To stanch attrition, BPOs now offer to bankroll staff education pursuits

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:30 pm, Naina Patel rushes from her office at Malad, in suburban Mumbai, to Bandra for her classes.

The BPO employee is pursuing a diploma in marketing from ICFAI, which she believes will help her in climbing the career ladder.

Patel’s work comprises business development and involves documentation and collecting information for clients. She feels this course will provide her the necessary theoretical exposure and clear certain concepts.

Unlike several young professionals who quit their jobs to pursue higher education, Patel, who is an economics graduate from Mumbai University, has the good fortune of pursuing work and study simultaneously.

The best part, she says, is that her company, Intelenet Global Services, is offering a discount for the course fee, implying that instead of the Rs250,000 that the course demands, she had to shell out Rs200,000. “The employee discount was very useful,” says Patel.

Patel looks at her BPO job, where she has been for the last three years, as a long-term career, especially with the skills that she has been able to accumulate.

Like her, several BPO professionals are getting discounts and reimbursements from their employers to pursue higher studies.

With attrition zooming at break-neck speed, BPOs have deployed this strategy to curb the outflow of talent.

“If you wish to study, we will reimburse your fees, but don’t leave us,” is what BPOs seem to be telling their employees.

A BPO job traditionally is considered a stop-gap career arrangement, where a youngster can make some quick buck before finding a “better opportunity” or going for higher studies - precisely why attrition in the industry has been one hell of a headache.

Attrition in the industry ranges from 20% to 40%, with the majority quitting for further studies, while the rest joining different verticals.

Not surprisingly, companies are pulling out all stops — such as funding studies of employees — in order to keep the flock together.
Human resource experts said the average employment duration of stay for individuals who join straight out of graduation is 18-24 months. 

To boot, there is a dearth of quality professionals because of a huge gap between available and employable talent, said Manuel D’Souza, chief human resource officer, Intelenet Global Services, one of India’s biggest call-centre entities.

Complicating the issue is the steady growth of the industry that research firm Gartner said will rise 25% over this calendar year to touch $1.2 billion by 2011.

And high growth requires quality talent which has to be retained, said Raghavendra K, vice-president and head-HR, of Bangalore based Infosys BPO.

“Of course, retaining existing talent is a big issue,” said D’Souza, so BPOs are tying up with institutes and offering employees opportunity to pursue courses while on the job, “as a bait to capture the available talent, and utilise it to the fullest potential.”

Raghavendra said earlier at Infosys BPO, which has about 19,500 employees, and hires 2,000 every three months, about 40-45% of those who left, would go citing higher education as the reason.

“But since 2009, that figure has dropped to 30-35%,’’ said Raghavendra, explaining that last year the firm tied up with institutes like IIM Ahmedabad, and Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai, where employees can study, with the fees taken care of by the firm. “But post completion, the individual has to stay with us at least for a year or repay the fees.’’

BPOs like Intelenet, MphasiS, and EXL Service also have similar initiatives aimed at confronting attrition.

While Elango R, chief human resources officer of Bangalore based MphasiS said the firm, which has over 37,500 employees, and has hired nearly 1,800 this year, reimburses the fees incurred by employees while pursuing any management or technical course that leads into certification.

“We also have a tie-up with Symbiosis Institute in Pune for a weekend MBA. For this, the employee will pay the fees upfront and we will reimburse on completion.’’

Meanwhile, Noida-based EXL Service allows its employees to take up courses in marketing, finance, sales, etc. that have been devised to suit the BPO industry from institutes like IIM Kozhikode, and Symbiosis Institute.

“We pay 50% of the fee upfront, and reimburse the rest on completion,’’ said Sanjay Gupta, HR head, EXL Service, which has 12,200 employees, and hires about 200-300 per month, mostly in India.

Experts say in spite of such initiatives, those who desperately want to quit, still quit citing education as a reason.

“However, we can at least hold back some people who would have quit, had we not offered such a scheme,” said Gupta.

Elango said quitting in pursuit of education, amongst employees who have been working with MphasiS for the last 18-36 months, has dropped to some extent because of this initiative.

Furthermore, such schemes not only curb attrition, but spread out before an individual, the possibility of looking at the BPO sector as a long-term career option, said Raghavendra.