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A Project Report Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the

Completion of Semester 1 subject Organisational Behaviour


CAUSES OF HIGH ATTRITION IN PACKT
PUBLISHING PRIVATE LIMITED
Submitted by
Sharmistha Das
MMS 2014-2016

SYDENHAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,


RESEARCH

AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

INDEX
SR.NO.

PARTICULARS

PAGE NO.

Acknowledgement

Synopsis

Company Profile

5-6

Objective

Research Methodology

Questionnaire

9 10

Findings and Inference

11 17

Conclusion

18

Recommendations

19

10

Bibliography

20

11

Annexures

21 25

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is my privilege to present this Study Project Report to SIMSREE. The Report is based on
the project entitled Causes of high attrition rate in Packt Publishing Private Limited
I, Sharmistha Das would like to thank Ms. Naina Salve for giving me this opportunity to
engage in such a project which helped me to put my theoretical knowledge into application.
This project helped me to understand better the concepts which were taught to me in class
about interpersonal relationships in workspace, organisational structures, motivational
policies etc.
I would also like to thank my ex-colleagues for helping me out with the survey and taking the
time out of their busy work lives to answer the questionnaire. The project helped me
understand the value of the HR Dept. in an organisation, towards the final bottom line of the
company.

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SYNOPSIS
In a competitive business climate, more business owners are looking at improvements in
quality while reducing costs. At the same time, the employees are looking for better quality
of work life, good pay, good job profile, flexible work hours and many such facilities.
Meanwhile, a strong economy has resulted in a tight job market. So while small businesses
need to get more from their employees, their employees are looking for more out of them.
Employee reward and recognition programs are one method of motivating employees to
change work habits and key behaviours to benefit a small business.
However, attrition in organisations is a huge issue. Employee attrition refers to the loss of
employees through a number of circumstances, such as resignation and retirement. The
cause of attrition may be either voluntary or involuntary, though employer-initiated events
such as layoffs are not typically included in the definition. Each industry has its own
standards for acceptable attrition rates, and these rates can also differ between skilled and
unskilled positions. Due to the expenses associated with training new employees, any type
of employee attrition is typically seen to have a monetary cost. It is also possible for a
company to use employee attrition to its benefit in some circumstances, such as relying on it
to control labour costs without issuing mass layoffs.
Retirement is one major cause of employee attrition, and since people tend to retire around a
specific age this is a factor that can be accounted and planned for. Other causes of employee
attrition, such as personnel who quit due to prolonged illness, dissatisfaction with the
company, or other reasons, can be more difficult to estimate. This means that an employer
has no direct control over how many personnel are lost to employee attrition.
When attrition occurs, the remaining duties and job responsibilities can burden employees
and managers with additional duties with no increase in pay. Even if HR staff members
distribute the extra workload throughout other departments, they may witness managers
moving on to other companies. The potential for employment promotion may no longer
exist when positions are retired due to attrition. Employee morale can suffer - a situation
that HR should work to remedy before it becomes unmanageable.
Through this project, I have tried to study what is the main reason for employee attrition
choosing one particular organisation as a standard. This organisation is not one of the
typical organisations and may not represent the industry standard, but my aim is only to
study the attrition and its reasons in this particular organisation. In order to gauge and
understand the reasons for attrition, questionnaires were used to get data. The data obtained
through the forms and questionnaires is tabulated and graphically presented and analysed.
Based on the analysis, certain conclusions were drawn, which helped in providing a few
recommendations.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Packt, pronounced Packed, is a print on demand publishing company based in Birmingham,
UK. Packt Publishing provides books, eBooks, video tutorials, and articles for IT developers,
administrators, and users.
History:
Founded in 2004 in Birmingham, UK, Packt has published over 2000 books and videos so
far, providing IT professionals with the actionable knowledge they need to get the job done
whether thats specific learning on an emerging technology or optimizing key skills in more
established tools.
As part of their mission, they have also awarded over $1,000,000 through their Open Source
Project Royalty scheme, helping numerous projects become household names along the way.
The books focus on practicality, recognizing that readers are ultimately concerned with
getting the job done. The company's business model, which involves print on demand
publishing and selling direct, enables it to make money selling books with lower unit sales.
The aim of this business model is to give authors high royalty rates and the opportunity to
write on topics that standard publishers tend to avoid. Packts digitally-focused business
model allows them to publish up-to-date books in very specific areas.
Mission:
We help the world put software to work in new ways, through the delivery of effective
learning and information services to IT professionals.
Departments:
There are currently around 500 individuals working in Packt. The organisation follows a flat
hierarchal model with very few escalations. Every individual has a high amount of authority
to make decisions. The top management is based out of UK, while the operations are sourced
to India. The main departments in India include:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Technical Editing
Customer Service
Marketing
Sales
Human Resources
Author Acquisition
Technical

Hence, most of the operational work of the organisation is sourced to India, while the
strategic planning and decisions happen at the top managerial level in the UK.
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Work Culture:
Packt Publishing follows an extremely informal work culture. The office located at Andheri
East is open from 8 A.M to 8 P.M and the job offers flexible hours. One only has to complete
eight and a half hours at any particular time in the day. Lost hours can be made up on other
days before the end of the month. Further, there is the option of working from home twice in
a month. The work environment is extremely relaxed with very few deadlines and not much
stress. The managers and the employees are all extremely young, mostly graduates who have
just passed out of college. It somehow replicates college environment. It is a very informal
atmosphere. The salary paid is below the industry standards, however not many seem to
openly complain about it. The company offers all amenities such as a personal workspace,
canteen, and pickup and drop service from a designated area. There are appraisals every
quarter and bonuses are provided during Diwali. All in all, it is a happy environment.

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OBJECTIVE
The objective of the project is as follows:
1) To understand what could be the main reason behind people quitting an organisation.
2) To quantify the attrition rate in Packt Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
3) To evaluate the reasons behind the high attrition rate in Packt Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
4) To provide recommendations to reduce and bring down the attrition rate in the
organisation.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Preparation of Survey:
The methodology used was to conduct a survey using basic questionnaire. The form
contains questions about the participants reason and mind-set behind working in general
and also about the probable reasons behind one quitting an organisation. The form has
been deliberately left open ended so that people can feed in their own data and can have
freedom of putting in their own answers. The form then moves on to more specific
questions about their job role, their reasons for working at Packt Publishing Pvt. Ltd. and
their fitment in their current role.
Conducting the Survey:
The questionnaire (online version) was shared online on social media and also links to
the questionnaire were mailed to around 35 members of Packt Publishing Pvt. Ltd out of
which 16 answered all the questions.
Response collection & analysis:
The responses were collected and analysed. The findings were derived from the analysis and
also, a few recommendations were made that would help the organization to reduce its
attrition rate and to keep its employees happy.

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QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Age Group:
21 30
31 40
Above 40
2) Name:
3) Designation:
4) Gender:
Male
Female
5) What is your primary reason for working?
Economic
Pocket Money
Career Enhancement
Planning to do an MBA
Other (Specify)
6) What is your reason for working at Packt Publishing?
Good Work Environment
Less Workload
Pay
Weekends Off
Other (Specify)
7) Are you satisfied with your current job role?
Yes
No
It does not matter to me
8) Is the salary paid to you fit for the job that you are doing?
Yes
No
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9) Are you over qualified for your current role?


Yes
No
10) What according to you is the most important reason for attrition?
Lack of proper work environment
Remuneration not according to skills
Lack of job rotations
Lack of rewards
Others (Specify)
11) Which of the following could be the reason for high attrition in Packt?
Transport Issues
Lack of motivation
Lack of opportunities
Office Politics
Other (Specify)
12) What could be your reason to shift?
Education
Better Paying Job
No career growth
Demanding boss
Other (Specify)

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FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS


1) Average Age Group of the employees:

From the survey, it can be clearly seen that almost 70% of the respondents fall in the age
group of 21 to 30 years. Hence, we can infer that the organisation is an extremely young
organisation with average age between 21 to 30 years. This could be a good reason for
attrition as the younger generation does not stick to one place for too long.
2) Gender:

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From the chart given below it can be seen that the respondents are well segmented genderwise. 44% of the respondents were male, while 56% were females. This shows an equal
opportunity employer and a good amount of gender diversity. This eliminates social reasons
as causes of attrition.
3) What is your primary reason for working?

Multiple responses were allowed for this question as one could have multiple reasons for
working. It was seen that a majority of people almost 42% worked for career enhancement,
in other words, in order to gain work experience. The next most important reason for working
was economic need coming close at 33%. Almost 17% of the respondents worked for
pocket money which represents the younger generation working in the company and further,
reiterates the young work culture of the company. 9% of the respondents sighted Other
reasons for working, the prominent ones being lack of direction about future plans currently.

4) What according to you, is the most important reason for attrition?


This was a generalised question asked to the respondents about attrition. A large proportion
of the respondents 31% believe that lack of growth in an organisation is a huge cause of
attrition. The next largest factor, with 26% is the lack of a proper work environment. This is
possibly attributed to the young work culture which attaches a great importance to their
working environment and peer group. Lack of rewards and remuneration not according to
skills both got the same score on the list. Lack of job rotations got no vote and hence, is not a

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factor for attrition. It is essential to note that these factors are not a standalone and cannot be
weighed individually.

5) What is your reason for working at Packt?

A quarter of the respondents sighted good work environment as a reason for working at
Packt. This can be correlated with the previous answers to suggest that the workforce is
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young and values the working environment highly when making job decisions. An equal
number of participants gave weekends off and less workload the second rank in the reason to
work at Packt. Hence, we can infer that the respondents being of a young age are looking to
work less and enjoy their weekends, and are not very srius about their work. 14% of the
respondents gave other answers, the most prominent of them being the fact that Packt is a flat
organisation and hence, it is easier to grow in terms of career. However, the levels of growth
are restricted and one cannot proceed beyond the senior managerial level.

6) Are you satisfied with you current job role?

An equal amount of participants answered both yes and no. Hence, we cannot make any
inference from this data. 20% of the respondents answered that the job role satisfaction did
not matter to them. This can lead us to infer that a large number of the respondents were
working just for the sake of it and did not care about job satisfaction.

7) Is the salary paid to you fit for the job role that you are doing?
The respondents were unanimous in the fact that the salary paid to them was not fit for the
job role that they were in with almost 63% of the respondents agreeing to that. While there
was no consensus between the Marketing Research department, it could be seen in general
that the Customer Relations Team was happy with the salary which was being paid to them.
On the other hand it was noticed that all the respondents from the HR team were unhappy
with the salary which was paid to them.
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8) Are you over qualified for your current role?

A majority of the respondents almost 63% believed that they were over qualified for their
job role. This trend was not common amongst job roles or departments.

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9) Which of the following could be the reason for high attrition in Packt?

According to the respondents, the lack of opportunities is the biggest reason for employees
quitting Packt. This could once again be attributed to the flat structure and hence, not many
levels of growth. The other standout cause of attrition as penned down by respondents with
28% votes was that of the young, dynamic populace in the organisation which does not stick
for too long in one place. Lack of motivation and Office Politics got the same amount of
votes and it can be said that they are not major causes of attrition. Transport issues came in
last with 10%, hence, not being a major cause of attrition.

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10) What would be your reason to shift ?

A whopping 55% of the respondents stated better paying job as a reason for quitting Packt.
This correlated with the previous answers; one can easily conclude that the salary being paid
at Packt is very less and below the industry standards. 31% of the respondents sighted the
lack of career growth as a reason for quitting, which can once again be attributed to the flat
organisational structure. 11% of the respondents would quit pursuing further education. Only
1 respondent would quit due to a demanding boss and hence, it can be inferred that the work
culture is extremely friendly.

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CONCLUSION
The following conclusions can be drawn from the primary research which was conducted:
1) The employees working at Packt belonged largely to the age group between 21 to 30
years and hence, it was a very young organisation. The young dynamic individuals today
fail to stick to a job for very long and thus, this could be a cause for attrition.
2) The gender diversity in the organisation is almost equal and hence, this could not be a
cause of attrition.
3) Most of the people working in the organisation were working either for work experience
or for the pay. It can be seen from other questions asked that the pay in the organisation
was bad and lesser than the industry standard. Hence, it is obvious that if someone is
working for money, they will not continue to work in the organisation.
4) A large proportion of the respondents considered lack of growth as a reason for attrition.
Another question asked lists down lack of growth as a reason to quit Packt and hence, it
can be concluded that Packt as an organisation did not have good growth options and this
was a reason for attrition.
5) Most people worked in Packt for three main reasons good work environment, less
workload and for the pay that they received. This is possibly attributed to the young work
culture which attaches great importance to their working environment and peer group.
Pay which is mentioned as a reason here does not mean that the pay is good. It simply
means that the respondents are working for monetary benefits.
6) Most individuals were unhappy with the salary which was being paid to them and
believed that they were over-qualified for their job. This could be a major reason for
attrition.
7) Lack of opportunities was the biggest reason for people leaving Packt as corroborated
from the data. Also another reason which came out very strongly was that the young
crowd out there always moved out to different and better opportunities, increasing the
attrition rate.
8) Most employees stated the salary paid as cause of dissatisfaction and hence, them leaving
the organisation.
9) Hence, we can conclude that the main reason for the attrition at Packt Publishing Private
Limited, in order of importance are:
1) Lower salary as compared to market standards.
2) No job growth owing to the flat management structure
3) The nature of the employees being very dynamic and is an extrinsic factor which no one
can prevent.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
From the survey conducted, the causes of attrition could be clearly analysed and hence,
recommendations from the same could be drawn.
The main recommendations which the company could implement are as follows:
1) Since majority of the employees seem dissatisfied with the salary being paid and most
people feel that they are hence, over qualified for their work, it would really help if the
organisation were to increase their pay scales or if they were to come up with a work role or
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) related incentive system. This way the employees would be
motivated to work, which would increase their performance and at the same time would also
alleviate the issue of lesser pay.
2) The second largest issue faced by the company was that the employees believed there was
no growth in the organisation owing to lesser levels of hierarchy and flat structure. In order to
counter this, it would be best to create new designations which make the employees feel more
important to the company. Internal levels can be created for employee progression which is
not exactly a promotion, but just an employee moving a cadre above his last. Also it is
essential for the HR to rebrand the organisation for its internal stakeholders. The flat
organisation could be projected as greater freedom to take decisions and approachability and
the positives of a flat organisation could be highlighted.
3) Factors such as the young employees moving on for education or since they are dynamic in
nature cannot really be controlled, except for by having employee engagement programmes
and hence, trying to make the employees love the organisation, making it difficult to them to
leave.
4) The Human Resources Department has a very important role to play. The Management
must first keep them happy so that they can keep others happy in the organisation. The HR
Department must identify gaps within employee perception, important trends and patterns
and using that, devise HR policies.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2013/06/24/six-reasons-your-best-employeesquit-you/

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-29/news/55559125_1_saurabhgovil-wipro-attrition

Henneman, Todd. "Daniels' Scientific Method." Workforce Management. 10


October 2005.

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ANNEXURES
Annexure 1- Article:

Wipro launches staff retention plan to tackle attrition; to


facilitate further academic pursuits
Varun Sood, ET Bureau Oct 29, 2014, 04.20AM IST
BANGALORE: Wipro has launched one of its biggest employee-retention programmes,
aiming to stem the exodus of experienced executives by offering them a chance to study at
some of the nation's premier engineering and management colleges.
The "Notch Up" programme is the second major initiative by India's third largest software
exporter this year to retain employees with five or more years of experience, as the rate of
people leaving the company from this group is higher than Wipro's overall attrition level of
17%, a senior executive said.
"How do we retain this group with (over) 5-6 years' experience who get into Masters in IT or
MBA? If we are able to provide them this (opportunity for higher studies),then it serves them
and it helps us," said Saurabh Govil, head of human resources at Wipro.
Under the new programme, launched in the second quarter that started in July, Wipro offers
employees who have put in more than two years at the company a chance to do Masters at
Punebased Symbiosis, Pilani's Birla Institute of Technology and Science or VIT University in
Vellore. The company has also partnered with ICFA to offer a two-year regular programme
in professional accounting. According to Wipro, more than 500 employees have already
enrolled, and its aim is to expand this number tenfold to 5,000 in three years.
The company has worked out a fee structure with the institutes, and staff will be reimbursed
the fee based on their scores. "Hope this will help us in retaining talent, " Govil said.
Managing the expectations of employees is one of the biggest challenges in India's IT sector
where companies are known to aggressively poach staff from rival organisations.
Homegrown IT companies see an uptick in attrition levels during the first quarter of every
fiscal year, when people either leave their employers in search of better opportunities or quit
to pursue higher education.
Wipro's bigger rival Infosys reported an attrition rate of 19.5% in the first quarter through
June. Most companies have taken steps to reduce the exodus of employees, with Wipro
rewarding the top 20% of its workforce with double the salary hikes compared with the rate
given to average performers and Infosys giving promotions to more than 19,000 employees in
the first two quarters of this fiscal year.

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Some experts doubt if measures like these would truly help IT firms fight off employee exits
as they believe stubbornly high attrition rates are symptomatic of a shortage of technically
skilled engineers in the services industry and lack of challenging opportunities for growth.
"Offering to refund tuition fees for MTech programmes at BITS/VIT/Symbiosis is not going
to solve the Manohar, a former faculty member at the Indian Institute of Science who is
currently pursuing the Jed-i (Joy of Engineering, Design, and Innovation) mission.
"The employees who leave for higher studies abroad do so because they realise that they are
not growing in technical competence working for services companies. Employees who opt
for this (higher studies), primarily do so to pad their resume with a Masters degree so that
they can negotiate for higher salaries next time they move. And if it is going to be subsidised
by their employer, even better."
Wipro had earlier this year launched a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff programme,
under which it offered engineers an equal opportunity with business degree graduates to
climb up the ranks.

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-10-9/news/55559125_1_saurabhgovil-wipro-attrition

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