‘Perk’ing up call centres
As the IT sector is on a hiring spree, companies, especially BPOs, are facing yet another challenge — that of employee erosion. The much-hyped ‘cool’ tag normally associated with the industry has, in fact, backfired, as many individuals, mostly fresh graduates, don’t find working in a call centre lucrative anymore. And HR managers in BPO firms are doing their best to check attrition.
Recruiters explain that the high attrition rates significantly increase the investments that are made on the employees. “Retaining employees is a challenge in itself. So we are providing off-cycle compensation related interventions such as retention bonuses, off cycle salary increases and equity based incentives to control this situation,” explains Ritika Sarin, HR manager of Intellicom.
Many IT and ITeS companies have come out with new methods to curb attrition — they are giving mid-term salary hikes and promotions to retain talent. And some are even signing non-poaching agreements. Kamal K., the managing director of iprompt Limited says, “BPO are the highest job provider in the IT sector and the reason for India’s success in BPO has been primarily because of the low cost, high quality labour. So the workforce is the backbone in our field and if we keep the employees motivated with some benefits like mid-term hikes and make the job atmosphere livelier, the attrition can stabilise.”
The lure of more money or better career prospects has increased job-hopping. Young employees are put off by the long working hours and the monotony of a BPO job. Akshay Singh, who worked as a Team Leader with a Delhi-based call centre, says, “Initially, it seemed fun and easy, but as months passed by, my work became very taxing. The late night shifts took a toll on my health. Most of my friends have used call centres to acquire the necessary skills and groom themselves for a better job. In fact, many software companies have started hiring skilled BPO staff, so some of my colleagues have also moved to software development.”
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