I read a news article that the prediction for attrition rates for India in 2015 is 20%. I am new in the HR sector and interested in learning from your experience, how should one prepare for this.
From India, Thane
From India, Thane
Dear Rupali,
Just because some article at some newspaper or new portal gets published, you need not get perturbed. Employee engagement is complex but you need to work on it.
As far as employee attrition is concerned, lot of discussion has happened on this forum. I recommend you referring past posts. I am referring following two threads. I have also given my replies in the threads:
https://www.citehr.com/456368-use-th...ml#post2043550
https://www.citehr.com/433012-employ...-planning.html
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
7883Just because some article at some newspaper or new portal gets published, you need not get perturbed. Employee engagement is complex but you need to work on it.
As far as employee attrition is concerned, lot of discussion has happened on this forum. I recommend you referring past posts. I am referring following two threads. I have also given my replies in the threads:
https://www.citehr.com/456368-use-th...ml#post2043550
https://www.citehr.com/433012-employ...-planning.html
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Dinesh,
You are right. However, the question is well placed in today's scenario. I think its important to see the entire situation and decide how to go about it. Factors are changing rapidly in the industry.
Let me put the question to you in a different way:
1. How have the strategies to attrition changed over the past years?
2. Is there an effective tool to manage it today?
I think for a new professional, these things are utmost important. Would love to hear from you on that.
Reg,
From United States, Daphne
You are right. However, the question is well placed in today's scenario. I think its important to see the entire situation and decide how to go about it. Factors are changing rapidly in the industry.
Let me put the question to you in a different way:
1. How have the strategies to attrition changed over the past years?
2. Is there an effective tool to manage it today?
I think for a new professional, these things are utmost important. Would love to hear from you on that.
Reg,
From United States, Daphne
Hello Rupali Tyagi,
It would have been more appropriate--& the responses more focused--IF you had mentioned the sector/domain you are currently working. I presume you have just started your career.
While the rate of attrition you mentioned is, on an average, what you mentioned, pl also note that it definitely WON'T be the same across sectors. And also, the reason(s) usually are NOT the same among the Companies even within the same sector.
First & foremost, rather than worrying too much about the industry-scale attrition levels, suggest focus on 'how to make YOUR Company's HR policies more employee-friendly AND performance-related'.
And also pl bear in mind that expecting 0% attrition is foolhardy & absolutely unrealistic. All one can do is minimize to the best extent possible. And pl note that the external circumstances are NOT in the Company's control. What's in YOUR control is your Company's practices & policies--that CAN make a difference of employees not really serious to leave [it's another matter if & when your competitor poaches--and the response(s) would be different than a generic approach].
In short, look for ways to be Proactive rather than reactive.
And last but not the least, I think being new in the HR career, a better approach for YOU--in the larger context--would have been to work on the topic you raised yourself using the internet, where I am sure you would have got much much more info than you could possibly digest AND THEN raise specific issues/queries in this Forum. That would have brought you many more as well as in-depth & focused responses. In the process you learn as well as share.
If you want ready-made answers without putting any effort yourself, thru known & available sources, in the long-run it's YOU who would be the loser.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
It would have been more appropriate--& the responses more focused--IF you had mentioned the sector/domain you are currently working. I presume you have just started your career.
While the rate of attrition you mentioned is, on an average, what you mentioned, pl also note that it definitely WON'T be the same across sectors. And also, the reason(s) usually are NOT the same among the Companies even within the same sector.
First & foremost, rather than worrying too much about the industry-scale attrition levels, suggest focus on 'how to make YOUR Company's HR policies more employee-friendly AND performance-related'.
And also pl bear in mind that expecting 0% attrition is foolhardy & absolutely unrealistic. All one can do is minimize to the best extent possible. And pl note that the external circumstances are NOT in the Company's control. What's in YOUR control is your Company's practices & policies--that CAN make a difference of employees not really serious to leave [it's another matter if & when your competitor poaches--and the response(s) would be different than a generic approach].
In short, look for ways to be Proactive rather than reactive.
And last but not the least, I think being new in the HR career, a better approach for YOU--in the larger context--would have been to work on the topic you raised yourself using the internet, where I am sure you would have got much much more info than you could possibly digest AND THEN raise specific issues/queries in this Forum. That would have brought you many more as well as in-depth & focused responses. In the process you learn as well as share.
If you want ready-made answers without putting any effort yourself, thru known & available sources, in the long-run it's YOU who would be the loser.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
TS,
I agree with you.
There could be an alternative school of thinking where companies are revamping their HR policies. Although I don't particularly see that happening in many companies today.
I believe attrition is often the result of employee perception and has less to do with the umbrella of policies, etc. If an employee perceives that his 'short-term' goals with a company are not aligned with his 'long-term' career objectives, he is bound to leave if he finds reasonable reason of closing the gap by not continuing his employment.
Dinesh and TS, what would be your views on that? It indeed affects the way one takes things forward.
Reg,
From United States, Daphne
I agree with you.
There could be an alternative school of thinking where companies are revamping their HR policies. Although I don't particularly see that happening in many companies today.
I believe attrition is often the result of employee perception and has less to do with the umbrella of policies, etc. If an employee perceives that his 'short-term' goals with a company are not aligned with his 'long-term' career objectives, he is bound to leave if he finds reasonable reason of closing the gap by not continuing his employment.
Dinesh and TS, what would be your views on that? It indeed affects the way one takes things forward.
Reg,
From United States, Daphne
Dear Mr Nikhil Gurjar,
Reasons of attrition are embedded in the organisation's culture itself. Fix the culture to fix the challenge of attrition. Company none less than Infosys is also facing same problem. For the last couple of quarters their manpower attrition level is 20% against industry average of 17%
Earlier there was similar discussion. Though my reply was not directly related to attrition, most of the reasons that I have mentioned cause manpower attrition. The link is as below:
https://www.citehr.com/511164-hr-res...ml#post2189679
As long as top bosses do not take problem of manpower attrition seriously, nothing can be changed.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Reasons of attrition are embedded in the organisation's culture itself. Fix the culture to fix the challenge of attrition. Company none less than Infosys is also facing same problem. For the last couple of quarters their manpower attrition level is 20% against industry average of 17%
Earlier there was similar discussion. Though my reply was not directly related to attrition, most of the reasons that I have mentioned cause manpower attrition. The link is as below:
https://www.citehr.com/511164-hr-res...ml#post2189679
As long as top bosses do not take problem of manpower attrition seriously, nothing can be changed.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Dear Mr Dinesh, Thank you for the insight. However, I am interested knowing that in your opinion is fixing the attrition problem beyond the scope of the HR professional?
From India, Thane
From India, Thane
Hello Nikhil S. Gurjar,
You are right when you say "attrition is often the result of employee perception and has less to do with the umbrella of policies".
That's the very reason why most HR Gurus suggest taking the employee inputs before formulating any HR Policy. However, in practice, [though I would surely NOT generalize this] most often it's a Top-Down approach, which is what you are referring to] rather than the Bottom-Up approach.
While none can dispute that every employee CANNOT be satisfied, a Bottom-Up approach ensures employee satisfaction to the Max extent possible.
As far as you remark "If an employee perceives that his 'short-term' goals with a company are not aligned with his 'long-term' career objectives, he is bound to leave......." is concerned, I don't think that's in anyone's control.......least of all even the employee's [quite often, professionals, especially those with lesser exp, don't really have an idea of their short-term/long-term goals--could be due to immaturity or peer pressure or other reasons]. In such cases, I guess it's better to put them into the basket where the cost-benefits of trying doesn't work-out AND focus on those whose concerns can be addressed & resolved realistically & meaningfully.
This is what I meant by "HR policies being more employee-friendly AND performance-related".
@ Dinesh Divekar--
I am not so sure that ALL attrition causes can be attributed to 'organisation's culture', though it surely is an important reason--and the most important 'culture' of any Organization being "the ability or inability to adapt to 'CHANGE'. Change of circumstances, market scenario, employee profile, competition pressure, etc.
The example you mentioned w.r.t. Infy is just this aspect--the inability to recognize, analyse & respond to the changes in the areas where they have been operating thus far [and also possibly with the speed needed to stay relevant]. If one sees what Vishal Sikka has been doing in the past few months, I guess this comes-out glaringly clear. And it's NOT just about money/salaries.
In Management practices, while stability & long-term stay of employees is desired, welcome & cherished, it is also important to welcome the exit of complacent/deadwood/obsolete employees [I think it was Peter Drucker who said this, in different wording]--and this lot would obviously be counted as attrition.
@ Rupali Tyagi--
W.r.t. you query "is fixing the attrition problem beyond the scope of the HR professional?", I am not sure how & why you got this query. The usage of the word 'scope' is tricky. I would rather say that it's the 'responsibility' of HR ALSO to participate in efforts to reduce attrition--ALONG with the ENTIRE Management team.
While the Technical Management team would, usually, be able to point-out the situations from a limited perspective [his/her function/department], it's the HR that ought to be seeing @ the larger picture [of the Organization as well as the public perceptions--IF it's a large Company] for the consequences of any decision taken OR not taken AND alert them.
While this would be, by & large, the SOP for any Company across sectors, it's all the more important for IT Companies for the simple fact that the change perception & factors for IT sector is very fast.
Hope that clarifies.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
You are right when you say "attrition is often the result of employee perception and has less to do with the umbrella of policies".
That's the very reason why most HR Gurus suggest taking the employee inputs before formulating any HR Policy. However, in practice, [though I would surely NOT generalize this] most often it's a Top-Down approach, which is what you are referring to] rather than the Bottom-Up approach.
While none can dispute that every employee CANNOT be satisfied, a Bottom-Up approach ensures employee satisfaction to the Max extent possible.
As far as you remark "If an employee perceives that his 'short-term' goals with a company are not aligned with his 'long-term' career objectives, he is bound to leave......." is concerned, I don't think that's in anyone's control.......least of all even the employee's [quite often, professionals, especially those with lesser exp, don't really have an idea of their short-term/long-term goals--could be due to immaturity or peer pressure or other reasons]. In such cases, I guess it's better to put them into the basket where the cost-benefits of trying doesn't work-out AND focus on those whose concerns can be addressed & resolved realistically & meaningfully.
This is what I meant by "HR policies being more employee-friendly AND performance-related".
@ Dinesh Divekar--
I am not so sure that ALL attrition causes can be attributed to 'organisation's culture', though it surely is an important reason--and the most important 'culture' of any Organization being "the ability or inability to adapt to 'CHANGE'. Change of circumstances, market scenario, employee profile, competition pressure, etc.
The example you mentioned w.r.t. Infy is just this aspect--the inability to recognize, analyse & respond to the changes in the areas where they have been operating thus far [and also possibly with the speed needed to stay relevant]. If one sees what Vishal Sikka has been doing in the past few months, I guess this comes-out glaringly clear. And it's NOT just about money/salaries.
In Management practices, while stability & long-term stay of employees is desired, welcome & cherished, it is also important to welcome the exit of complacent/deadwood/obsolete employees [I think it was Peter Drucker who said this, in different wording]--and this lot would obviously be counted as attrition.
@ Rupali Tyagi--
W.r.t. you query "is fixing the attrition problem beyond the scope of the HR professional?", I am not sure how & why you got this query. The usage of the word 'scope' is tricky. I would rather say that it's the 'responsibility' of HR ALSO to participate in efforts to reduce attrition--ALONG with the ENTIRE Management team.
While the Technical Management team would, usually, be able to point-out the situations from a limited perspective [his/her function/department], it's the HR that ought to be seeing @ the larger picture [of the Organization as well as the public perceptions--IF it's a large Company] for the consequences of any decision taken OR not taken AND alert them.
While this would be, by & large, the SOP for any Company across sectors, it's all the more important for IT Companies for the simple fact that the change perception & factors for IT sector is very fast.
Hope that clarifies.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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