attrition issues and talent retention in … · to identify and rank the factors of attrition in...

ATTRITIONISSUESANDTALENTRETENTIONININDIANBPOs

1VIPINKUMARTOMER,2Dr.R.PSINGH

ResearchScholar,MewarUniversity,Email:[email protected]

ResearchSupervisor,MewarUniversity,Email:[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Thebroadobjectiveofthisresearch istoidentifytherootcausesofattritionandretentioninBPOs,analyzingthe levelofemployee motivation, satisfaction and involvement, generate a model for maximizing sustenance of employees in theorganizationand comeupwith concrete recommendations, which will eventually bevaluable to the organizations toretaintheiremployeesforalongterm.

1.OBJECTIVE

ItisclearfromthereviewofBPOresearchthatsolutionsare required to some specific problems of practicalimportance in the field of escalating attrition andretentioninBPOs.Thebroadobjectiveof this paper istoidentifytherootcausesofattritionandretentioninBPOs, analyzing the level of employee motivation,satisfaction and involvement, generate a model formaximizingsustenanceofemployeesin theorganizationandcome up with concrete recommendations, whichwilleventuallybevaluableto theorganizationstoretaintheiremployeesforalongterm.Thespecificobjectivesofthispaperare:

ToidentifyandrankthefactorsofattritioninBPOsbasedonaccumulativeliteraturereviewandsecondarydata.

Todevelopa regressionmodel forescalating the stay ofemployees in BPOs and give recommendations for thesame.

To assess the existing level of employeemotivationandvalidate the model by studying the impact ofrecommendationsonasmallpatch.

2.INTRODUCTION

The last decade saw an upheaval in the growth anddevelopment of the Indian economy, which wasaccompaniedby the revolutionin thetechnologicalfrontand a radical change in the way businesseswere done.Instead of being the jack‐of‐ all‐trades, the smartorganizationshavenowredefinedthewayofworkingandnow aim at being the master of their core business.Outsourcing the non‐core processes in order toconcentrate on the core ones is how the companiesprefer to work now. BPO has become the obviousstrategicchoiceofthephenomenallifestylesseemtoflashthemindinajiffy.That’sjustthestart.Onereadsitagain,contemplates over it, dives into the unveiled afflictions,and gives it a second thought and companies looking atthe visible profits of cost reductionwhile improving thequalityofservice,increasingshareholdervalueetc.Withthe whirlpool of opportunities the Indian BusinessProcessOutsourcingsectorseemstobeonahappyride.Ithasemergedrapidly,and itsexportshavegrownfrom$565million in2000 to about$7.3billionin2005.Withtheboatsteamingaheadintheglobalmarkets, Indiahas

already become the most privileged destination. Hencesuch an eternal inventory of opportunities simplyshowcases a phenomenon, which is no less than therenaissanceforourIndianmarkets.

Attrition in BPOs has terrible effects on theorganization.Thehighattritioncostsincreasesthecoststotheorganization considerably. Theyhave to combatthe amount of disruption due to unplanned exits. Themorethepeopleleaveanorganization, themoreitisa drain on thecompany’sresourceslike recruitmentexpenses,trainingandorientationresourcesandthetime.Thehigh attrition rate also affects the productivity oftheorganization.Therefore,it isextremelyimportanttocurbattritionnotonlyforanindividualfirmbutalsofor the industry as a whole. Many researchers haveworked enormously on the IT & BPO sector, citing itschallenges, issues, and opportunities in and aroundemployee performance, employee satisfaction, employeeturnoveretc.

3.LITERATUREREVIEW

GrossmanandHelpman’s(2005:135)statement,“Welivein an age of outsourcing,” clearly designates thatoutsourcinghasnowbecomeanacknowledged,acceptedand established business strategy. One of the mostfamiliar forms of outsourcing is business processoutsourcing BPO, i.e., transferring the operationalownership of one or more of the firm’s businessprocesses to an external supplier that, in turn,administers theprocessesaccording to some predefinedmetrics (Ghosh and Scott, 2005; Stone, 2004). BPO orBusiness Process Outsourcing thus refers to therearrangementofentirebusinessfunctionstosomeotherservice providers, primarily in low cost locations. Theservice provider may be either self‐ owned or a thirdparty. This relocation or transferring of businessprocesses to an external provider is essentially toaccomplishincreasedshareholdervalue.

Some of the general services provided by the BPOs areReceivablesandPayables, InventoryManagement,OrderProcessing, Cash flow Analysis, Reconciliation, DataEntry, Payroll Processing, QuickBooks Accounting,FinancialStatementPreparationandAccountingServices.Someof thewebbased services include liveonlinesalesand order entry, E‐commerce transaction support, Liveonlineenquiryhandling,WebDesign/Development.

VIPIN KUMAR TOMER et al. Volume 3 Issue 3: 2015

Citation: 10.2348/ijset05150850 Impact Factor- 3.25

ISSN (O): 2348-4098 ISSN (P): 2395-4752

International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology- www.ijset.in 850

Reduced international trade barriers and improvedtelecommunication and IT capability over the pastdecadehas led toa situationwhereorganizationsacrossthe world are increasingly interlinked with each other.This has resulted in intense global competition,challenging businessmanagers across the world to findways to reduce the cost of conducting business andaccessingglobal resources inmeeting the need of globalmarkets.Insuchacontext,thereorganizationofbusinessmodels to leveragebenefitsof outsourcing and focus oncorecompetencieshasbecomeakeystrategypursuedbylarge corporations across the world. BPO service‐providers are expected to provide a wide spectrum ofbenefits to their customers,ranging fromhavinggreaterexpertise in the outsourced processes, lower costsachieved through economiesof scale, scalabilityand theabilitytoabsorbcyclicalityofloads.

3.1DEMAND‐SUPPLYEQUATIONS

According to market analysis firmGartner, the globaloutsourcingmarket in2000wasapproximately$119 bnandwilltouch$234bnbytheendof2005.Themarketisexpected to grow to about $310bn by the end of 2008.Contribution from the North American continent standsat about 59% of the total market, with Europecontributing about 27% and Asia‐Pac region (includingJapan)contributingtheremainingportionof themarket.In terms of vertical contribution, the financial servicesindustry contributes approximately 17% of the totalmarket size, followed by the Telecom sector (16%),Consumer Goods and Services (15%), Manufacturing(9%)andtherestbytheInformationTechnologysector.

3.2GLOBALBPOMARKETBYINDUSTRY

Figure:1

TheBPOmarketcanbebroadlybrokendowninto threeareasoffunctionaloperations:

i. Business administration (falling under G&A expensecosts)

ii. Supply chain management (COGS), and iii. Sales,marketing and customer care (Selling and marketingcosts)

India has emerged as one of the bright stars in theglobal Business Process Outsourcing market and hasmaintained its global competitiveness by offering thebest combination of cost, quality and scalability. The

growth rates of the Indian BPO‐ITES industry havebeen 59%, 45.3% and 44.4% in years 2002‐03, 03‐04and 04‐ 05 with revenues of over $3.9 billion in FY2003‐04andexpectedtotouch$5.7bninFY2004‐05.

3.3BPOININDIA

Currently the sector employs approximately 2,45,100people and another 94,500 jobs are expected to beaddedinthecurrentfinancialyear.Thereareover400ITES‐BPO companies operating in the Indian market,including captive units (of both MNCs and Indiancompanies)andthird‐partyservicesproviders.

In terms of markets, the US continues tobethemainconsumer of India’s ITES‐BPOservices(witha66%share of the market), followed by Western Europe(including the UK), which accounted for 20% of exportrevenues. In terms of functional service offerings,Customer Care and Support services contributedapproximately 34% of the industry’s revenues with theother leading service lines including Finance (with acontributionof22%),Administration(13%)andContentDevelopment(19%).Theglobalfinancialservicesverticalremained the largest user of Indian ITES‐ BPO services,followed by telecom, healthcare and airline segments.Captive units continued to dominate the ITES BPOindustry, accounting for over 65 percent of the value oftheworkoffshoredtoIndia.

4.RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY

The methodology deployed for this survey consisted ofprimary research, with insights being captured throughquestionnairesand face ‐to‐ facediscussionswithseniormanagement of participant organizations. Inputs frompotential customers to this industry have also beencollated, with respect to their key concerns whileconsidering outsourcing to India. The analysis wasfurther supplemented by PwC knowledge‐bases andpublished data to validate trends and best practices,emerging from primary sources. Our analysis andfindings are based on consensus findings from thesurvey andaresupportedbyquantitativeandqualitativeinputs from the respondents.The data presented in thisreport is based on information received from therespondents and has been collated to represent anindustrytrend.

The general intent of this descriptive study wasthreefold. Therefore a systematic and organizedmethodology was obtained for the research study. Asurvey design was used to obtain the requiredinformation. The population for thisstudycomprisedofemployees working in various BPOs in the NationalCapital Region. A samplesizeof250waschosenforthisstudy. Simple random sampling technique was used togather data from the respondents, because of whichrespondentsdivergedfromeveryagegroup,gender,organization,marital statusetc. butwererestrictedonlytolowandmiddlelevelemployees,wheretheattritionishighest.Thequestionnairewasintricately designed totapthedemographicvariablesincludingage,education,gender,maritalstatus,and tenureoftherespondents.



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It also gathered information about the factorsresponsibleforattrition,thefactorsthatcanbeemployedtoretain the employees in a BPO, their overall levelofsatisfaction,motivation,involvementandlifeinterestandwork compatibility. Main data collection began in themonth of July 2015. Statistical Package for the SocialSciences(SPSS)version17.0wasreligiouslyused forthestatisticalanalyses.

4.1PRIMARYDATAANALYSIS

A questionnaire was intricately designed to tap thefactors responsible for attrition, the factors that areexpectedtobepresentinaspecificjobforretention.Theinstrument was divided into 4 parts. The first partgathered information about the personal profile of therespondentswhichincludedtheirage,gender,education,marital status, and tenure.Part II consistedof questionsabout their reasons for change or probable change intheir jobs. Part III aimed at knowing what according tothe respondents is important for their sustenance in anorganization. And last of all, Part IV was about theiroverallperceptionoftheworkwhichincludedtheir levelof satisfaction, level of motivation, level of involvementandleveloflifeinterestandworkcompatibility.

4.2SECONDARYDATAANALYSIS

In order to gain a deeper understanding about thephenomenon of high attrition, and identification of thefactors behind it, a lot of literature onBPO, particularlywhat got published during 2013 and2014wasstudiedindetail.Majorcausal factorsforhighattrition in IndianBPO industry identified in this study were based onqualitative research using secondary data. These werecompared with causal factors for attrition identifiedthrough personal interview with a number of BPOemployees in the NCR. There was a close similaritybetween the two results, authenticating the qualitativeresearch on causal agents for attrition identified in thisstudy. The study ranked low perceived value andmonotonouswork as number one factor attrition. Ranktwo was shared by high salary expectationandunusualworkinghours.Next factorwasdisillusionedemployees;rankfourwassharedbystressandburnout,pressuretoperformonmetrics,andlackofmotivation.Finallyrankfive was jointly shared by lack of security and socialinteraction. Since then several banks, insurancecompanies, airlines and manufacturing companies havesetupbackofficeservicecentersinIndia.

4.2.1VentureFundedNewCompanies

Over the last few years, a number of experiencedprofessionals have set up start‐up operations in India.Generally such start‐ups have been funded by venturecapitalfunds.

4.2.1.1LeadingITServicesCompaniesenterBPO

Given the magnitude of such opportunity, naturalsynergieswiththesoftwareservicesbusinessandtheability to leverage their high‐endphysical infrastructureand management band‐ width, most large IT servicescompanieshaveventuredintoITES.

Consolidation of the market with the smaller playersmerging with each other/ larger companies foreconomiesofscale

4.2.2.2Domain/IndustrySpecializedBPO’s

Niche players in industry verticals or specific businessprocesses have setup BPO businesses. Many of theseplayershavehadvastexperienceinthedomesticmarketandarenowofferingoffshoreBPOservices

Generalized large BPO players are now focusing on“verticalizing”theircompetenciesandstructures.

Table1:Summaryofranksfromsecondarystudy

5.GROWTHOFBPOINDUSTRY

5.1CompanyOwnedUnitsPioneeredBPOinIndia

CompanyownedunitssuchasAmericanExpress,GeneralElectric(GE),Citibank,andAOLetc.triggeredthetrendofoutsourcing back office operations and call centreservicestoIndia.

Table2:SizeandGrowthofBPOinIndia



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Figure:2

The growth in the BPO sector of India in 2004 wasmainlyduetothedemandsfromthetwosegments–BFSIand telecommunications. There were low telecom costsfortheleasedlinesand400companies were part of theBPO sector of India.The companies thatwere involvedincludedthirdparties, Indian companies andMNC. Growth of BPO sector in India has been trulyimpressiveinrecentyears,butthingscangetevenbetter,according to market analysts. India standsout alreadyas amarket leader as far asBPOsareconcernedand soIndia also attracts huge foreign investments which areextremelyessentialsincetheIndianeconomyisexpectedtohaveanunprecedentedgrowthintheyearstocome.

Growth of BPO Sector in India during the first half of2007was showingamoderate trendofgrowthwhich isregistered at 14%. Five years ago, the growth in thissector was quite low due to less contracts but thesituation isworsenow.However,thegrowthof theBPOsectorisexpectedtoimprove.

The BPO and KPO sectors in India have been showingsome positive signs with demands from westerncountries increasing manifold due to the availability ofcost‐effectivelabour in India,whichishighlyskilledandalso fluent in English. TheBPOs in India are focusedonincreasing the growth through change in pricingtechniques.Pricing in aBPO is supposedto bebasedonthevalueaddedtothebusiness.Soa remarkablechangeis in store as the BPOs in India work towards their fullpotential.

Ofcourse,thebigboomintheBPOindustryin2003hadgenerated a lot of employment opportunities andcontinueseven today.Nevertheless,IndianBPOsector isfacing competition from countries like Philippines,Mexico,Malaysia,China,andCanada.Theexpectedgrowthof this sector in 2003was25%.Nations like theUnited States and Europe are showing great interest inincreasingtheirinvestments in the Indian BPOsector.

Indiahasanedgeoverothercountriesasweconsiderthefollowing:

Tech savvy professionals Cost effectiveness SuperiorcompetencyBusinessriskmitigation24hourservice

Economyofscale

The trends in growth of the BPO sector in India are asfollows:

2003‐USD2.8billion



AccordingtostudiesconductedbyNASSCOMandleadingbusiness Intelligence Company, McKinsey & Co. theIndian IT/BPO segment is expected to employ over 1.1million Indians by the year 2008. Market researchshows that in terms of jobcreation,the ITES‐BPOindustry is growing at over 50 percent. In the financialyear 2003‐2004, ITES‐ BPO companieswere the largestrecruiters in the IT/ITES sector, adding a total of about70,000jobs.

An estimated 70,000 new Jobs expected in 2005 in thefield of ITES. Plus there will be additional hiring toreplace industry attrition that is around 25%. On theotherhandBPOandoutsourcingserviceswouldgeneratearound 1, 25,000 new Jobs in 2005. McKinsey & Co.predicts global market for IT‐enabled services to beover $140 billion by 2008. In that the opportunity forIndiawillbearound$17Billion.

6.FACTORSRESPONSIBLEFORATTRITIONANDRETENTIONOFEMPLOYEESINBPO

Figure3:Supplier‐SideAssessment

Hackman & Oldham (1976) proposed the JobCharacteristics Model, which is widely used as aframework to study how particular job characteristicsimpacton job outcomes, includingjobsatisfaction. Themodel states that there are five core job characteristics(skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy,and feedback) which impact three critical psychologicalstates (experienced meaningfulness, experiencedresponsibility foroutcomes, and knowledge of the



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actualresults),inturninfluencingworkoutcomes(jobsatisfaction, absenteeism, work motivation, etc). Thebasic hypothesis of this research that employeemotivation,employeesatisfaction,employeeinvolvement,and life interest and work compatibility lead toprolongedsustenanceis an extensionof thismodelwithminor modifications in it. It is proposed that the JobCharacteristics model is modified by redefining jobdimensionsasgrowthprospects, accountability,sense ofaccomplishment, self‐esteem, job security,DomesticIndianBPOIndustryhasseenaspurtintherecentyearsgrowingata33%CAGR.

TheDomesticIndianBPOindustrygrewfromaUSD660MilliontoaUSD1.18Billionindustry.

EBITAmargins fordomesticBPOstoodatadoubledigitPercentfigureBillingratesarelesscomparedtooffshoresegment–Most IndianBPOs(especiallycallcenters)areengagedthroughoutthenighthours(foroffshoreclients),leavingthefacilityemptyfortheday.

This enabled them to be leveraged during the day fordomesticmarketsinIndia

6.1DEMANDSIDEASSESSMENT

Financial,banking,andtelecomcompaniesareleadingthedomesticBPOwave:

1. BFSIsectorcompanies –UK’slargestbankingfirm2. Telecommajors‐almost allmajormobile & landlinetelephonyprovider

Interpersonal relationships, working conditions, byextending organizational outcomes as satisfied,motivated, involved and retained employees. Figure 1 isthemodifiedHackmanand Oldham’s Job Characteristicsmodelwhich has been taken asthebase tostudytheresearch questions pertaining to this research.The newmodelisalsodesignedtobeofuseasamanagementtoolandmustthereforebe simple and flexible enoughto be of use to the management of an organization.Typical management questions would involve the likelymotivational impact of job redesign, such as increasingemployees’ level of control and responsibilityover theirwork behaviour or introducing a scheme wherebyemployeesparticipateincertainmanagement decisions.The model should therefore allow managers tomanipulate ahostof jobcharacteristics andinvestigatethe likely effects upon themotivation, performance andsustenance of the workforce. This study aimed atexploringthedimensionsofattritionandretention.Basedon our ground work; initial survey and personalinterviews heldwith theBPO employees, itwasfoundthat factors that contribute to attrition are quitedifferentfromthefactorsthatcontributetoretention.

Figure4:ModifiedversionofHackmanandOldham’sJobCharacteristicsModel

Basedon theHackmanandOldham’s JobCharacteristicsModel and the modifications made to it, a clearer andmore lucid pictorial frameworkof themodel is given inFigure5 and6. Figure5clearly illustrates the basicconstructs of the attrition model: personalcharacteristics, negative job characteristics (jobdimensions),and the finalresultantasattrition.Figure6illustrates constructs of retention model i.e. personalcharacteristics,intrinsicjobdimensionsandtheresultinglevel of satisfaction, motivation and involvement (workoutcomes) and the final result i.e. retained employees(organizationaloutcomes).

Figure5 clearly suggests the personal characteristics asage, education, gender, maritalstatusandtenurealongwith the negative characteristics of a BPO job i.e.monotonous nature of job, lack of motivation, poormentoring, power and politics, dissatisfaction withcolleagues, low career growth, lack of skill variety,



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irregularworkinghours,achievementnotrecognizedetc.These two collectively result in the attrition ofemployees. Thequestion ishow much dothesefactorsactually contribute to attrition. Similarly figure 6describes the personal characteristics and core jobdimensionswhichareintrinsicinnatureandhowdotheycontributetoretentionofemployees.

Figure6:Basicmodelsforretentionofemployee

7.RESULTANDANALYSIS

7.1REGRESSIONMODELFORRETENTION

The dependent variable was sustenance in anorganization, and the independent variables werepersonal characteristics viz. age, gender, education,marital status, and retention factors viz. motivationfactors, extrinsic factors, involvement factors, and lifeinterest and job compatibility factors. All these eightfactorswere put in themodel as independent variablesandwillingness to continue in theorganizationwasputas the dependent variable. Intrinsic motivation factors,employeeinvolvementfactors,ageandeducationarethemaindeterminantsof retention.ThevalueofmultipleRis0.60andthevalueofrsquareis0.36intheequation.Itstatesthat36%oftheretentioninaBPOisexplainedbythese factors. An employee’s sustenance in anorganizationcanberightfullyexplainedbythesefactors.

Equation:1

Y=1.78+0.47X1+0.15X2‐0.13X3–0.11X4

Y=Stayintheorganization

X1=IntrinsicMotivationFactors

X2=InvolvementFactors

X3=Age

X4=Education

After forming the regression model, value for eachrespondent’s willingness tostayintheorganizationwascalculated.These predicted valueswere then comparedto the actual values as givenby the respondents.Therewas a strong correlation between the actual andpredictedvalues.Thecorrelationcameout tobe0.659**whichwassignificantat 0.01 level.Thus,on thebasisofthe regression model it can be concluded that intrinsicmotivation factors; and involvement factors are quiteinstrumental in retaining the employees in anorganization a n d at the same time, age andeducationnegativelycontribute to the sustenanceof theemployees in the organization.Employee involvement isa proven tool to motivate and retain employees andaccording to the result here, it can be constructive inthe Indian BPOs too. In the West, there has beenongoing interest in getting workers more involved invarious processes, such as decision‐making andinformation sharing. Employee participation adds toemployees’ growth needs and sense of achievementthrough a healthier deployment of their dexterity andpotential. Employee participation in planning anddecisionmakingandinarticulatingnewpoliciesalsoactsan important tool to improve employee motivation.Finding ways to intrinsically motivate employees toimprove effectiveness and performance can have longlastingimpactontheirsustenancetoo.

Based on the two dimensions i.e. motivation andinvolvement which, according to the regressionmodel,significantlycontributetothesustenanceofanemployeein the organization, employees can be broadlyclassifiedinto four broad categories. There are people who arewoefully inadequate in both dimensions i.e. neither arethey involved in thework, nor are they motivated toperform.Wemaycallsuchpeopleas‘detached’wholeavethe organization for no rhyme or reason, henceextremely difficult to be retained. Next comes the‘disgruntled’ whogetinvolved in thegivenassignmentbut lack aspiring motivation. Such people aremoderatelytohighlydifficult tobe retainedas they lackin the basic intrinsic motivation. The other twosegments comprise of ‘Strugglers’and ‘stars’whoareatthehigherendof themotivationcontinuum.The formermay be relatively lower in their involvement ascomparedwith the latter. ‘Strugglers’ lack involvementsbutmakingtheminvolvedindecisionmakingetc.

‘Stars’ are highly motivated and highly involved in thework, and thus they are the easiest to be retained.‘Disgruntled’ and ‘strugglers’ are the focus segments,whicha companywouldnotwanttolose.Theyneedtobe enhanced, protected,valuedand retainedbypullingaway all the non‐ retentive forces and kicking theretentiveforcesintohighgear.



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Table: 3 IntrinsicMotivations Involvement vis‐à‐visIntrinsicMotivation:Effectonemployeeretention

7.2MODELVALIDATION

For the final validationof the regressionmodel, a smallpatch test was done on a sample of 50 employees inIntelnet Private Ltd. Few concrete recommendationswere made to the processmanagero f this BPOand he was a s k e d to stringently apply theserecommendations. The employees chosen for this studywere the ones who had said they would leave theorganizationiftheywereofferedworkwiththesamepayelsewhere.Datawhichwas collected,after threemonthsof implementation, was analyzed statistically. Theresponse scores were put in the regression equation asderived from the fourth objective and the resultantwillingnesstostayintheorganizationwascalculated.Thecomparison with their original scores clearly revealedthat there was an escalation in the scores. Also, thepredictedscoresand theactual scoresof thewillingnessto continue in the organization was put undercorrelation.Finally,employeeswereclassifiedunderfourbroadcategoriesbasedontheir levelof involvementandmotivation viz. detached, disgruntled, strugglers andstars.

8.CONCLUSION

The regression model for the retention ofemployees in a BPO explains two important factors i.e.intrinsicmotivationfactorsandinvolvementfactors. Thisresult is robustly analogous with all the prevalentandestablishedtheoriesofmotivationviz.Herzberg’stheory,Maslow’stheory,Alderfer’sTheory,McClellend’sTheory.According to all these theories, the higher order needsrevolve around self esteem, or self‐ actualization in oneway or the other. According to Maslow’s theory, thehigher‐levelneedsareself‐esteemandself‐actualization.Only when one need is satisfied, another higher‐levelneedemergesandmotivatesthepersontodo somethingto satisfy it. A satisfied need is no longer a motivator.Onlythenextlevel ofneedsinthehierarchy will actas motivators. Once a level of needs has been satisfiedtheyno longeractasmotivatorsand the individualthendirectsattentiontowardsthenextlevelofneedsinthe

hierarchy. Herzberg draws a parallel with Maslow’stheory but with a subtle difference. According to histheory, motivator factors are factors that are intrinsicto the job, such as thecontentof thework itself andthe availability of opportunities for responsibility,advancement and recognition for achievement. Themotivatorfactors,whichHerzbergdescribedas“complexfactorsleadingtothissenseofpersonalgrowthandself‐actualization”,wouldthenbeabletoactonthatemployeeand increase job satisfaction and productivity. Thus,accordingto this theory, inordertomotivateworkerstowards higher productivity, it is important to ensurethat themotivatorsare utilized to arouse the instinct oftheemployees.Herzberg’smotivatorandhygienefactorscan be mapped onto Maslow’s hierarchy of needs withthe motivator factors corresponding to thehigherorderneedsofegoandself‐actualization.

Next, according to Alderfer’s ERG theory, growth needsinvolvetheintrinsicdesireforpersonaldevelopmentandinclude the intrinsic element of Maslow’s esteemcategory as well as self‐actualization needs. Finallyaccording to McClellend’s theory, people with a highachievement need have a compelling drive to succeed.They strive for personal achievement rather thanrewards and have a desire to do something better ormoreefficiently thanithasbeendonebefore.Theyseeksituationswhere they can attain personal responsibilityfor findingsolutionstoproblems,wheretheycanreceiverapidfeedbackontheirperformanceso theycantelleasilywhethertheyareimprovingornot,andwheretheycansetmoderatelychallenginggoals.

9.RECOMMENDATIONS

Organizationsshouldhaveaproactiveretentionstrategywhich helps in reducing employee turnover.Retentionplanstrategiesshouldbedifferentfordifferentlevelofemployees,becausetheirrolesaredifferent;theirneeds are different; what motivates them are differentandwhatmakes them leave are also different.Basedonthestudyithasbeenseenthatdimensionsofsatisfactionandmotivate are significantly different for employeesonthebasisofage,gender,maritalstatusandeducation.Then, the regression model revealed that intrinsicmotivationandinvolvementfactors,aswellasageandeducation level contribute to the sustenance ofemployees in the organization. Thus based on thefindings, it can be said if the employees are motivatedandinvolvedintheworktheycanberetained.

The ease of retention would depend on their degree ofmotivation and involvement. It is desirable to planemployee retention strategy by an organization, whichshouldcoverfollowingaspects:

Reciprocityisthekey.Employeesareinvestorsinthecompanyand expect a returnon investment.The returncan be in the form of recognition, empowerment andauthority. Retention must be part of the organization’s DNA.Successful organizations have woven retention andengagementdeeplyintotheirstructure.



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Loyaltyisnevergiven.Loyaltymustbeearned;evensatisfied employees sometimesleave.Therefore,developsenseofloyaltyamongtheemployees. Organizationsmust be seen as employers of choice.One has to compete on compensation and benefits, butwinonculture,learninganddevelopment. Starsincludemorethanjustthetop10%or1%!Starsare people at any level who sustain in the organizationandbringvaluetoit. Eachgenerationofemployeeshasdifferentreasonsforstaying.Forthefirsttimeinmodernhistory,therearevaried generations working side‐by‐side in mostcompanies of this industry. Generational differencescontinue to pose new challenges to today’s employers.Thus, retaining them needs a generation‐centricapproach. Mentorwidelyandinbothdirections.Buildlearningrelationships in all directions and hold all partnersresponsibleforthesuccess. Train intelligently. Provide on‐going retentiontraining in manageable bites – make it a continuouseffort and find ways to size the retention plan to thespecificdemographicsoftheorganization. Create a development culture. “Career developmentis the right thing for the organization (identifying anddeveloping future leaders), the right thing for theemployee (creating a development environment), and akeyretentioncomponent.” Recognize managers who keep employees.Meaningful recognition remains a potent energizer foremployeesandmanagersalike.

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4. Walletwatch, “Call Centre Attrition Puts HRManagerstoTest.”(April2003),

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6. Ravichandaran,Ram. “BPO, ITESSectors toHotUp in2005, Says NASSCOMReport.” Financial Express (March9,2005):2

7.Ramchandran, Kumar and SudhirVoleti.“BusinessProcess Outsourcing (BPO): Emerging Scenario andStrategic Options for IT‐enabled Services.” Vikalpa 29(January–March2004):49–62.

8. Prakash, S. and Chowdhury, R. (2004). “Managingattrition in BPO”, In searchof Excellence, Cool Avenues,http://www.coolavenues.com/know/hr/s_1.php. Lastaccessedon:February06,2010.

9.Pande, Bhanu “Sun, Survey Can’t Deterthe Call ofDuty.” Economic Times Online (July 29, 2005).<economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid‐1185174,prtpage‐1.cms>(AccessedonMay8,2010).

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