innovation plays

a key role in modern businesses. This paper brings out the key dimensions in

which innovative measures are to be applied in the BPO industry. The paper

thereafter lists the emerging processes and associated challenges. Most of the

above work is based on the field studies and industry interaction undertaken as

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part of a format-free and multi-disciplinary elective titled ‘BPO Management’

taught by the author at a leading Business School in Hyderabad, India. The

paper then examines the concept of ‘intellectual’ arbitrage as opposed to

conventional ‘cost’ or ‘labor’ arbitrage. It concludes with a thought provoking

idea of elevating it to ‘knowledge’ arbitrage and ultimately ‘wisdom’

arbitrage. The Indian BPO industry needs to change its mindset about

outsourcing and think out of the box to consolidate its position in the global

BPO pedestal.

2.1.12 Bhinde, R. (2008), in his article entitled as “Knowledge Process

Outsourcing Industry in India – Another Viewpoint” says that Knowledge

Process Outsourcing (KPO) requires third parties to perform unscripted

knowledge-intensive tasks like business research, equity research and credit

analysis. To perform such tasks, third-party service providers also need to

have analytical judgment and decision-making skills in addition to the

requisite domain expertise. American and European businesses have been

savvy enough to leverage the strengths of the Indian service providers to

spruce up their operational efficiencies, address issues arising from peak

demand imbalances and unlock capital to deploy it in more profitable

applications like innovation and brand building.

2.1.13 Bhargava, H., and Gupta, A. (2008) in his article entitled as “Outsourcing

of Insurance Claims processing” says that Outsourcing is a business reality

for global competitiveness. Numerous business processes are being outsourced

to countries like India. Processing of Insurance claims is one such outsourced

process. Insurance claim processing and underwriting are the major

components of any insurance process. But claim processing is a very low-end

job as compared to underwriting, which requires highly-specialized skills and

experience to handle. Our financial viability study shows that any insurance

claim processing outsourcing requires a voluminous transition; otherwise

invested fixed cost will not be recovered. Thus economy of scale plays an

important role here. This paper summarizes the findings of a field study

undertaken in Hyderabad. It highlights the cost elements and how they affect

the revenue model. It also gives the break-even analysis and how it is

dependent on some key parameters.

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2.1.14 Choudhary, D., and Bhargava, H. (2010), in his article entitled as

“Financial Services Outsourcing to Indian BPOs” said the various aspects

of Financial Services i.e., the BFSI Segment of the Indian BPO Industry. The

study was undertaken with a view to gain an insight into the kind of Financial

Services that are being offered, the manner in which they are executed and the

prospects of moving up the value chain. Due to the organizations being a

signatory to the Non-Disclosure Agreement, the information gathered was

very generic. However, with inputs from the experts, an attempt has been

made to explain the processes like Outbound Telemarketing, Outbound Debt

Collection, Inbound Customer Support, Inbound Sales and Up Selling. The

information was collected purely by interacting with the people who are a part

of the industry. Therefore, apart from the usual procedure of call handling,

some real life examples were also provided. This helped in understanding the

real-time challenges that the agents in the BPO industry face and how they

tackle a particular situation.

The interaction also helped in understanding the various aspects of increment

in value chain – how the Indian BPOs are getting ready to take on the

challenges of handling tasks which are more complex and require a great deal

of analytics. Also, the different challenges faced and benefits enjoyed by Third

Party Vendors and Captive Units were brought to light by interacting with

representatives of both the units.

2.1.15 Bhargava, H., and Naug, S. (2008), in his article entitled as “SLA

Compliance in Level 2 Technical Support” says thattheService Level

Agreement (SLA) refers to the minimum level of service that must be

provided by the vendor to the customer, SLA is a specific agreement that

specifies in elaborate detail, the minimum level of service that must be

performed and relevant indicators in this regard. SLA enables both the

provider and the BPO organization to evaluate the quality and level of service

provided. For the BPO organization, it is a statement about what capabilities a

business believes that it can offer its clients at sustainable performance level

while for the provider it is the part of a contractual obligation to ensure

effective performance. SLA must not be perceived as remedies for non-

performance by the BPO organization, and in fact it can seldom repair the

damage that can arise from such an occurrence.

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The SLA typically defines technical support that a BPO organization would

provide to its clients including measures for performance and consequences of

failure. The Service Level Agreement of BPO organizations providing higher-

end Technical Support has been critically analyzed. The major focus has been

to determine the unambiguous prescribed description of services, the time

frames involved, the Service levels based on Severity, Service Level metrics

(credit and bonus) and determining the escalation process. A comparative

analysis of SLA in four BPO organizations is provided.

2.1.16 Khandelival, D., Korat, K., and Bhargava, H., (2008), in his article

entitled as “Medical Diagnosis as a BPO Segment” says that the healthcare

sector worldwide is significant in size, and continues to grow rapidly. At the

same time it is being challenged from every possible direction – ranging from

cost containment, lack of stability; HIPAA compliance, to an uncertain future.

All these factors have a significant impact on the profit margins of healthcare

organizations today. So, there is an absolute necessity to reduce the costs

while improving the quality of care. Therefore, many of the healthcare service

provider companies are looking to outsource some of their processes.

Healthcare companies are currently outsourcing processes like medical

diagnosis, medical transcription, etc.

Not too many Indian BPO companies are into the healthcare space and for a

very good reason. Operating in the healthcare space requires strong domain

knowledge and this forms a big entry barrier. And quality inadequacies are not

tolerated, as the risks are too huge. However, the healthcare space does offer

huge opportunities.

This paper provides an in-depth analysis about the Outsourcing in Medical

Diagnosis (MD). The broad areas of the study included the policy and strategy

framework, the legal framework, the human resource framework, the

technology framework, etc which all have an impact on the progress of

outsourcing in MD. The document also in conclusion, summarizes the

recommendations and the stance India should take to gain the business in

outsourcing of Medical Diagnosis.

2.1.17 Senthamizh Selven P., Srinivasa, R. S., and Bhargava, H., (2009), in his

article entitled as “Managing the Supply Chain through Outsourcing”

explains the concept of the value chain and the integrative role of logistics

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within the organization. It also explores the concepts of value adding and non-

value adding time and techniques for mapping the Supply Chain (SC)

processes. The SC operations of some of the leading manufacturing giants in

the market such as LG, Samsung, IBM, and Ford are discussed. Irrespective of

being a car assembling unit or a ThinkPad assembling unit or electronics

assembly unit, the process in the SC remains the same. It starts from

anticipating demand in the market, order processing, procurement of Raw

Materials (RM), transportation, and shipping of goods to the clients,

warehouse distribution, inventory planning, picking of Finished Goods (FG),

delivery of FG to the customers. Outsourcing has played a major role in

increasing the profitability of the client as it would enable them to focus on

their primary activities. Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers offer a varied

and diversified product range and operate in various levels of the value chain

ranging from courier services to inventory planning. The process of

outsourcing extends further, where the 3PL providers outsource some of their

activities to Fourth Party Logistics (4PL) providers. The role of Government

in regulating the transfer of goods across borders is also discussed along with

measures of performance of the services offered by the logistics providers. It

also emphasizes the quality issues that bind them. The emerging trends in this

segment are also discussed in brief.

2.1.18 Kumar, D. (2011), in his article entitled as “Analytics: The Emerging

Area in KPO” points out the differentiating areas and the factors favoring

KPO. The article concludes that there is a tremendous opportunity for India to

explore this area as it has the people with right attitude and skill set for the

same.

2.1.19 Yellojiin, N. (2009), his article entitled as “Animation Outsourcing: Issues

and Challenges” says that the rapid proliferation of media outlets in today’s

world coupled with the advancement of technology has resulted in radical

change in the way the animation industry works. The demand for animation in

entertainment industry has therefore increased due to cable and satellite TV

along with the growing popularity of the Internet as well as the increase in

broadband girth. The article outlines the Indian animation industry as such and

its opportunities and challenges.

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2.1.20 Kapur, R., and Srikant, A. (2009), in his article entitled as “Outsourcing

Chip Design: The Indian Perspective” says that the enhanced market

demand for semiconductors and integrated circuits (chips) has kept in pace

with the pervasiveness of electronic hardware in the environment, Design and

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) are essential (and inherent) processes in

chip manufacture. The cost of infrastructure required for the manufacture of

chips however, is huge. Big companies like Intel and Texas Instruments

outsource the design of the chips they use to other foreign countries. Various

manufactures operating in the domains of communications, computing,

consumer and industrial electronics, have also adopted the methodology of

outsourcing the design of chips. The outsourcing of chip design has thus

emerged as a distinct link in the value chain of chip delivery. India, because of

its strengths has emerged as a natural choice for this outsourcing. This article

attempts to examine the specific features vis-à-vis the process of chip design.

It also discusses the steps to be taken to enhance India’s brand equity in the

global chip design market.

2.1.21 Bhargava, H., and Srinivas, U. (2010), in his article entitled as

“Outsourcing R&D in the Pharma Sector” suggest that India has become

the world’s most favored destination for outsourcing. The trend has been a

steady climb from mere Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) to Knowledge

Process Outsourcing (KPO) and Research Process Outsourcing (RPO). The

growth in the high-end outsourcing is evident from the large number of (over

150) Research and Development (R&D) outsourcing centers established in

India. The R&D outsourcing market for IT in India is estimated to grow more

than $8 bn by 2010 from $1.3 bn in 2003, at a CAGR of 30%, according to

Value Notes’ research.

2.1.22 VenkatRamRaj, T. (2009), in his article entitled as “India’s Global

Competitive Edge in BPO Sector – A Threat Analysis” says thatin the

newly emerged outsourcing scenario, with India getting more and more BPO

deals, it has become imperative to study and understand the emergence of

global competition and India’s attempts to sustain its leadership position. It is

high time for the policy makers, industry experts and BPO gurus to formulate

competitive strategies to keep India ahead of its competition. Low cost

position, largest English speaking force, top companies in the list of clientele,

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etc. which have been the competitive claims of Indian BPO are under serious

threat from competitors. The BPO managers should realize that they need to

protect their competitive position and build a sustainable future. This paper

aims to study the competitive edge of Indian BPO sector vis-à-vis competitors

like China, Vnam, Ireland, etc.

2.1.23 Bhargava, H., and Thokchom, B. (2009), in his article entitled as “Data

Security Issues in the ITES / BPO Sector” says that in an environment

marked by threats from computer virus, cyber crimes and destruction of vital

data due to natural disasters, the concern for information security and data

privacy is assuming tremendous importance among global organizations.

Since the consequences of an information security and data privacy is

assuming tremendous importance among global organizations. Since the

consequences of an Information security breach could lead to business harm

and legal liability, global customers are demanding that service providers

implement stringent information security measures. Organizations engaged in

outsourcing their non-core business processes are building robust provisions

for information security into their contracts with service providers. Indian

ITES/BPO organizations have increasingly started realizing the importance of

designing and implementing information security policies and procedures to

secure and protect the privacy of their customer-related information. In fact,

there are specific laws, standards and certifications to meet these requirements.

The major focus of this project study has been to gain an insight into the best

practices in data security of ITES/BPO organizations, different laws,

standards, certifications etc. the compliance to which it can ensure a BPO

organization’s ability to protect a client’s customer-related information. As

Internet crimes are throwing up new challenges for the law and order

machinery around the world, laws are being formulated and security agencies

are being trained and equipped to handle such cases in many countries. With

respect to how the Indian law and order machinery is coping with the menace,

the loopholes in the Indian Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 are

analyzed.

2.1.24 Kumar, D., and Mongain A. (2008), his article entitled as “Quality

Assurance – A BPO Perspective” suggest that Outsourcing in today’s

context does not need any introduction. It is the need of the hour as companies

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are outsourcing secondary business activities and concentrating on their core

competencies and have been looking to reduce costs while maintaining high

levels of quality for non-core activities and processes.

However, outsourcing sometimes is the risky affair if the third party is not

committed to the activities outsourced to them and thus needs the trustworthy

and mutual relations between them.

In such an environment Quality Assurance plays an important role for both the

client and the vendor. The industry has some standards like COPC, ISO,

eSCM, etc which have been developed through experience over a period of

time.

This study tries to develop a correlation between the intended purposes of

these certifications in view of how industry is taking these certifications. There

are gaps in the current system. We have also tried to identify these gaps by

studying the factors which force them or, are the driving force for getting these

certifications and establish Quality Control Measures.

The prevailing certifications are unable to answer certain issues have been

identified and some possible recommendations are given to deal with these

issues.

As most of these issues are industry wide or macro problems, an initiative is

required from the whole industry to come forth and optimize the system before

we lost out to the competition from the other countries up in the BPO Industry.

2.1.25 Rajeevalochana, T. V. S. and Bhargava, H. (2009), in his article entitled

as “Performance Appraisal System in BPOs: A Field Study”says that the

BPO industry in India is growing rapidly and in a few years, it is likely to

increase its human resources manifold. However, it is plagued by problems

concerning human resource management itself. Industry surveys show that one

of the important concerns BPO employees have is with the appraisal system.

This field study focuses on the appraisal system in the BPO industry.

2.1.26 Krishna Kishore Puranam (2008), in his article entitled as “Outsourcing

in Financial Services: Mitigating the Risk”says that being information-

based, financial services industry is well-suited to offshore outsourcing.

Outsourcing has the potential to transfer the risk management and compliance

to third parties who may not be regulated. The risks involved in financial

outsourcing are high, but so are the rewards.

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2.1.27 Bhargava, H., and Bharti, A. (2008), in his article entitled as “Rural

BPO: An Entrepreneurial Opportunity”says that theBusiness Process

Outsourcing (BPO) has involved the masses and has become the fastest

growing industry in India. This influence had been limited to the larger cities

till recently, but now global companies are breaking these boundaries and

looking for talent in smaller ‘Tier-2’ cities. The next step would be to take the

BPO operations to the ‘real’ India, i.e. to the rural parts of India. There lies an

untapped potential for entrepreneurs willing to work in this field. This paper

highlights the importance of this concept and the entrepreneurial initiatives in

the field of Rural BPO.

2.1.28 Shanthi, B. and Bhargava, H. (2008), in his article entitled as “Social

Impact of Outsourcing Industry”highlight theimpact of the Outsourcing

industry on the society and the individuals in India. Both positive and negative

impacts have been analyzed. We focused on the following five major aspects

during this study: a) Increased Consumerism; b) Increased Professionalism; c)

Health issues; d) Cultural Shifts; e) Quality of life, quality of work and work

ethics.

Based on a field survey, views of few employees and employers of this

industry have been captured and analyzed. Various health issues that came to

light are stress, sleeplessness, and depression, fatigue and hearing ailments. It

was also found that a number of factors like call-volume, work-times, and

repetitive processes contributed to the stress. Majority of the employees

complained of stress to their families. However, there are employees who

never complained about stress to their families but to their team leaders, which

shows that there exists support from the organization as well. It was also found

that employees adopted more than one way to overcome the stress.

Employees accepted that their spending has increased and much of the money

is spent in life style products, recreational activities and to support the family.

Employees dismissed the aspect of increased professionalism being unique to

the BPO industry and said professionalism is pervasive in all sectors.

Employees accepted that quality of life and work has improved, but denied

that BPO employment instills better work ethics and citied that work ethics is

not unique to BPO.

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In studying the benefits or disadvantages at the individual and societal levels

both employer and the employee perspectives have been taken into

consideration.

2.1.29 R. Gopal and Mohan Ram. D. (2010), in his article entitled as “HRD

Issues Related to Call Centers”highlights outsourced IT enabled services in

India are one of the fast growing industries today. Various models for success

in this industry are just to emerge. This paper explores some of the key

challenges unique to this business and an approach to handle them for success.

“People are power” – this very true for the service industries, so recruiting or

right kind of manpower i.e. “Picking the wining team’ and ensuring enough

trained people available at all time for providing quality service is one of the

key challenges of this industry.

The ongoing call centre revolution and shortage of skilled manpower has lead

to a haphazard mushrooming of training centers offering courses by fly-by-

night operators. The courses are insufficient to cope with the demanding

nature of jobs that involves direct interaction with the people show are far

away and who speak, think and behave in a way unlike those in India. Also,

retaining these on-the-move human resources have become the greatest

challenge that HR managers have ever faced. New centers that are set usually

offer a higher salary for the experienced agents and young employees don not

mind switching jobs even for paltry raise of Rs. 500. Most of them treat this

job as an ad-hoc arrangement and very few are serious about pursuing a career

in this field due to the uncertainties about future prospects and a high level of

job insecurity. Working odd hours and in shifts has only compounded the

problem. To suit the client’s time zone, work is done when everybody sleeps

and vice-versa. This unnatural working environment is taking its toll. Many

have quit their job due to this peculiar reason.

This study, therefore, mainly emphasizes on the organization structure,

recruitment option and training in the field of call centers. It further

enumerates the HRD issues and the remedial measures to ensure that the

working environment enhances productivity at the same time maintain strict

discipline and quality standards.

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2.1.30 Kalse, A. (2008), Emotional Intelligence: Leading Performance

Dimensions – A Study on Executives in Mumbai

Acquiring emotional intelligence and delivering effective Performance study

with respect various executives.

The challenge for the corporate today is not only to attract and retain the right

employees but also to innovatively train for acquiring the skill required to

survive in the highly competitive global market. And emotional intelligence is

one major dimension which affects the performance in many ways Thus it is

responsibility of management to train their employees in this aspect to get

maximum out of them.

Whether we like it or not or our emotions are part of what make human and

they follow and that means they follow us to work. Effective management of

emotional intelligence is a storing predictor of success in both our personal

life and in the office. Research show that the measure of one’s emotional

intelligence often referred to as emotional quotient (EQ) is twice as important

as traditional leadership skills for job performance in management positions.

Those with high emotional intelligence are much more likely to deliver

superior performance as compared to the average players regardless of the

industry. It is perhaps somewhat intuitive to understand that competencies in

EI matter for salespeople who depend on their ability to relate with and

successfully connect and influence with other but interestingly for the that data

for scientists and similar technical professions also points to El as necessary

for excellent performance even more In complex role having a high level of

analytical the job the more EI matters In complex role having a high level of

analytical and technical skills are simply the entry point. A deficiency of EI

hinders the use of whatever threshold skills a person may have. “In short, out-

of control emotions can make smart people stupid”. Emotional intelligence

impacts many areas under the umbrella of organizational effectiveness, such

as in the areas of retention and leadership. Turnover rates can be very costly to

organizations and can deeply affect the bottom line. The upside is that

employees are more likely to stay with bosses who manage emotional

intelligence/ in other words, people don’t leave jobs – they leave managers.

People with good bosses are four times less likely to leave than are those with

poor bosses. EI is very important in leadership roles, as leaders need everyone

32

to do their jobs as effectively as possible and this requires a high degree of

interpersonal effectiveness. Studies show that high EQ differentiates average

from superior performers, which can be critical for leadership positions. The

good news is, unlike IQ, research studies prove that emotional intelligence

skills can be taught and developed over time. “Instead of being stuck with the

hand they’d been dealt, people can take steps to work and personal lives. Sure

enough, strong emotions make it difficult to think straight; nonetheless,

thought devoid of emotions renders satisfactory decision-making impossible.

The problems is not with emotions as such, but with the appropriatness of

emotion and its expression. Emotional intelligence is neither good nor bad,

like any other intellectual skills, it is morally neutral. Without a moral

compass to guide us on how to employ these skills, emotional intelligence and

be used for good or evil. The subject can be seen in a continuum of related

emotions. The value of EQ is to force us to look at the obvious and improve

our ability to understand, apply the “obvious” and direct our energy towards

the positive side of the emotional continuum. Here in this research, the effort

is taken to find out the score of emotional intelligence with respect to age,

experience, and designation, which will help organization to explore the

untapped potential. This paper finally asserts the fact that performance in the

life as well as workplace is directly related to emotional intelligence of the

executives.

2.1.31 Vijay, M., and Vazirani, N. (2008), A Perception Study of the Indian BPO

Sector

This paper examines the perceptions of graduate students and MBA students

from four metro cities towards the BPO sector in India. The BPO sector in

India is burgeoning at its seams. Finding quality human resources given the

current attrition rate of around 30-40 percent is today its biggest challenge.

Graduates and MBAs are the largest talent pool for a BPO. Their perceptions

of the sector would influence their decision to join a BPO and in turn

turnaround BPOs. A cross section of 2032 students across varying age,

education and gender levels was interviewed using a structured questionnaire.

The findings indicate the BPOs are not the preferred employers for both

graduates and MBAs. The respondents perceived that BPO culture has brought

about changes in society that include Westernization, improved lifestyle, night

33

shift working and earn and study concept. The prime drivers for joining a BPO

were fast and easy money, growth opportunities, enhanced accent and

communication skills and exposure to multinational work culture, while the

night shift, the irrelevant work experience and Curbing of social life were

found to the major deterrents to join a BPO. The BPO sector was found to

suffer from three perceptual distortions namely; the halo effect, the stereotype

effect and the contrast effect. The above perceptions and perceptual distortions

may affect the ability of the BPO sector to attract, retain and upgrade their

talent pool in future.

2.1.32 Banerjee, D. (2008), BPO/KPO – The Marketing Issues

In the present day cut-throat competition, companies are trying to make their

differentiation in both price and non-price competition. Price is something

customer’s give great importance. Therefore, in order to gain better customer

satisfaction, companies looked for avenues through which both the objective

of customer satisfaction as well as price competition could be achieved. The

best answer found to solve both situations simultaneously was outsourcing.

Outsourcing is a process where the organization takes a third party help to

gain expertise at a reduced cost to do better justice to the organizational

resources. This concept gained popularity all across the globe and the Asian

countries have been considered as the aboard destination to suffice and fulfill

the above objectives.

This concept gave rise to BPO and the success rate of BPO’s brought the

KPO’s in pictures which deal with the transfer of higher domain knowledge

and high execution risk. It moved from niche tool of management to

mainstream strategic weapon.

Both BPOs and KPOs face difficulties in:

Rising cost of operations

High attrition rate

Recurrent expenditure in T and D

Increasing fragmentation and competition.

Increasing need of talented professions.

Increasing acquisition and mergers.

Providing high quality standard.

This paper discusses this issue from two perspectives:

34

1. The current scenario of this industry.

2. How the above mentioned marketing challenges are to be faced by this

industry.

2.1.33 Gopal , R., Mohan Ram D. (2009), The Key Issues Involved in BPO / KPO

Sector

The BPO / KPO sector is undoubtedly the sunrise sector at present. The future

of BPO in India is bright, at least for next 30 years. In spite of emergence of

new competitors the great Indian BPO story still continues and is going from

strength to strength. This is mainly due to its dominance in providing low-cost

IT skills, value additions to the relevant workforce, both on the quality and

quantity fronts, along with development of more low-cost, offshore locations.

It’s party time for India Inc. as business experts are of the opinion that India

will retain its low-cost supremacy over the global giants for at least few

decades.

This paper explores the challenges BPO/KPO industry will have to wade

through to keep up the expectations and predictions for its bright future. The

key issues like the client’s expectation and quality requirements, client

conversation and development takes longer compared to other process in KPO

space and the dearth of skilled manpower with domain expertise is also a

major problem for the Indian Outsourcing industry. The paper places further

emphasis on the NASSCOM’s action plan to make ‘Indian – A Global Hub’.

2.1.34 Dhar, M., Kazi, Z., Dhokalia, P., (2008), The Changing Hues of the

Offshoring Industry

Outsourcing is a management process in the globalized business context that

has been well understood, tried and tested by successful organizations across

the world. The competitive pressures arising from the emergence of a

‘boundary-less’ global economy, have spurred the faith in the process- as a

means for providing significant cost savings, flexibility and improved

operational performance. Offshoring is no longer being considered short-term

tools for cost-saving – the focus is steadily shifting to long-term competitive

advantage, an integral part of the global corporation’s strategy.

However, the process of transitioning to a BPO-based model is not easy. It

raises many questions, presents many challenges and poses many risks.

35

Further, with the BPO industry of India entering into a phase of maturity, a

significant change in the nature of opportunities and challenges is being

witnessed. Concerns and solutions are no longer the same as they used to be.

The objective of the report is to illustrate the emerging issues of the sector

from structural changes in the industry to the human resource challenge, from

migration strategies to governance and monitoring. The issues identified

reflect the changing concerns of the global market, from a position of ‘whether

to offshore’ a few years ago, to the current perspectives of ‘how to best

manage’ this global inevitability.

The aim of this survey has been to identify key strategic and operational trends

of the BPO industry in India, from both a customer’s and a supplier’s

perspective.

The sample of respondents consisted of a judicious mix of 20 key service

providers in India, with respect to ownership type (captives, joint venture

companies, and third party vendors), nature of services being offered (voice,

non-voice) and functional offerings (niche vertical players, general players

etc.) This was to ensure that the analysis drawn and recommendations made,

were representative of the Indian offshoring industry.

The methodology deployed for this survey consisted of primary research, with

insights being captured through questionnaires and face-to-face discussions

with senior management of participant organizations. Inputs from potential

customers to this industry have also been collated, with respect to their key

concerns while considering outsourcing to India.

Our analysis and findings are based on consensus findings from the survey and

are supported by quantitative and qualitative inputs from the respondents.

The data presented in this report is based on information received from the

respondents and has been collated to represent an industry trend.

2.1.35 Srinivasan, R., and Srivastace R. K., (2008), in his article entitled as

“Evolution of BPO in India” says that the Business process outsourcing in

simple terms helps the companies to focus on core issues of the company and

outsource the non-core issues to another company which is specialized in that

work The perception of BPO is that is related to Information Technology but it

is not related to IT only it is also found in sectors like HR finance Logistic

Marketing and sales etc.

36

2.1.36 Mathew, T.V. , Peris, N., Bhosale, S. and Manlrekar, P. (2008), in his

article entitled as “Consumption and Saving Habits of the Individuals

Employed in the IT enabled BPO industries”says that the BPO sector is to

India a significant economic growth driver This sector has put India firmly on

the global map Today a call center to the Orange U.K. helpline is answered in

India International companies are turning to India for quick cheap and

efficient medical transcripts. The size of the industry is expected to reach over

$ 5.7 billion this growth in keeping with past experience.

2.1.37 Pareek, R., Srinivasan, R., Tripathi, S., and Sharma, P. (2008), in his

article entitled as “BPO in India the Road Ahead” highlights the changing

hues of the off shoring industry and provide critical insight into the key

strategic and operational issues. Outsourcing is a management process in the

glob business context that has been well understood, tried and tested by

successful organization across the world. The competitive pressures arising

from the emergence of a boundary less global economy have spurred the faith

in the process as a means for providing significant cost saving flexibility and

improved operational performance.

2.1.38 Henri, B. (2010), in his article entitled as “Employee is the king Exploring

Various Issues and Challenges of BPO Companies” says that India has

turned into a not destinations for global offshore outsourcing companies IT

has become the unanimous choice across the globe dun to the availability of a

large amount of cheap but skilled manpower However the flip side of the

industry cannot be ignored Among the complex problem that the India

business Process outsourcing (BPO) industry is battling labor attrition seems

to be the one that has been affecting the industry the most. In the world of

consumerism “customer is the king whereas in the BPO industry: employee is

the king”. The present study is focused on various issues employee satisfaction

and retention in the highly competitive and young industry. The study is to

understand employees’ needs and aspirations to bridge the gap between

employers and employees and employer that helps to reduce the attrition rate.

2.1.39 Kannan, S. (2010), in his article entitled as “KPO A Facet of IPR”

highlights the software financial service and clinical research outsourcing IPR

has emerged as the new KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) in which India

is poised to become a global. The new patent regime and the growing

37

competition from multinationals have brought patents into the limelight

among India companies. In less than half a decade of KPO s inception one has

observed tremendous growth over a dozen companies precede the end to end

IP management service in India. IPR related strives include search document

writing filing of patent applications worldwide legal advice on infringements

etc.

KPO industry is expected to employ skilled personnel with certain level of

expertise. The tremendous growth envisaged will necessarily mean a quantum

increase in the workforce engaged in providing KPO services and there is

expected to be shortage of skilled personnel.

2.1.40 Manjarekar, P. and Aggrawal, A. (2008), in his article entitled as

“Employee sensitive BPO|KPO Branding-A case Study Approach”

highlight a look at typical BPO|KPO employee will throw enough light on

what compels this quick turnaround in jobs Higher salary a major role when

there is nothing more to look forward to in any BPO|KPO promotions don

com easy policies are stringent and the light security measures at work are an

everyday hassle Retaining talent calls for a transformation in the approach of

the HR departments. This is where an Emotional Surplus Employee Branding

can play to make the workplace a preferred one for employees.

2.1.41 Shrivastava, A. (2008), in his article entitled as “Attrition and Retention of

Employees in BPO Sector” says that “We live in an age of outsourcing,”

clearly designates that outsourcing has now become an acknowledged,

accepted and established business strategy. One of the most familiar forms of

outsourcing is business process outsourcing BPO, i.e., transferring the

operational ownership of one or more of the firm’s business processes to an

external supplier that, in turn, administers the processes according to some

predefined metrics (Ghosh and Scott, 2005; Stone, 2004). BPO or Business

Process Outsourcing thus refers to the rearrangement of entire business

functions to some other service providers, primarily in low cost locations. The

service provider may be either self-owned or a third party. This relocation or

transferring of business processes to an external provider is essentially to

accomplish increased shareholder value.Some of the general services provided

by the BPOs are Receivables and Payables, Inventory Management, Order

Processing, Cash flow Analysis, Reconciliation, Data Entry, Payroll

38

Processing, QuickBooks Accounting, Financial Statement Preparation and

Accounting Services. Some of the web based services include live online sales

and order entry, E-commerce transaction support, Live online enquiry

handling, Web Design/Development.

Reduced international trade barriers and improved telecommunication and IT

capability over the past decade has led to a situation where organizations

across the world are increasingly interlinked with each other. This has resulted

in intense global competition, challenging business managers across the world

to find ways to reduce the cost of conducting business and accessing global

resources in meeting the need of global markets. In such a context, the

reorganization of business models to leverage benefits of outsourcing and

focus on core competencies has become a key strategy pursued by large

corporations across the world. BPO service-providers are expected to provide

a wide spectrum of benefits to their customers, ranging from having greater

expertise in the outsourced processes, lower costs achieved through economies

of scale, scalability and the ability to absorb cyclicality of loads.

� Concluding Remarks:

The following points related to attrition and retention of employees in BPO

units are noted from the review of past studies.

1. BPO units contributing in country’s GDP with soaring revenues, increased job

opportunities and promise to change in life styles.

2. BPO units creating job opportunities for women and their higher growth.

3. BPO units contributing in the development of Indian economy.

4. BPO units failing to fulfill employee’s needs of aspirations and so affecting on

employee productivity.

5. Performance appraisal is significant in BPO units.

From the above points Researcher felt that there is the need of further

research in the area of Attrition and Retention with reference to the BPO units and

other related units; so that through present study the uncovered areas would be

focused to bridge the gap.

Therefore the following aspects are considered in the present study by the

researcher.

39

• The problem of Attrition in BPO units.

• Key factors that have an influence on employee retention.

• Employee retention strategies in BPO units.

• Retention strategies and performance of the employees.

• Proactive methodologies for employee retention in BPO units.

2.2 Conceptual Foundation

2.2.1 High Attrition Rate: A Big Challenge

In the whole world the employees would love their jobs like their co-workers, all

work hard for their employers and get paid well for their work. They have ample

chances for advancement and flexible schedules so that they could attend to personal

or family needs whenever necessary and they never intend to leave.

But then there's the real world. In the real world employees do leave either because

they want more money, hate the working conditions, hate their co-workers, want a

change, or because their spouse gets a dream job in another state. So what does that

entire turnover cost? And what employees are likely to have the highest turnover?

Who is likely to stay the longest?

2.2.2 Major Problems for the Industry

• Reckless Start-ups: a vast majority of 310 start-ups are headed for a dead-end

(according to NASSCOM). Their capacity utilization is less than one of the three

shifts. Many of these companies that converted their empty basements and

warehouses into BPO units or firms with $10 million-20 million VC funds that ran

out of cash without creating anything more than white elephants. They have

driven down prices to grab business but have failed to deliver. They were always

clueless about people, processes or technologies- the three key elements of the

BPO business.

• Poor Infrastructure: the industry is worry more about poor infrastructure than

just reckless start-ups. Primary among those is infrastructure. While telecom

networks are state of the art, getting a connection still takes up to three months.

Unreliable power supply is forcing units to create their own back-ups. Roads are

bad and airports are in dire need of repairs and upgrades.

40

� High Attrition: another major problem is the high attrition and growth aspirations

of the workforce. At least 60,000 of the 171,000 workforce change jobs every

year. About 80% of them look for better leaders. Team leaders want to upgrade to

supervisors, quality professionals or operations heads. The HR problem threatens

and it has become grave. Good agents are becoming hard to find and with tardy

infrastructure, big moves to the much talked about smaller towns will take longer.

This means costs will rise making it difficult for small VC-funded companies to

survive.

Table No. 2.1 - Attrition rates – Cross-country comparisons

S.N. Country Attrition Rate (in %)

1. USA 42

2. Australia 29

3. Europe 24

4. India 18

5. Global average 24

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009.

Staff attrition (or turnover) and absenteeism represent significant costs to most

organizations. It is odd, therefore, that many organizations neither measure such costs

nor have targets or plans to reduce them. Many organizations appear to accept them as

part of the cost of doing business - a sign of increasing job mobility and decreasing

staff loyalty perhaps, a matter to be regretted but just 'one of those things.' They add a

sum in their budgets for 'temp staff' and 'recruitment' and forget about it.

However, it seems to be one of the areas in which HR can make a difference - and one

that can be measured in quantifiable, financial terms against targets.

However, it is interesting to note that the attrition rates in India - and the costs

associated - are so high that they can override the benefits of lower wage costs. While

wages in call centers in Indian are less than one-eighth of those in Northern Europe, it

has been reported that Hewlett-Packard have found the cost per 'ticket' (the cost of

processing a query) has doubled "due to the inability of the staff to resolve customer

queries efficiently because of language barriers and inexperience." It is said that this

increased cost has made HP's move from Ireland to India "completely pointless," and

41

that it can never recover the (substantial) costs of the move. It is further reported that

GE Capital has moved a call centre back to Australia "after staff attrition rates of 70%

wiped away any potential cost savings."

The issue is not with the quality or education of the staff - and still less with the

investment in technology. It is simply attrition - people do not stay long enough to be

taught or to learn the job. The staff may be cheaper but if they cannot do the job,

what's the point? Managing attrition is not just a 'nice thing to do' in Indian call

centers. It is the route to their survival.

Far from accepting attrition rates as part of the cost of doing business, it is surely

something that all organizations should address, and equally surely it is an area in

which HR can take a lead - measure attrition, seek its causes, set out solutions and

target performance.

2.2.3 Calculating attrition rate

HR professionals are requested not to drive their own formulas to calculate attrition

rate. In terms of numbers, attrition rate means:

Rate of

Attrition

=

Total Number of Resignations

per month (Voluntary and

forced)

X

100

(Total Number of employees at

the beginning of the month) +

(total number of new joiners) -

(total number of resignations)

If calculating in monetary terms, it includes the following:

Costs Due to a Person Leaving

1. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who fills in while the position is vacant.

Calculate the cost of lost productivity at a minimum of 50% of the person's

compensation and benefits cost for each week the position is vacant, even if

there are people performing the work. Calculate the lost productivity at 100% if

the position is completely vacant for any period of time.

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2. Calculate the cost of conducting an exit interview to include the time of the

person conducting the interview, the time of the person leaving; the

administrative costs of stopping payroll benefit deductions, benefit enrollments.

3. Calculate the cost of the manager who has to understand what work remains,

and how to cover that work until a replacement is found.

4. Calculate the cost of training your company has invested in this employee who

is leaving.

5. Calculate the impact on departmental productivity because the person is

leaving. Who will pick up the work, whose work will suffer, what departmental

deadlines will not be met or delivered late.

6. Calculate the cost of lost knowledge, skills and contacts that the person who is

leaving is taking with them out of your door. Use a formula of 50% of the

person's annual salary for one year of service, increasing each year of service

by 10%.

7. Subtract the cost of the person who is leaving for the amount of time the

position is vacant.

Recruitment Costs

1. The cost of advertisements; agency costs; employee referral costs; internet

posting costs.

2. The cost of the internal recruiter's time to understand the position requirements,

develop and implement a sourcing strategy, review candidates backgrounds,

prepare for interviews, conduct interviews, prepare candidate assessments,

conduct reference checks, make the employment offer and notify unsuccessful

candidates. This can range from a minimum of 30 hours to over 100 hours per

position.

3. Calculate the cost of the various candidate pre-employment tests to help assess

candidates’ skills, abilities, aptitude, attitude, values and behaviors.

Training Costs

1. Calculate the cost of orientation in terms of the new person's salary and the cost

of the person who conducts the orientation. Also include the cost of orientation

materials.

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2. Calculate the cost of departmental training as the actual development and

delivery cost plus the cost of the salary of the new employee. Note that the cost

will be significantly higher for some positions such as sales representatives and

call center agents who require 4 - 6 weeks or more of classroom training.

3. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who conduct the training.

4. Calculate the cost of various training materials needed including company or

product manuals, computer or other technology equipment used in the delivery

of training.

Lost Productivity Costs

As the new employee is learning the new job, the company policies and practices, etc.

they are not fully productive. Use the following guidelines to calculate the cost of this

lost productivity:

1. Upon completion of whatever training is provided, the employee is contributing

at a 25% productivity level for the first 2 - 4 weeks. The cost therefore is 75%

of the new employee’s full salary during that time period.

2. During weeks 5 - 12, the employee is contributing at a 50% productivity level.

The cost is therefore 50% of full salary during that time period.

3. During weeks 13 - 20, the employee is contributing at a 75% productivity level.

The cost is therefore 25% of full salary during that time period.

4. Calculate the cost of mistakes the new employee makes during this elongated

indoctrination period.

New Hire Costs

1. Calculate the cost of bring the new person on board including the cost to put

the person on the payroll, establish computer and security passwords and

identification cards, telephone hookups, cost of establishing email accounts, or

leasing other equipment such as cell phones, automobiles.

2. Calculate the cost of a manager's time spent developing trust and building

confidence in the new employee's work.

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Lost Sales Costs

1. Calculate the revenue per employee by dividing total company revenue by the

average number of employees in a given year. Whether an employee

contributes directly or indirectly to the generation of revenue, their purpose is

to provide some defined set of responsibilities that are necessary to the

generation of revenue. Calculate the lost revenue by multiplying the number of

weeks the position is vacant by the average weekly revenue per employee.

Conclusion: It is clear that there are massive costs associated with attrition or

turnover and, while some of these are not visible to the management reporting

or budget system, they are none the less real. The 'rule of thumb' appears to be

very inaccurate indeed and, while it depends upon the category of staff, it is

probably better to estimate around 80% of salary as a truer rule of thumb - and

this will be on the conservative side.

What does this mean? Well it means that if a company has 100 people doing a

certain job paid 25,000 and that turnover or attrition is running at 10%, the cost

of attrition is:

Cost of attrition = (Total staff) X (Attrition rate %) X (annual salary) X 80%

The implications, for instance, could mean,

• 100 staff at 10% attrition means 10 people leave and are replaced each year.

• A replacement cost of 80% of a salary of 25,000 means the cost of each

replacement is 20,000.

• The cost of turnover is therefore 10 x 20,000 or 200,000 a year.

• The cost to the overall salary bill is 8%.

Saving 8% of salary costs would make the average HR manager a hero.

2.2.4 Retention Strategies in BPO Industry

HR professionals all over the world, working is Call-Center or Contact Center or BPO

industries are breaking their heads to formulate Retention Strategies but nothing is

working in their favor. The average attrition rate in this sector is still 35-40%. No

45

perks, no rewards…just nothing is working.

Before proceeding further, let’s see why people are leaving? Why there is high

attrition rate.

2.2.5 Why people are moving?

When there are so many benefits associated with BPO industry…. when there are so

many privileges for the BPO employees than what makes them to change the

company/industry?? Is it only MONEY that matters or anything else as well?? After

taking exit-interviews and analyzing the trend I am able to list out following reasons

for a BPO professional to change his/her job.

• No growth opportunity/lack of promotion

• 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

Let’s also see as what are the various benefits…that have been extended to people

working in this sector.

2.2.6 Employee Benefits Provided By Majority of the BPO Companies

A part from the legal and mandatory benefits such as provident-fund and gratuity,

below is a list of other benefits…BPO professionals are entitled to the following:

1. Group Medi-claim Insurance Scheme: This insurance scheme is to provide

adequate insurance coverage of employees for expenses related to

hospitalization due to illness, disease or injury or pregnancy in case of female

employees or spouse of male employees. All employees and their dependent

family members are eligible. Dependent family members include spouse, non-

earning parents and children above three months

2. Personal Accident Insurance Scheme: This scheme is to provide adequate

insurance coverage for Hospitalization expenses arising out of injuries

46

sustained in an accident. This covers total / partial disablement / death due to

accident and due to accidents.

3. Subsidized Food and Transportation: The organizations provide transportation

facility to all the employees from home till office at subsidized rates. The lunch

provided is also subsidized.

4. Company Leased Accommodation: Some of the companies provide shared

accommodation for all the out station employees, in fact some of the BPO

companies also undertakes to pay electricity/water bills as well as the Society

charges for the shared accommodation. The purpose is to provide to the

employees to lead a more comfortable work life balance.

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.

47

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

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.

48

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: ESOPs are popularly used by organizations in

order to motivate employees towards superior performances as well as to

sustain their stay in the firm in the long run.

Now, the actual question, why people are leaving? What types of retention

strategies are required? What is expected from HR Professional and how they

can address this issue?

Retention - A Big Challenge

Fundamental changes are taking place in the work force and the workplace that

promise to radically alter the way companies relate to their employees. Hiring and

retaining good employees have become the chief concerns of nearly every company in

every industry. Companies that understand what their employees want and need in the

workplace and make a strategic decision to proactively fulfill those needs will become

the dominant players in their respective markets.

The fierce competition for qualified workers results from a number of workplace

trends, including:

• A robust economy

• Shift in how people view their careers

• Changes in the unspoken "contract" between employer and employee

• Corporate cocooning

• A new generation of workers

• Changes in social mores

• Life balance

Concurrent with these trends, the emerging work force is developing very different

attitudes about their role the workplace. Today's employees place a high priority on

the following:

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• Family orientation

• Quality of life issues

• Autonomy

To hold onto your people, you have to work counter to prevailing trends causing the

job churning. Smart employers make it a strategic initiative to understand what their

people want and need -- then give it to them.

2.2.7 Retention Strategies

This is not an exhaustive list, one can add or delete any of the below

mentioned strategies. Secondly, the need of the hour is to have "right basics". Every

individual is different, his needs are different, and his emotions, his problems are

different. So, dear HR-Professionals…sit down and concentrate on your basics. I have

classified retention strategies into two parts:

A. Main and

B. Ancillary

2.2.8 A Main retention strategies

This is not an exhaustive list, one can add or delete any of the below mentioned

strategies. Secondly, the need of the hour is to have "right basics". Every individual is

different, his needs are different, and his emotions, his problems are different. So,

dear HR-Professionals…sit down and concentrate on your basics.

1. Communications - Getting Your People to Care

Communication is the first step toward creating the kind of environment that

people care about, and if they care, they just may stay. I'm not talking about a lot of

New Age stroking designed to bring out the inner person or false praise that creates

a misplaced sense of security. Instead, keep your people in the loop about what's

happening with the company. At any time, all of your employees should have a

pretty good idea of how business has been, and they should be aware of what

issues the company is attempting to address.

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That means that you regularly keep your people up to date with important events

affecting the company. If November was good, let them know, and while you're at

it, tell them what you expect to happen in December. Share good news, as well as

points of concern. If you've got "issues," talk about them before they start making

you crazy. And if they don't get resolved, figure out whether the problem stems

from a couple of individuals or from your system.

The point here is that you want to treat these people as your partners, which they

are. They may not have to worry about covering the payroll this week, but they do

have worries of their own. Treat them with at least as much respect as they give

you. As the store's owner or manager, you set the tone for the entire organization.

If your salespeople, for instance, enjoy their encounters with you, they are much

more likely to greet customers with a positive attitude. They are also much more

likely to enjoy their work when they don't have a fire-breathing dragon looking to

singe their butts.

Listen to your employees when they have ideas for improvement. Again, the

benefits extend beyond just making people feel appreciated for their contributions.

These are, after all, the people who do the work every day. They may have some

ideas to improve productivity, and when they do come up with one, let everybody

know where it came from. Post a "brag board" in your break room, or circulate an

internal newsletter that touts these contributions. The pay-off is a contagious

feeling of pride and, perhaps, some new efficiency that saves the company money.

2. Set Clear Expectations

• How often do you appraise your employees/team-members?

• What are your expectations from your employees/team-members? What are the

parameters to measure their performance? Have you communicated to them?

• What will be the consequences, if they fail?

• What will be the rewards, if they exceed the expected level?

If you are not having any expectations, how you are going to appraise, your

employees? Yes, you are going to be biased, because you don't have set standards.

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The role of a CEO, HR Manager is like a director of a movie; choreographer of a

stage show, where there is a defined role for each character, each participant.

Setting expectations initiates the process. Managers need to sit down with each

employee and clearly define what's expected of them. Management consultant,

Kenneth Philips, states that when expectations are not clear, employees may not be

in sync with their job's current demands and priorities. Setting expectations is not a

once and done activity. Jobs change. Priorities change. Resources change. Managers

need to revise and set new expectations throughout the year. Setting expectations

revolves around the following three areas:

• Key job responsibilities

• Performance factors and standards

• Goals

Why is a setting expectation important? Quite simply, this process can be the

cornerstone of improving the motivational climate within your sphere of

responsibility. If your employees know what is expected of them, it allows them to

focus on results and to monitor themselves against the set standards. Environments in

which expectations are not clear, or change from week to week, seldom create high-

performing work groups. The three principles that should drive expectations are

clarity, relevance, anpdsim, licitly.

Clarity: Expectations should focus on outcomes, not activities. In other words, you

achieve clarity when you identify the expected results rather than the method for

achieving them. Managers often make the mistake of attempting to direct the process

that an employee will use rather than being clear about results. The advantage of

identifying the outcome is that you, the manager, focus only on the goal; after all, the

employee will develop the method for achieving the desired results. Defining the

objective often requires some thought on the part of the manager because it is easy to

fall into the "activities trap." While developing a strategic plan for a department or

division is a worthy activity, it does not represent an outcome. In the activities trap,

developing a plan is the goal, rather than increasing your market share.

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Relevance: The principle of relevance helps define the "why" of the assignment. If

your employees have a full understanding of the project's importance, they can make

adjustments as unanticipated factors crop up within the process. They probably also

will be more committed to the result because they can see more easily how it fits into

the big picture and how their efforts impact the company.

This understanding typically is accomplished through dialogue between the

manager and subordinate, which allows for a more thorough review of the situation

and for feedback and discussion. This process builds good will with the employee

and sets the stage for additional responsibilities.

Simplicity: Simplicity creates a sense of grounding for employees as they endeavor

to carry out assignments. If managers identify the work in simple, straightforward

terms, employees will find it much easier to follow through on managers' wishes. To

accomplish this, a manager must identify the key message in a fashion that the

employee can embrace.

3. Proper Rewarding

A research reports says that in today's scenario,

• 70% of your employees are less motivated today than they used to be.

• 80% of your employees could perform significantly better if they wanted to.

• 50% of your employees only put enough effort into their work to keep their job.

As you might be aware of Employee Reward covers how people are rewarded in

accordance with their value to an organization. It is about both financial and non-

financial rewards and embraces the strategies, policies, structures and processes used

to develop and maintain reward systems. The ways in which people are valued can

make a considerable impact on the effectiveness of the organization, and is at the

heart of the employment relationship.

The aim of employee reward policies and practices, if any in your organization is to

help attract, retain and motivate high-quality people. Getting it wrong can have a

significant negative effect on the motivation, commitment and morale of employees.

Personnel and development professionals will be involved frequently in reward

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issues, whether they are generalists or specialize in people resourcing, learning and

development or employee relations. Keep following parameters in mind, while

designing a reward policy:

Build a high degree of recognition value into every reward you offer.

Recognition is the most cost-effective motivator there is. While the high cost of other

rewards forces us to give them sparingly, recognition can be given any time, at very

little cost.

Some very ordinary items and events can be imbued with extraordinary motivational

significance, far in excess of their monetary value. I am constantly amazed at how

motivating a pizza or movie tickets can be if is given with sufficient appreciation. A

sincere thank you can be delivered at any place and at any time, costs absolutely

nothing and can be more motivationally powerful than a substantial monetary bonus.

Organizations can provide innovative recognition in an infinite number of ways.

For example, (A Hypothetical Incident) a small manufacturing company made its

employees feel like heroes when they attained a major safety milestone - 100 days

without a single accident. On the morning of day 100, it was announced that a catered

lunch would be served the next day, if they made it to the 5:30 shift without an

accident. At 5:15 anticipating was building. Managers took confetti and streamers to

the balcony overlooking the shop floor. When the 5:30 whistle blew, there were

congratulations all around, confetti flew through the air and banners were unfurled. It

was a great moment for everyone - and one that was not soon forgotten. The

recognition value of this celebration was extremely high, while the monetary cost was

relatively low.

Highly motivating organizations even celebrate small successes. A health-conscious

company distributes fruit bowls to employees' work areas when key personal

milestones are attained. Another company uses a more fattening approach: fresh-

baked chocolate-chip cookies to say thank you.

Reduce entitlements and link as many rewards as possible to performance.

Clearly the traditional "pay for loyalty" systems in most organizations need to be

changed. Don't let attendance be your major criterion for rewards. Most employees

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resent those who only put in their time and yet receive the same reward as those who

go the extra mile. Today's employees have higher expectations for what work can and

should be, and they want to receive rewards that reflect their personal efforts and

contributions.

This is why so many companies are moving toward performance-based rewards,

including performance bonuses, gain-sharing and non-monetary recognition.

Although not a panacea, companies are finding that these new reward systems do

allow them to give substantial rewards to those who really deserve them. Smart

organizations are looking for opportunities to reduce across-the-board entitlements,

and thereby find more resources for discretionary performance-based rewards,

without increasing the total cost of rewards.

Troubleshoot your reward system to make sure that what it is rewarding is what you

really want to happen.

The Law of Rewards - "What you reward is what you get" - Is extremely powerful.

No matter what your orientation materials or job description might say, it is the

rewards your organization gives that communicate the real expectations. The most

important question to ask in evaluating the reward system in your organization is, do

the rewards we are giving elicit the performance we want? Start with the results you

want to achieve and then pinpoint the types of behaviors needed to achieve them. For

example:

• If you believe teamwork is going to get you the results you want, make sure

you reward teamwork, and not internal competition between departments.

• If you want quality, make sure that productivity isn't over emphasized. And,

• If you want long-term solutions, don't reward quick fixes

Also, don't confuse employees with too many rewards. It is better to focus rewards on

the critical few behaviors and results, rather than diluting them by rewarding the trivial

many.

Reward promptly. Rewards should be given as soon as possible after the performance

has taken place. This is why the most successful gain-sharing programs pay employees

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monthly, rather than quarterly or annually as in the past.

There is a well-accepted law of behavioral psychology, that if you want someone to

repeat a behavior, you should positively recognize it immediately. From this law, smart

supervisors and managers can learn a vital lesson: Look for any employee doing

something right, right now, and recognizes it.

A support to this, here is my favorite reward story:

"When a senior manager in one organization was trying to figure out a way to

recognize an employee who had just done a great job, he spontaneously picked up a

banana (which his wife had packed in his lunch), and handed it to the astonished

employee with hearty congratulations. Now, one of the highest honors in that company

has been dubbed the "Golden Banana Award".

Give employees a choice of rewards. Rewards are as different as the people who

receive them and it doesn't make sense to give rewards that recipients don't find

rewarding. For example, some people prefer more pay, while others prefer more time

off. A promotion might be more rewarding to one person, while a job-sharing

arrangement might be more rewarding for another. Some people are excited about

sports events, others about movies. Some employees would love a dinner in a

romantic restaurant, others a book by their favorite author. Food, fun, education,

improved work environment, gifts, travel, and family-oriented activities - the options

are endless.

How do you know what will be rewarding to employees? Ask them. Smart

organizations are also letting employees choose their own rewards from reward

menus and catalogs. Personalizing rewards shows that a company cares enough to

discover what "interests" each employee, rather than just distributing generic items.

It also reduces the following danger: In one organization I was visiting, an employee

opened a big drawer in his desk and disdainfully showed me all the "worthless

trinkets" he had collected over the years.

Increase the longevity of your rewards. This can be done in a number of ways: One

of the keys to reward longevity is symbolism. The more symbolic an item is of the

accomplishment, the more likely it is to continue reminding the employee of why it

was given. For instance, a T-shirt of coffee mug with a meaningful inscription will

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continue rewarding those who wear it, or use it, long after its initial receipt. There are

many tokens of appreciation I still keep on or near my desk that remind me of the joy

of past accomplishments, while the monetary rewards I have received are long spent

and long forgotten.

Another way to increase the longevity of rewards in your organization is by using

some kind of point system. Rather than rewarding each individual behavior or

accomplishment, points can be awarded, which employees can accumulate and

eventually trade for items from a reward menu or gift catalog. This keeps the

anticipation of rewards fresh for longer periods of time. It also addresses the need for

reward individualization.

One company that designs motivational systems offers an electronic debit-card

system to help larger clients cope with the complexity of distributing, tracking and

redeeming employees' points. Employees can use their points to purchase virtually

anything they want, from sports equipment and clothing to automobiles and overseas

vacations. They only caveat for such programs is to make sure that the recognition

value of the rewards isn't lost because of the impersonal nature of the technology.

One company uses a game it Call Safety Bingo. All employees receive a weekly

bingo card. When an employee is observed working safely, a number is presented

(immediate recognition). When they get "bingo", they receive a safety jacket (along

with appropriate verbal reinforcement). The rewards escalate for subsequent wins.

This type of program keeps employees interested for long periods of time, even

though there might be weeks or months between rewards, and makes routine work

more fun overall.

Interestingly, when researchers have investigated the motivational dynamics of these

workplace games, they have found that the major motivator is the playing, not the

prize. Be continually vigilant of demotivators that may undermine your

organization's best efforts to provide power rewards, and reduce them promptly.

Most demotivators can be dramatically reduced by soliciting employee involvement

in identifying highest-priority demotivators and by enlisting top-management

commitment to support their reduction.

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It is probably self-evident that considerable sensitivity is needed in the

administration of any reward system. One demotivator that is probably endemic in

any reward system modification (especially as an organization moves from

entitlements to more performance-based rewards) is a sense that something is being

taken away. Employees need to be educated about the reasons that this is being done,

understand the ultimate benefits to them and the organization, and should probably

have some input into the change process.

To avoid the perception of unfairness, it is important, first and foremost, that the

process for allocating rewards is viewed by employees as being impartial. This

requires an objective measurement system that few organizations have. Without such

objective measurement, any reward system is probably destined to failure.

Ancillary Retention Strategies

1. The quality of the supervision an employee receives is critical to employee

retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave

companies or jobs. It is not enough that the supervisor is well liked or a nice

person, starting with clear expectations of the employee, the supervisor has a

critical role to play in retention. Anything the supervisor does to make an

employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Frequent employee

complaints center on these areas.

� Lack of clarity about expectations,

� Lack of clarity about earning potential,

� Lack of feedback about performance,

� Failure to hold scheduled meetings, and

� Failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can

succeed.

2. The ability of the employee to speak his or her mind freely within the

organization is another key factor in employee retention. Does your

organization solicit ideas and provide an environment in which people are

comfortable providing feedback? If so, employees offer ideas, feel free to

criticize and commit to continuous improvement. If not, they bite their tongues

or find themselves constantly "in trouble" - until they leave.

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3. Talent and skill utilization is another environmental factor your key employees

seek in your workplace. A motivated employee wants to contribute to work

areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute

far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and

experience, and take the time to tap into it. As an example, in a small company,

a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external

consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo

development experience, repeatedly offered to help. His offer was ignored and

he cited this as one reason why he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the

company didn't want to take advantage of his knowledge and capabilities

helped precipitate his job search.

4. The perception of fairness and equitable treatment is important in employee

retention. In one company, a new sales rep was given the most potentially

successful, commission-producing accounts. Current staff viewed these

decisions as taking food off their tables. You can bet a number of them are

looking for their next opportunity.

In another instance, a staff person, just a year or two out of college, was given

20,000 in raises over a six month time period. Information of this type never

stays secret in companies so you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt; the

morale of several other employees will be affected.

For example, you have a staff person who views her role as important and she

brings ten years of experience, an M.B.A. and a great contribution record to the

table. When she finds she is making less money than this employee, she is

likely to look for a new job. Minimally, her morale and motivation will take a

big hit. Did the staff person deserve the raises? Yes. But, recognize that there

will be impact on others.

5. Your best employees, those employees you want to retain, seek frequent

opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, knowledge and skill. Without

the opportunity to try new opportunities, sit on challenging committees, attend

seminars and read and discuss books, they feel they will stagnate. A career-

oriented, valued employee must experience growth opportunities within your

organization.

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6. A commonplace complaint or lament I hear during an exit interview is that the

employee never felt senior managers knew he existed. By senior managers I

refer to the president of a small company or a department or division head in a

larger company. Take time to meet with new employees to learn about their

talents, abilities and skills. Meet with each employee periodically. You'll have

more useful information and keep your fingers on the pulse of your

organization. It's a critical tool to help employees feel welcomed,

acknowledged and loyal.

7. No matter what the circumstances are but never, never, ever threaten an

employee's job or income. Even if you know layoffs loom if you fail to meet

production or sales goals, it is a mistake to foreshadow this information with

employees. It makes them nervous; no matter how you phrase the information;

no matter how you explain the information, even if you're absolutely correct,

your best staff members will update their resumes. I'm not advocating keeping

solid information away from people; however, think before you say anything

that makes people feel they need to search for another job.

1) V CUSTOMER

Technology Leads the Way

With focus on automation of processes and employee welfare, vCustomer has learnt

the sure shot way to be, and stay, number 1

For the fifth time in a row, vCustomer maintained its position as the Best BPO

Employer. Factors such as job content, salary and compensation, and appraisal system

that matters most to the young BPO employees are the parameters where vCustomer

topped the list. The organization played deploying technology in different areas.

In FY11, the company’s overall focus was on automation. It used technology to

reduce employee time spent on various transactional activities by automating various

HR processes and reporting formats. This not only freed employees from hunting for

various information, but also enabled the company to maintain up-to-date information

with little effort. Meanwhile, a dedicated team for employee relations was formed to

understand their needs and get regular feedbacks on new processes. A lot of work was

done in consolidating its LinkedIn and Facebook profile, and the social media

platform was leveraged even for internal communication to engage and motivate its

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employees in today’s style rather than traditional buck-up-banner styles. A lot of

initiatives were also taken around employee welfare, like organizing preventive

employee healthcare and stress-busting massage camps in the office premises twice a

week.

Although it ranked #1 in salary and appraisal parameters, yet the HR revealed that

they have to deal with dissatisfied employees from time to time. The key is to keep

the management-employee communication open, listen to the employees’ grievance,

and solve them in a structured manner as soon as possible. Keeping that in mind, it

even made exceptions in certain cases and reviewed employee salaries without

waiting for the yearly appraisal cycle. As far as gender inclusivity is concerned, the

company blames late night shifts for US based processes as a reason for low scores in

this parameter. Nevertheless, making use of the inputs from the DQ-CMR survey, the

HR has decided to give specific instructions to the hiring team hereon to hire a

decided percentage of women and introduce work from home facilities whenever

possible.

Table 2.2: Rank of Employee Feedback- V CUSTOMER

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

The appraisal system in the company is fair 1

The appraisal system in the company is transparent 1

I am getting paid at par with industry standards 1

Low Rating -

I am proud of working for this company 8

The company is very open to ideas and suggestion given by

employees 9

I have exciting growth opportunities in this company 9

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

2) AEGIS LTD

Fresh Investments

Aegis BPO optimized its operational costs by increasing the percentage of freshers

and encouraging internal recruitment for lateral hiring

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One of the major learning’s for the overall industry after the recovery was optimizing

operational costs. For Aegis BPO, this meant changing the employee mix by

increasing the percentage of fresher, and encouraging internal recruitment for lateral

hiring.

This drastically brought down the number of lateral hiring from the 80% around 3

years back. The count came down to 20% last year. The HR department started a new

initiative called ‘Get Set Go’ for ensuring higher retention rate and increasing the

average tenure of employees. Started last year, the program included 2 major levels of

developing employer value.

Starting with training on soft skills, product and managerial knowledgeable and

building career path system for all the employees; the second level is for the

performers who further undergo another round of training called Aegis ACE

(achieving continuous excellence) and develop the qualities, namely Climb

(consistency learning intuitive maturity benign). Last year around 10% of the total

workforce qualified for ACE. It also introduced a global talent exchange program

where local employers could apply for openings in the global centers of the company.

While the retention rate came around 76%, the attrition came to around 17%.

Aegis BPO has been rising up the ranking in the past few years, and this time again it

overperformed compared to 2010. It credits the new initiatives for last year’s

performance. While it gathered high votes on people, growth, infrastructure and job

security, it ranked low on company image, average hike and salary. According to the

company, about 60% of the revenues go into employee costs, and therefore the salary

and compensation benchmarks are determined by businesses. However it witnessed

an increase across all levels.

The entry level salary, for example, appreciated by 30% in the last 1 year. Aegis has

been working towards building a diverse culture. It claims in maintain the industry

proportion for its women workforce, having more than 600 differently abled people –

around 97% of the hires are of local nationality, and 3.5% of the global population is

aged above 45. It also maintains cultural diversity with large presence, and has

touched economically diverse cities from metros to 3 and 4 tier cities.

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Table 2.3: Rank of Employee Feedback- AEGIS LTD

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

A am satisfied with perks and benefits available to me 1

The perks and benefits I get in this company are relevant to me 1

Special initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time of

appraisal 2

Low Rating -

The training given to me is relevant to the kind of work I do 6

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to me

in a year 3

The company’s policies and procedures are open and transparent

and create a positive work environment 6

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

3) WIPRO BPO

Building Inner Strengths

Employee trust enabled Wipro BPO to stand out on the parameter of stability, It

however suffered on other parameters

Last year was no different for the Wipro BPO team, barring a few leadership changes.

Moving with the industry trend, the company’s HR team was building focus towards

retention, training, and career development. The job market did see a rise in the cost

of labor, but as the ongoing trend. Wipro too was meeting the demand with internal

hiring. Although the company’s internal hiring target was around 1,000-1,500 fresh

recruits per month, yet on a y-o-y basis its employee growth was negative. The

company saw marginal rise in budgets, with larger focus towards compensation,

followed by rewards, training, and lastly, welfare activities.

As a business strategy, the company has made a constant attempt to increase the

revenue per employee by increasing their skill, knowledge, and domain expertise. It

saw 10% growth in this parameter. It also was one of the few that followed almost 3

months training that included personal and skill devilment.

According to the team, capability building has been an important aspect of training as

it not only makes them more billable, but also helps the employees move up the value

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chain in the company and heir career development. The utilization came around 90%,

with around 10% workforce involved in training.

Despite management changes, employees showed hope and trust towards the

company, which according to the HR team was the result of strong succession

planning and leadership building. Compared to 2010, Wipro BPO came down one

point in ranking. While on one side the company gathered appreciation for training

and de elopement, on the other, work environment, job culture, salary and

compensation were weak. The discrepancies in the HR and employee scores also

affected overall ranking. However the average tenure of 8-9 years in the leadership

positions for this 11- year – old firm was a reflection of stability.

Table 2.4: Rank of Employee Feedback-WIPRO BPO

Employee Feedback Industry

Rank

High Rating +

I am proud of working for this company 4

I would definitely recommend this company to close friends of

mine, seeking employment 8

The appraisal parameters are well thought out and relevant 6

Low Rating -

The perks and benefits I get in this company are relevant to me 9

I am satisfied with perks and benefits available to me 8

I am getting paid at par with industry standards 10

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

4) CENPACT

All in the Open

Emphasis on employee training significantly boosted the employee satisfaction index

rating

Recognizing that people practices are a critical element in the outsourcing industry,

Gen - pact’s human resource policy is guided by employee welfare considering

employees as its most valuable asset and provides training and learning programs for

the growth of employees’. No wonder then that Gen - pact was ranked $1 in the

‘company being open to ideas and suggestions’. This obviously translates into an

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openwork culture which encourages employee feedback and also takes it into account,

leading to happier employees. I think program for instance is an open platform for

employees to speak their minds and voice their concerns. Supervisors were made

accountable, and were also given mentorship programs to enable them to deal with

their employees and issues. The company’s culture of openness is integrated into their

appraisal process as well; it was ranked #2 on the ‘fairness of the appraisal process’

parameter.

The company also undertakes development raining programs to inculcate leadership

traits to build the second rung of leaders – ‘Lead’, a structured program which grooms

senior leaders on personal effectiveness, leading and motivating large teams and

building new leaders.

Genpac lays a lot of stress on training. It makes a substantial and continuous

investment in employee training, or enabling employees to move up the career ladder,

resulting in significantly pushing the employee satisfaction index up. The company

has introduced multi-dimensional initiatives like ‘iThink’, Led by Example and

Development (LEAD) and Genpact Operating Leadership Development (Gold).

GOLD is a structured program which is offered to a set if 50-100 supervisors to

enhance people skills and management capabilities. Perhaps this is why it has been

able to outperform the industry average on his parameter.

In fact it prides itself as being a learning organization, which encourages

entrepreneurship and nurtures talent.

In pact of boasting of a gender inclusive work culture and a stated goal of 25%

women in the executive ranks and 50% women hires at the management levels, the

company stood at #11 in this parameter.

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Table 2.5: Rank of Employee Feedback- CENPACT

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

The company is very open to ideas and suggestion gives by

employees

1

The appraisal system in the company is fair 2

Special initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time

of appraisal

4

Low Rating -

I am satisfied with perks and benefits available to me 12

I am getting paid at par with industry standards 13

I am satisfied with kind of salary hikes I get 12

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

5) TCS BPO

Dream Company

TCS BPO is a name to reckon with and has scored highest on the image parameter

TCS BPO made a re-entry in to the DQ CMR BPO E-Sat survey 2011 and clinched

the 5th place in the overall ratings. TCS BPO stands out in the overall company image

parameter, beating all its counterparts to become the first choice of employees. The

BPO tries to meet employee satisfaction levels based on the industry standards.

Furthermore, it boasts of conducting internal employee satisfaction survey y-o-y to

identify the areas that help it match employee expectations.

Unlike other BPO firms, the company continues to maintain the lowest attrition rate,

i.e, 25% in the industry. In spite of this, the company had to counter the challenge of

retaining efficient people.

In addition, the company claims to associate and invest in its employees’ personal and

professional development. Some of the initiatives it took for employees’ include the

associate catalyst program, the high potential program, propel, employee connect, etc.

The associate catalyst program was to enhance integration of HR with operations

whereas its high potential program was oriented towards the predictive talent

management concept with an objective to identify, develop, and track the careers of

the high performing associates (across work levels) based on their strength and

66

predictive fitment to various career streams available within the organization. Besides,

it also claims to encourage its employees to participate in leadership programs.

The company fared low on the training and growth opportunity parameters. Whereas

in HR scores, the company topped the table. But when it came to employee scores, the

company could manage only the 10th spot. On the work culture parameter, it stood at

number 8, whereas on the salary parameter it was way behind at 13th place. Similarly,

it fared low on the appraisal parameter, at #12.

In the gender inclusivity parameter the company was at the 10th place. The company

claims to have similar KRAs for both male and female employees. But TCS has

programs such as ‘DAWN’ (Diversity and Women Network) which specifically focus

on developing female workforce at all levels of the jobs, nurture and build a diverse

leadership pipeline.

Table 2.6: Rank of Employee Feedback- TCS BPO

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

I am proud of working for this company 9

I feel a sense of belongingness in this company 10

I would definitely recommend this company to close friends

of mine seeking employment 12

Low Rating -

The training given to me is relevant to the kind of work I do 15

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to

me in a year 15

I have exciting growth opportunities in this company 14

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

6) INTEL NET CLOABAL SERVICES

Focus on Training

Through training programs, Intel net strives to retain employees who want to leave for

new sectors like retail and aviation, which are also offering ‘day’ jobs.

Intel net Global Services retained its spot at #6 in the DQ-CMR BPO E-Sat survey

2011. What contributes to its success as one of the best BPO employers is its

commitment towards employee related issues and also management of these matters

in a professional manner. Although Intel net sands out when it comes to offering

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work environment, it has its own share of challenges when it comes to retaining

employees who are leaving for other industries. According to Manuel D’Souza, chief

human resources officer, Intel net global Services, the biggest challenge staring the

company in the face is the demand for its talent in growing sectors such as aviation

and retail, where the allure of day jobs for similar roles are attracting employees.

Training activities and skill enhancement programs are part of Intel net ’s DNA,

claims the company, as it grooms employees for leadership roles within the

organization. It also runs programs that assist employees grow and apply for positions

in the company. Training programs such as Skill Enhancement and Employee

Development (SEED), get Ready for Opportunity at Work (CROW), Strive Towards

Excellence and Performance (STEP), and Leadership Excellence Accreditation and

Development (LEAD) continued to help employees in their pursuit of achieving the

best in their career graphs.

In a number of parameters, the company competes with its counterparts and gives

hem tough competition. It stood at #2 on the parameter of training for employees, #3

on job content, #3on appraisal, and #4 on job satisfaction. Also, he employees have

confidence in the company as they ‘want to recommend it to others’. But there are

certain parameters on which the company has been rated low. One such is the ‘sense

of belongingness’. In addition, the employees also question the relevance of training

imparted to them.

However the company’s emphasis and internal growth opportunities continues to

make it one of the hottest places to work in the BPO industry.

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Table 2.7: Rank of Employee Feedback-INTEL NETCLOABAL SERVICES

Employee Feedback Industry

Rank

High Rating +

I would definitely recommend this company to close friends of

mine seeking employment 1

I am paid enough for the work I do in this company 1

I am proud of working for this company 1

Low Rating -

The perks and benefits I get in this company are relevant to me 7

The company’s policies and procedures are open and transparent

and create a positive work environment 7

I feel a sense of belongingness in this company 8

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

7) ADITYA BIRLA MINACS

Training Matters

Proactive training coupled with a well-managed employee growth path saw the

company move up the ladder

A perfect score on 3 key areas – training, growth opportunities and compensation –

did the trick, and that acted as the key driver for Aditya Birla Minacs to better its last

year’s performance. The company’s HR head attributes the good scores on training to

its aggressive mapping of employee requirements and delivering it across a blended

training model that seemed to have connected well with the employees. The

company’s training revolves around what it calls the ‘Minacs Talent Management

Process’ framework that addresses the key touch points during the employee lifecycle.

Using this framework the company was able to tightly mesh the organizational goals

and killing its employees with the right talent set leading to higher business results

and greater per employee productivity.

The employees prioritizing training in addition to compensation also drives home the

point that the industry is slowly changing from a purely compensation driven to

expectations on other areas like growth opportunities and acquiring job related skills

on a regular basis. In the case of Aditya Birla Minacs, the HR head states that the

69

pro-active training has clearly acted as one key motivator and an employee retention

factor

Interestingly, during FY10, one of the areas that called for attention was training and

clearly over FY11 the company has concentrated on talent mining with its framework

with 3 key deliverables – to acquire, develop and align.

Yet another sweet spot for the company relates to the employees feeling that they

have a robust career progression within the company. Yet again, this parameter also

leans on effective training that helps the company identify multiple talent streams, be

able to map high achievers, and be able to provide them an effective career path.

While the surveyed sample at Aditya Birla felt that they are paid enough for the work

they are ding, they gave lesser scores to salary hikes. Some felt the appraisal system

also needed to become more transparent and fair. But the company feels these are

perception based comments, and more individualistic.

70

Table 2.8: Rank of Employee Feedback-ADITYA BIRLA MINACS

Employee Feedback Industry

Rank

High Rating +

I am satisfied with the quality of training the company provides 1

I have exciting growth opportunities in this company 1

I am paid enough for the work I do in this company 1

Low Rating -

The appraisal system in the company is transparent 4

The appraisal system in the company is fair 3

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 5

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

8) SPANCO BPO

TAPPING Growth

Continuous employee engagement programs have ensured lower attrition levels and

also growth f the employees

With employees used to working in accordance to the structured roadmap chalked out

for them. Spanco BPO tried to do the same last year. As a result of its employee

engagement activities, the attrition rate of the company has come down drastically.

This speaks volumes about the employee satisfaction ratio that has resulted in the

company’s image being raked at #4.

With the motive of highlighting the job content for employees, the company took

various steps leading to the company being rated #2 on this parameter. Spanco left no

stone unturned in ensuring that the best practices from various locations were brought

into the company. With its business in destinations like Africa expanding by leaps and

bounds, it necessitated the need for ‘STIR’ tphje;[ in relocating employees.

In order to enable employees to achieve their job content perspective, training became

an important factor. Therefore, Spanco rolled out a ‘Team Leader Training Program’

and also got an external designer to design the biggest initiative ‘Working

Management Program’ for employees from the rank of mid-level management till

ACMs. These step led Spanco to be raked at #4 on training.

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Since performance of an employee is based on objective grounds, hence the company

made the right noise by preparing a job description bank highlighting all the activities

and responsibilities of th4 3mployee. This approach enables rating the employee in

line with his or her deliverable responsibilities and also a feedback is provided on a

regular basis. Also, it ensures that almost 75-80% of the responsibilities are aligned.

Application of this approach resulted in an effective appraisal system that has been

rated at #7.

Even recognition in the form of awards given at the corporate level ensured to keep

employees happy. And in order to prevent exits for transport issues, the company

started recruiting employees in a manner in which their transport facility can easily

cover all its employee.

Table 2.9: Rank of Employee Feedback- SPANCO BPO

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

Special initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time of

appraisal 3

The appraisal parameters are well thought out and relevant 5

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to me

in a year 2

Low Rating -

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 8

The company is very open to ideas and suggestion given by

employees 10

I am paid enough for the work I do in this company 10

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

9) EXL SERVICES

Gender Bender

On the gender inclusivity front, EXL Service has come out trumps thanks to its

gender diversity policy and a robust redressal system.

At EXL Service, human resource initiatives comprise many small things like the

Annual Family Day – an annual event that was previously held at every center and

was in FY11 transformed from a center-wise event into one combined event for a city.

Even their Succession Planning exercises earlier done in-house were converted into a

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professionally executed and designed program for mapping the top leadership. Under

the program, the roles were mapped (critical or routine) and between individual and

the role, a Risk Criticality Matrix was mad – basically a combination of individual

risk potential and the criticality of the role. From an investment perspective this was

the largest learning and development initiative.

The company also created an e-learning school under which 3 pillars or schools were

formed – School of Skill Development, School of Management Development

(catering to the mid-management talking about how importance of leadership,

demonstrating leadership skills and handling attrition), School of Leadership

development intended for the senior management teaching them how to handle large

teams, cost management, and to think like a CEO.

Surprisingly, in spite of all these learning related initiatives, EXL scored low when it

came to the number of training days even as under the e-learning initiative around

5,000 employees have already been trained.

On the salary front too the company scored low, not surprisingly since the average

salary hike was less than 10%. However, the company is quick to point out that it is

all for rewarding outstanding performers and wouldn’t mind shelling out the money

for the exceptionally talented.

On the transparency front, the company comes out te winner thanks t its policy of

publishing the company policy related documents on its Intranet ‘Planet EXL’, an

informative page featuring employee blogs. In fact the company also takes into

account the feedback on any new policy put out on the Intranet.

One aspect wherein EXL has come out trumps is the gender inclusivity parameter

thanks to its gender diversity policy and a robust redressal system in employees being

of the fairer sex.

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Table 2.10: Rank of Employee Feedback-EXL SERVICES

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

I would definitely recommend this company to close friends 6

The company’s policies and procedure are open and

transparent and create a positive work environment 4

I feel a sense of belongingness in this company 7

Low Rating -

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 9

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to

me in a year 10

I am satisfied with perks and benefits available to me 9

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

10) FIS GLOBAL

Health is Happiness

Effectiveness of initiatives was the key concern to ensure wealth of the organization,

and health of the employees

FIS Global moved up 2 positions taken pots aggressive employee engagement

policies. The clubbing of IT and BPO HR in Gurgaon and the Philippines facility is a

big step which will be implemented in 2011l Now Chennai is on the cards and

Chandigarh and Bengaluru may also do the same if a business need arises.

HR initiatives in 2011 earmarked he importance of growth and engagement of

employees to meet business objectives of profitability and timely delivery. In 2010-

11, and Effective Live Cycle Management program was rolled out with a 30-day

induction program for each employee, with top management’s invention. Although

ranked #13 on the parameter of training, yet more training programs have been

designed at all levels of employees to ensure skill development and career mapping

and progression opportunities.

Employee engagement initiatives such as Voice of employee including skip and pulse

meetings were adopted. However 3 employee recognition activities were launched in

FY 10: FIS is You – reward and recognition program, Employee appreciation Week,

74

and FIS All Inclusive Management awards (FAIM). In addition, fun and learning

activities, including health and sports week, kept the employees in high spirits.

Apart from last year’s activities [Ladders in Learning, Team coach Orientation

program (TCOP), Team Leader Orientation program (TLOP), FIS introduced lesser

number of programs but focused on their effectiveness. Program and action Learning

and Tuition assistance Program (TAP) were rolled out to benefit all levels of

management and encourage enrollments in certification programs. Since salaries of

employees are benchmarked every year to attract and retain the best talent of the

market, therefore in FY10 appraisal budget was increased by 10%.

On the parameter of gender inclusivity, FIS ranks low #12, as it does not have any

separate policy for women employees. It provides flexible work option to managers,

but not toit’s almost 26% female employees. Steps such as health awareness and

checkup programs in association with MaxHospitals, and guidance on saving and

financial planning were also provided to employees.

Table 2.11: Rank of Employee Feedback-FIS GLOBAL

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

Special initiatives and efforts ae duly recognized at the time of

appraisal 12

I am paid enough for the work I do in this company 9

I am getting paid at par with industry standards 9

Low Rating -

The appraisal system in the company is fair 13

The company is very open to ideas and suggestion gives by

employees 14

I have exciting growth opportunities in this company 13

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

11) eCLERX SERVICES

Quality Matters

Investment on its diverse business lines and workforce has paid rich dividends, and

sustained growth even during the global slowdown

e-clerx Services is a surprise entry in the DQ-CMR BPO E-Sat survey 2011. But more

appreciable was its survival after the bankruptcy declared by Lehman brothers (its

75

major client) and it outperforming its peers with a 68% growth rate in FY09,

maintaining an average growth rate of 44% in the past 4 years. Not only its ability to

manage its clients’ rapidly growing businesses, but its consistent employee

development initiatives have resulted in its strong positioning in the BPO industry

with big clients in the kitty.

e-Clerx has successfully adopted integrated approach (Knowledge Management and

Leadership Development) to ensure skill development at all levels. The employee

development initiatives included: leadership Grooming senior management,

Knowledge management and Learning Development activities, and Employee Reach-

out and Development initiatives for the middle and lower levels. In FY10, e-Clerx

was appraised to level 3of People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) due to which

its 13 process areas and 291 people practices were benchmarked against the PCMM

framework.

e-Clerx deploys 2 categories of training –subject matter training and leadership

training. It has tied up[ with Symbiosis Institute, Pune for MBA programs for middle

and lower level managers; and with SP Jain for executive MBAs for the senior

management.

e-clerx score very well in assessing the employees through its 2 cycles of the appraisal

system: April – for regular work and compensation appraisal and September – only

work. For top management, the first phase of the 360 degree feedback system has

been rolled out and will follow training and intervention: and a 6-month executive

coaching program through KPMC’s HR advisory team. Middle management

assessment identifies training and development needs and career mapping. The

engineers in the organization are appraised bi-monthly on the basis of their

performance matrix.

Its small size and the type of business does not give too much opportunity to e-Clerx

to employ a large number of women, hence it is low on gender inclusivity. However

through the Women’s Club it promotes women empowerment, recruitment, and flexi-

timings for female managers.

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Table 2.12: Rank of Employee Feedback-eCLERX SERVICES

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 1

Special initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time

of appraisal 5

I would definitely recommend this company to close friends

of mine seeking employment 4

Low Rating -

I am satisfied with the quality of training the company

provides 15

The training given to me I relevant to the kind of work I do 14

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to

me in a year 14

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

12) KNOAH SOLUTION

People Centric

While Knoah Solutions lost some ground but its focus on people, compensation, and

employee engagement augurs well as one looks ahead

While looking at the scores of Knoah Solutions, it appears that there have been

significant changes from 2010. In 2010 the compensation part was by and large not an

issue, but in FY11 it became the focal point, which gets amply reflected in the scores

related to salary hikes, and perks given to the employees. The company acknowledges

this and says it has already initiated an organization – wise salary correction and

brought in some key changes in its appraisal systems. However the HR head clarifies

that the lower ratings on salary might be due to employees;’ attitude of comparing

competitive salaries without making a distinction between gross and variable

components.

In addition to salary correction, the company is also fine-tuning its appraisal

processes, and has brought in more uniformity by adopting a standard year-end cycle

by phasing out individualistic y-o-y pattern – for instance, in the old system an

employee was apprised as per his or her joining date every year. With the new system

the company hopes to achieve parity in the appraisal process and effective address of

77

issues such as hikes, benefits, etc. The company has also launched a ‘Performance

Linked Potential Incentive Program’ that’s expected to go well with the employees.

Interestingly, last year employees asked for more transparency in the appraisal

process.

Knoah has consistently topped in the parameters related to people and the ht head

attributes that to the company’s fundamental and core values that revolve around

giving respect to the individual. This was reflected in the scores as well with

employees rating high on parameters such as ‘sense of belonging to the company’.

Another area that halted the steep slide was training that got the top scores. The

company’s HR head says that Knoah invests significant time and attention in the

training part and employees are given relevant on the job training on business

communication, processes, language usage, and a whole lot of other skills.

Table 2.13: Rank of Employee Feedback- KNOAH SOLUTION

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

The training given to me is relevant to the kind of work I do 11

I feel a sense of belonging in this company 14

I am satisfied with the quality of training the company

provides 12

Low Rating -

The perk and benefits I get in this company are relevant to

me 15

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 15

I am satisfied with the perks and benefits available to me 15

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

13) HINDUJA GLOBAL

For a Better Tomorrow

The company introduced ne3w policies and processes, revisited salary structure, and

used IT as differentiator

The past few months tuned out to be action packed for the HR team at Hinduja Global

solutions. Other than introducing new policies and processes, the company launched

an IT, administration and HR helpdesk, and developed around 2-3 associates in every

location to look after needs of transportation, infrastructure, and other grievances. It

78

also introduced an automated system for appraisals that incorporated KRA sheet,

performance review, job description and many other features. According to the team,

this was to bring more transparency, which had been a major concern. Interestingly,

the company follows the hiring recruitment process through SLAs with predefined

processes for offers, joining numbers, etc.

One of the major highlight was the new salary policy, wherein the performance

incentive was combined with the salary, i.e., the fixed and variable components were

merged, increasing the monthly take home. The company defines salary and hikes on

2 major parameters – location and experience, and not the percentage increase. It has

different packages for each tier-1, -2 and -3 cities. Similarly, every level/designation

in the hierarchy has a uniform package.

They introduced retention incentives for the teams, involving the team leads of the

various projects. Starting Q1 2011, all the team leads were evaluated and the teams

with 100% retention rate were awarded. In the last quarter around 8 teams (15-20)

people each) qualified for the awards. Keeping in line with the industry, HCS too

witnesses a rise in internal hiring. In the last one year, only 15% of the lateral hires

came from the market, while the remaining were internal hires. Various focused

attempts at retention helped HCS achieve 81% retention.

HCS launched a few employee engagement programs in addition to its existing on the

job training. The company also partners with an agency to provide soft skill training,

counseling etc. It deployed one HR/counseling person in almost all locations barring

3, which were launched recently.

While training emerged as its strong point, HCS received quite a low rating on salary,

appraisal, work culture and job content. However with fresh initiatives in these areas

the company is poised to grab a much higher position in the next survey.

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Table 2.14: Rank of Employee Feedback- HINDUJA GLOBAL

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to

me in a year 4

The training given in this company genuinely helps me in my

professional and personal growth 4

I am satisfied with the quality of training the company

provides 6

Low Rating -

The appraisal parameters are well thought out an relevant 14

The appraisal system in the company is fair 14

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 14

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

14) SYNTEL

Strong Career Moves

By sculpting growth paths of its talented employees, Syntel has ensured that it

achieves employee satisfaction

Syntel’s ability to take its trained employees to the next level of growth owing to its

IT-BPO advantage has helped retain experienced professionals a well as ensure

employee satisfaction. This speaks volume of the attrition rate of approximately 22%

where the KPO domain loses the crème de la crème to its IT functions. However all

ranking.

The company follows a unique system of rating, wherein the ratings in the appraisal

system is decided upon by the heads of various departments, thus making it a more

transparent function. Through the effectiveness of the appraisal system the top 50

talented professionals are brought to the surface, whose career the company then sets

out to shape. Since this approach has ensured that the company relations 86% of the

talented staff, hence it scored #10 on the parameter of appraisal system.

In order to ensure that the employees perform in accordance to their set goals, training

is provided on a regular basis, as reflected in its score of #12 on this parameter. Apart

from domain training for the newer breed to the bandwagon, even lean training and

80

self-improvement lessons are imparted. Training is given utmost importance, as it

helps the company weed out unproductive skills and offer the best to its clients. Even

cash awards and certificates are awarded to boost employee morale.

On the completion of the training, as a morale-boosting measure the CEO distributes

the certificate as a n acknowledgment of the efforts make. In fact, on a monthly basis

the global CEO (Prashanth Ranade) connects with the employees by lending an ear to

their woes or accepting even queries. Similarly, the ‘Pulse sessions’ conducted on a

monthly basis assist the board members to connect better with the employees. Also, it

organizes Syntel Talent Engagement Program (STEP) and SYNFIT (health program)

for the benefit of employees. Last but not the least; the company intends to add a

feedback-driven culture to its functioning.

Table 2.15: Rank of Employee Feedback-SYNTEL

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

Special initiatives and efforts are duly recognized at the time of

appraisal 11

The appraisal system in the company is transparent 11

I feel a sense of belongingness in this company 13

Low Rating -

I am getting paid at par with industry standards 14

The perks and benefits I get in this company are relevant to me 14

I am satisfied with the perks and benefits available to me 14

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

15) ANTHELIO BUSINESS TECH

Unity in Diversity

The management, through its inclusive policies, puts emphasis on both diversity of

talent as well as gender

In the last one year, Anthelio Business Technologies has grown in strength; literally,

from an employee base of 4 it has reached 400 in the healthcare business alone. But

what makes Anthelio stand out from the rest is that unlike other healthcare out

sourcing companies that cater to physicians, Anthelio is catering to the IT

requirements of North American hospitals. In order to build upon this unique

81

opportunity, it has even stated partnering with the educational institutions to

strengthen the supply side of the industry.

Sourcing talent from across India, the company is clear on its focus of bringing in a

diversity of talent, although it does give preference to Hyderabad based colleges but

only since healthcare talent abounds there. Currently, in partnership with 30 odd

colleges including Thapar Institute, it sources talent from as far away as the North

East and Central India’s engineering colleges, medical colleges, management

colleges, nursing schools and even veterinary colleges.

The company even bagged the NASSCOM NEXT Practices award for promoting

innovation and entrepreneurship.

Not just diversity of talent, the Anthelio management also emphasizes on gender

diversity s well with 30% of its workforce being women and most of the recent hires

at the executive level being women.

Surprisingly, when it comes to company culture, Anthelio has been ranked at #10

even though its policies are designed by the employees themselves. Stressing that its

work culture should be enjoyable and safe, it follows the 3 principles of ‘Simplicity,

Passion, and Lage Raho’. The company follows a ‘first name’ culture and an open

feedback mechanism wherein any employee can write to the CEO.

There has been a lot of emphasis by Anthelio on its training, putting in a lot of

investment, in a lot of investment; in fact 4% of its overall revenues were invested in

training this year. It even put into place an e-learning platform. While certain training

programs are mandatory, the company stresses on e-learning for its employees and

on-the-job training instead of classroom training programs. In its leadership programs

too, experiential training is encouraged which can go up to 6 months. Rightly so,

Anthelio calls this training program mix as Learning and Development.

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Table 2.16: Rank of Employee Feedback-ANTHELIO BUSINESS TECH

Employee Feedback Industry Rank

High Rating +

I am paid enough for the work I do in this company 2

I am satisfied with the kind of salary hikes I get 4

The perks and benefits I get in this company are relevant to

me 4

Low Rating -

I am satisfied with number of days of training that is given to

me in a year 8

I have exciting growth opportunities in this company 8

The culture of the company is such that it creates very

positive work environment 10

Source: Data Quest, Volume XXX, No. 20, Oct. 2009

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