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1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Introduction of the project

In India, the average attrition rate in the BPO sector is approximately 30-35 percent. It is true that this is far less than the prevalent attrition rate in the US market (around 70 percent), but the challenge continues to be greater considering the recent growth of the industry in the country. The biggest challenge of the BPO industry is to control the attrition rate as it increases the cost to the company(due to training and administration cost, high recruitment cost)& loses the quality of human resource from the organizations which ultimately affect the performance of the company. As attrition is one of the major issue in Aegis Ltd it is necessary to study the cause and as well as to evaluate control measures to reduce the Attrition rate.

1.2 Project Title: Attrition Control Mechanism for AEGIS Ltd. 1.3 Selection of the Company: Aegis Ltd Company is one of the largest fast growing BPO Company not only in India but also across the globe. As a leader in customer care and acquisition for over three decades, Aegis has a track record of introducing process and technology innovations. Today, several Fortune 500 clients trust Aegis to manage their customer interaction, back office and other routine business processes. Therefore there is a huge scope for H.R. and also to gain knowledge and to learn and to get experience of H R work. 2

Attrition is the major issue faced by the Aegis Ltd therefore I chose to work on this project. 1.4 Location: Aegis Ltd Yerwada Commerzone Building No.4 Pune-411007. 1.5 Duration: 26th May 2010 to 16th July 2010. 1.6 Research Methodology: Primary Sources were: Questionnaire A Questionnaire was designed to study the attitude of the employees. The questionnaire was given to them during their induction process I also interacted with them during the process. The sample was picked up from a population of the various induction batches in the month of June. Population:-310 Sample size:-130(approx 42% of the total population) Personal Interview Secondary sources were: Internet website Company intranet 3

 Data n records available from the company 1.7 Research objective The objective of this study is to understand the attitude of the employee at the very beginning and to be able to find out if there are any problems that may be reason for them to be not able to work (and eventually may lead to leave the job).

1.8 Scope
The scope of the study was restricted to all the agent staff who were being inducted into the organization in the month of June.

1.9 Limitations The employee may have other reasons for leaving the job which may be beyond the employers capacity for retaining them, there can be reasons like better job prospects, marriage, shifting base etc which the employee cannot offer any solution. Biases by the employee while answering the questionnaire. There are various reasons for this likefriends or colleagues around them, not understanding the question, not wanting to give the actual answer etc. The questionnaire has been at the very beginning and their opinions are likely to change once they have been working for a little longer. Time constraint of the project. Secrecy in sharing company information. 1.8 Findings

Maximum number of employees is observed as keen on pursuing higher education which may be a reason for them to leave the organization. Thus a lot of them can be seen willing to continue to work in the organization.

The age group of the employees was observed to be in

the bracket of between 17-23.

There were more male and less female employees as

previously mentioned and the female employees seemed to want to leave the job for higher education. Larger numbers of male employees were supporting family as compared to female females . 1.9 Sugesstions
Grievance Day. Monthly Meeting with ER-SPOC. Aegis Academy.

1.10 Conclusion After successfully completing the research work with result of the research study entitled Attrition Control Mechanism .This research will help the company to forecast the possible reasons of the employee leaving the organization. The conclusion drawn here is that through continuous monitoring and feedback in terms of employee satisfaction level, employee retention or attrition control can become efficient and effective.

2. OBJECTIVE
2.1 Objective: The objective of this study is to understand the attitude of the employee at the very beginning and to be able to find out if there are any problems that may be reason for

them to be not be able to work (and eventually may lead to leave the job). At the same time to list down such employees and their problems which can be worked upon or negotiated with the employers. Thus this in turn helps in being able to retain the employees. The questions framed are such that they would make the employee aware of the various people that they can approach incase they have any problem or issues that they are not able to resolve. Finally also to find out the rapport they share with their colleagues so as to understand their comfort level at the work place and work on it if required.

3 Scope

2.3Scope: The scope of the study was restricted to all the agent staff who were being inducted onto the organization in the month of June. The agent staffs are at the very base level (band 5) of the organization. The attrition at this level is the highest thus to study the attitude and behavior and the cause and control measures for attrition is the purpose of this study. Also it is only limited to the total number of agents inducted in the month of June regardless of the process they are hired for as there is no difference in terms of the basic qualification and skills required for the job.

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4. Company Profile
3.2 Company overview A history of achievement As a leader in customer care and acquisition for over three decades, Aegis has a track record of introducing process and technology innovations. Today, several Fortune 500 clients trust Aegis to manage their customer interaction, back office and other routine business processes. Parent company: Essar Group Essar Global Limited, the parent company of Aegis, is a business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets in the diverse manufacturing and services sectors of steel, energy, power, communications, shipping ports and logistics, and construction. Privately owned and professionally managed, Essar has judiciously invested in the commodity, annuity and services business segments. It is an $15 billion group operating from 130 countries. A culture of success Aegiss culture is unique in terms of recognizing its employees as the foundation of its success. We invest in our people because we recognize their importance in our partnerships with clients. In the virtual business environment, there is no difference between your team and ours; more importantly, there is no difference between your customer and ours. A foundation for growth Aegis has built its value proposition not as a service provider but as a client partner, with its ability to do the following:

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 Provide customized delivery solutions based on your requirements. Utilize an innovative delivery approach that involves understanding you and your customers and markets. Bring together the best talent to design, implement and manage the solutions offered. Enable process improvements using industry benchmarks and standard quality processes. Help you to achieve customer satisfaction by continually leveraging our knowledge base. 3.2 VISION At Aegis we envision to constantly innovate in order to have superior execution for our clients, thereby creating wealth for all the stakeholders. This has been given the name- VIEW-Vision, Innovation, Execution and Wealth creation.

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3.3 MISSION Happy Employees To provide progressive opportunities and platforms that nurture people to participate, learn and unleash prosperity through constant and relevant engagement. Happy Customers To co-create with our customers and provide them superior value through our global delivery platform, a class of service that is customized and innovative to meet and exceed their expectations. Happy Shareholders To provide our shareholders an institution that creates sustainable economic value by efficiently managing all classes of assets. Happy employees

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Happy customers Happy Shareholders

Aegis Location: Aegis's operations are spread across the globe. We operate in 42 locations and are backed by a 39,000-strong employee workforce. Our corporate headquarters is located in Mumbai, India. Currently Agis ltd is operating in the following countries across the globe: United States United Kingdom India Philippines

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 Australia South Africa Costa Rica Sri Lanka Kenya New Zealand

Organisation Structure
There are 5 levels in the organization i.e. Band 1, Band 2, Band 3, Band 4, Band5. Band 1 consists of COO i.e. Chief Operating Officer. Band 2 consists of VP1,VP2 and AVP. Band 3 consists of Senior Managers and Managers. Band 4 consists of Assistant Manager and Team Leaders. Band 5 consists of Executives and Senior Executives.

16

Aegis Management Name Sudhir Agarwal Subir Ghosh SM Gupta Satya K Jha Sanjeev Verma Sandip Sen R Vaidyanathan Rajiv Ahuja Rainerio(Bong)Borja Rahul Kamlakar Neeti Khaitan Lance Rosenzweig Denice Pitt C M Sharma Chandra Venkatramani Aparup Sengupta Anil \Modi Designation President President of Aegis Global Academy Chief People Officer President Aegis Tech Executive VP Aegis Tech President (America) & Chief Marketing Officer Executive VP, Business Development President(ANZ) President (Philippines) CTO CRO CEO (Business Development Group) President (Australia) CFO COO (America) Managing Director & Global CEO Executive VP & Head-Marketing & Strategy Aegis Pune Organization chart

17

Rajesh.Mallya (Business Development Head)

Jaspreet.Ahuja (Center Head)

Administration

Training

Quality

Human Resource

MIS

Ashutosh Admin Head

John James AVP

Mahesh Sambar AVP

Sujata Rai HR Head

Kaustubh Shah AVP

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HR DEPARTMENT OF AEGIS

19

20

C L IE N T S

21

P a r e n t O v e r vieT h eE s sa r r o u p w G

E ssa rHo u se , M u mb ai , In dia

Te le c om & S hipping P ow e r BP O

O il

S te e l

Cons truc tion

22

23

24

ACHIEVEMENTS
Aegis has earned significant industry recognition, including many awards, over its two decades of existence. Here is a list of major awards Aegis has received recently.

Aegis Limited is recognized in the leaders category and is ranked in the top 2010 The Global Outsourcing 100 list by the (IAOP) The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), recognizes the worlds best outsourcing service providers based on its size, growth, customer references, organizational competencies and management capabilities. It also brings together the worlds leading outsourcing customers, providers and advisors in a powerful, active and growing global association to exchange thought leadership, share best practices and network, to maximize their effectiveness using outsourcing as a management tool.

NASSCOM ranks Aegis Limited 5th among the top 15 BPO exporters for 2009-2010 The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) has ranked Aegis 5th in the NASSCOM Top 15 BPO Exporters 200910. NASSCOM ranks BPO companies based on their delivery capabilities, revenue growth rate in

25

200910 and outlook for 201011. Aegis has also been ranked one of the NASSCOM Top 10 ITBPO Employers 200910.

Aegis ranked No 4 in DataQuest's listing of the top 20 BPO companies in India for 2009-10 Aegis has been ranked fourth amongst top business process outsourcing (BPO) players, in a recent survey by Dataquest, a leading knowledge publication from the house of Cyber Media. Aegis improved its ranking by two places over the previous year, thereby emerging as one of the fastest growing BPOs in the country.

Nasscom BPO Rankings Sl.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2008-09 Genpact WNS Global TCS BPO IBM-Daksh Wipo BPO Firstsource solutions Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide 2007-08 Genpact India WNS Global Services IBM-Daksh Transworks TCS BPO Wipro BPO Firstsource Solutions Infosys BPO HCL BPO 2005-06 Genpact WNS Wipo BPO HCL BPO Services ICICI OneSource IBM Daksh Progeon 2004-05 WNS Wipro BPO HCL Technology BPO Services IBM Daksh EXL Services MphasiS BPO (formerly MSource) Intelenet Global ICICI OneSource GTL

Aegis Ltd
Infosys BPO

Aegis BPO Services

EXL Service Holdings

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10 11 12 13 14 15

HCL BPO EXL Service.com (India) Intelenet Global Hinduja Global Solutions 24/7 Customer Mphasis BPO

EXL Service Holdings Citigroup Global Services HTMT Global Solutions

24/7 Customer MphasiS BPO Intelenet Global Services GTL TCS BPO Transworks

Progeon 24/7 Customer.com Datamatics Technologies Hinduja TMT Transworks Tracmail

Aegis BPO Services

Intelenet Global Services Mphasis

AEGIS RANKS FIFTH IN NASSCOM TOP BPO RANKING

AUGUST 26, 2010

Improves its ranking by three; amongst the fastest-growing BPOs in the country. Mumbai: Aegis, a global outsourcing services company and part of the Essar Group, today said it has been ranked fifth amongst top business process outsourcing (BPO) players in the country in NASSCOM's recent annual BPO ranking, a jump of three places over last years ranking. With close to 40,000 employees, Aegis has also been ranked 10th in top employers amongst IT and BPO companies combined, again an improvement of two places over last year. We are extremely happy to be recognized by our industry body, NASSCOM, to be amongst the top five BPO players in the country. This ranking is an endorsement of our twin cylinder growth engine of organic and inorganic strategy. Today, Aegis is on the cusp of an inflexion point, as our service model has found widespread acceptance amongst customers and

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we look forward to a very exciting future," said Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis. "The year 2010 should be considered a 'return-to-growth' year, with a marginal increase in budget and essential-enterprise IT spending. NASSCOM will continue to facilitate and collaborate to support the industrys growth as it embarks upon the next decade. We visualize a broadening of our role one that entails greater collaboration across markets, sectors and within India, Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM said. According to NASSCOM, the Indian IT-BPO industry is expected to exceed $70 billion in FY11, led by growth of 13 15% in exports and 1517% in domestic consumption. The industry headcount addition is expected to double this year, to touch 200,000 new employees. Aegis has close to 40,000 employees working across 42 delivery centers in 10 countries. This year, Aegis plans to hire 11,000 net associates across its centers.

SWOT Analysis Strength

Aegis has huge network around the world Aegis's operations are spread across the globe. We operate in 42 locations and are backed by a 39,000-strong employee workforce. Aegis has financial backing from Essar Group.

Weakness
Attrition rate is high. Employee have transportation problem. 28

Need

to

enhance

interaction

skills/techniques

with

the

employees.

Opportunity
Strengthening the bonds between employee and organization. Opportunity in entering into international market as well in India. Opportunity in Pune as it is rapid growing IT hub.

Threats
High attrition rate. Competitors such as TCS, Sparsh, WNS etc. International bpo companies as they provide higher salary compared to domestic bpo.

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5. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Defining Attrition rate: "the rate of shrinkage in size or number" Attrition: The reduction in staff and employees in a company through normal means, such as retirement and resignation. This is natural in any business and industry. Attrition analysis gives the data on what is the current attrition trend in the company.

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Its an analysis done by taking time, manpower strength & no. of people resigned into consideration to derive the final outcome. Attrition Formula: Attrition for the month/Total Head Count * 100 Total Head Count = Head count of the month New joinees Aegises though a fast growing outsourcing company faces a great challenge to control attrition rate. In the month of April & May in Aegis Ltd No. of employee leave the job = 191,166. Headcount = 1510, 1722. New joinees = 120,. Attrition rate for month of April 2010 = 191/1630 *100 = 11%. Attrition rate for month of May 2010 =166/1822*100 = 9%. In India, the average attrition rate in the BPO sector is approximately 30-35 percent. It is true that this is far less than the prevalent attrition rate in the US market (around 70 percent), but the challenge continues to be greater considering the recent growth of the industry in the country. The US BPO sector is estimated to be somewhere around three decades old. Keeping low attrition levels is a major challenge as the demand outstrips the supply of good agents by a big margin. Further, the salary growth plan for each employee is not well defined. All this only encourages poaching by other companies who can offer a higher salary. The much hyped "work for fun" tag normally associated with the industry has in fact backfired, as many individuals (mostly fresh graduates), take it as a pas-time job. Once they join the sector and understand its requirements, they are taken aback by the long working hours and later monotony of the job starts setting 31

in. This is the reason for the high attrition rate as many individuals are not able to take the pressures of work. The toughness of the job and timings is not adequately conveyed. Besides the induction and project training, not much investment has been done to evolve a "continuous training program" for the agents. It is the HR manager who is expected to straighten things out and help individuals adjust to the real world. It is believed that the new entrant needs to be made aware of the realistic situation from day-one itself, with the training session conducted in the nights, so that they get accustomed to things right at the beginning. The high percentage of females in the workforce (constituting 30-35 percent of the total), adds to the high attrition rate. Most women leave their job either after marriage or because of social pressures caused by irregular working hours in the industry. All this translates into huge losses for the company, which invests a lot of money in training them. Tackling Attrition Head-On Industry experts feel, as the industry was still in its nascent strategy there was lot of strategies available to reverse this trend and make it an attractive employer. NASSCOM ITES-BPO forum has identified HR as one of the key challenges of the ITES-BPO industry and has formed a special task force to address short-term challenges such as Attrition and also long-term challenges such as ensuring availability of a skilled talent pool.

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To arrest this trend, companies can look into various options like good rewards, bonding programs, flexible working hours and stronger career path. With attrition rates ranging between 30-60 percent in the BPO industry, HR specialists feel that a scientific and analytical approach should be implemented. Pay cheques alone are not enough to retain employees. Management also needs to consider other aspects like secure career, benefits, perks and communication. The attrition battle could be won by focusing on retention, making work a fun place, having education and ongoing learning for the workforce and treating applicants and employees in the same way as one treats customers. Companies need to go in for a diverse workforce, which does not only mean race, gender diversity, but also include age, experience and perspectives. Diversity in turn results in innovation and success. The 80:20 rule also applies to recruitment, since studies showed that 80 percent of the company's profit comes from the efforts of 20 percent of the employees. So BPOs need to focus on roles, which have the most important impact. According to experts, the cost of attrition is 1.5 times the annual salary. Age should not be a barrier for training employees and could in fact bring in more stability to the company. Background The IT enabled services (BPO) industry is being looked upon as the next big employment generator. It is however no easy task for an HR manager in this sector to bridge the ever increasing demand and supply gap of professionals. Unlike this industry, 33

counterpart, the BPO HR manager is not only required to fulfill this responsibility, but also find the right kind of people who can keep pace with the unique work patterns in this industry. Adding to this is the issue of maintaining consistency in performance and keeping the motivation levels high, despite the monotonous work. The toughest concern for an HR manager is however the high attrition rate. Purpose of this subject Staff attrition (or turnover) and absenteeism represent significant costs to most organizations. It is odd, therefore, that many organizations neither measure such costs nor have targets or plans to reduce them. Many organizations appear to accept them as part of the cost of doing business - a sign of increasing job mobility and decreasing staff loyalty perhaps, a matter to be regretted but just 'one of those things.' They add a sum in their budgets for 'temp staff' and 'recruitment' and forget about it. However, it seems to be one of the areas in which HR can make a difference - and one that can be measured in quantifiable, financial terms against targets. An attrition rate in call (or contact) centers has become legendary. Indeed, the attrition rates in some Indian call centers now reach 80%. This is an extreme figure but the average attrition rates in Indian call centers are up around 30-40%. However, it is interesting to note that the attrition rates in India and the costs associated - are so high that they can override the benefits of lower wage costs. While wages in call centers in Indian are less than one-eighth of those in Northern Europe, it

34

has been reported that Hewlett-Packard have found the cost per 'ticket' (the cost of processing a query) has doubled "due to the inability of the staff to resolve customer queries efficiently because of language barriers and inexperience." It is said that this increased cost has made HP's move from Ireland to India "completely pointless," and that it can never recover the (substantial) costs of the move. It is further reported that GE Capital has moved a call centre back to Australia "after staff attrition rates of 70% wiped away any potential cost savings." The issue is not with the quality or education of the staff - and still less with the investment in technology. It is simply attrition people do not stay long enough to be taught or to learn the job. The staff may be cheaper but if they cannot do the job, what's the point? Managing attrition is not just a 'nice thing to do' in Indian call centers. It is the route to their survival. Far from accepting attrition rates as part of the cost of doing business, it is surely something that all organizations should address, and equally surely it is an area in which HR can take a lead - measure attrition, seek its causes, set out solutions and target performance. Components to be taken into consideration, while calculating attrition rate Costs Due to Employees Leaving

Recruitment Costs/Hiring costs

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1. The cost of advertisements; agency costs; employee referral costs; internet posting costs. 2. The cost of the internal recruiter's time to understand the position requirements, develop and implement a sourcing strategy, review candidates backgrounds, prepare for interviews, conduct interviews, prepare candidate assessments, conduct reference checks, make the employment offer and notify unsuccessful candidates. This can range from a minimum of 30 hours to over 100 hours per position. 3. Calculate the cost of the various candidate preemployment tests to help assess a candidates skills, abilities, aptitude, attitude, values and behaviors.
4. Calculate the cost of bring the new person on board

including the cost to put the person on the payroll, establish computer cards, and security passwords cost and of identification telephone hookups,

establishing email accounts, or leasing other equipment such as cell phones, automobiles. 5. Calculate the cost of a manager's time spent developing trust and building confidence in the new employee's work. Training Costs 1. Calculate the cost of orientation in terms of the new person's salary and the cost of the person who conducts the orientation. Also include the cost of orientation materials. 2. Calculate the cost of departmental training as the actual development and delivery cost plus the cost of the salary of the new employee. Note that the cost will be 36

significantly higher for some positions such as sales representatives and call center agents who require 4 - 6 weeks or more of classroom training. 3. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who conduct the training. 4. Calculate the cost of various training materials needed including company or product manuals, computer or other technology equipment used in the delivery of training. Lost Productivity Costs As the new employee is learning the new job, the company policies and practices, etc. they are not fully productive. Use the following guidelines to calculate the cost of this lost productivity: 1. Upon completion of whatever training is provided, the employee is contributing at a 25% productivity level for the first 2 - 4 weeks. The cost therefore is 75% of the new employees full salary during that timeperiod. 2. During weeks 5 - 12, the employee is contributing at a 50% productivity level. The cost is therefore 50% of full salary during that timeperiod. 3. During weeks 13 - 20, the employee is contributing at a 75% productivity level. The cost is therefore 25% of full salary during that timeperiod. 4. Calculate the cost of mistakes the new employee makes during this elongated indoctrination period. Lost Sales Costs

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1. Calculate the revenue per employee by dividing total company revenue by the average number of employees in a given year. Whether an employee contributes directly or indirectly to the generation of revenue, their purpose is to provide some defined set of responsibilities that are necessary to the generation of revenue. Calculate the lost revenue by multiplying the number of weeks the position is vacant by the average weekly revenue per employee.

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6.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Meaning of Research: Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. Definition: 39

Research concerns itself with obtaining information through empirical observation that can be used to systematically developed, logically related propositions so as to attempt to establish casual relationship among variables. Here research is being done to know the expectations of employees , to study their attitude and to understand the satisfaction levels of employees so that we can know what can help the employees to stay with the company for long. Research Objective: The objective of this research is to study & analyze the reasons for attrition and to take preventive measures to reduce attrition. Researches Done: The reason for this research is to try and identify the possible attrites at initial stages of their work.

The sources & methods of data collection are: Primary Data: Primary data is that data which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happen to be original in character.

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For collecting the required primary data for my research, I have used Questionnaire method observation Interview method.

Questionnaire method: The questionnaire was designed keeping in mind that these agents have had very less interaction and association with the organization. This questionnaire helps to just gather information about the person and not about there satisfaction level in the organization. It helps in understanding what probably could be the cause of them leaving the organization and their opinions about the same. This method has been used as it is the fastest method of collecting relevant information about the newly recruited agent level staff. It has been designed keeping in mind the minimum qualification required for a person to be hired In terms of their Knowledge, understanding of the environment around them also keeping in mind the various backgrounds that they may come from. The sample was picked up from a population of the various induction batches in the month of June which was around 310. The sample size of our survey is 130 which is approx.42% of the total. There are various Processes at AEGIS namely-TATA, AIRTEL, IDEA, VODAFONE, VIDEOCON.HUL, ONIDA, ETISALAT etc.

41

Whichever process was hiring and being inducted in the month of June the questionnaire was given to them randomly. Observation: The other method for data collection was through observation and interview while conducting the induction and after randomly giving out the survey questionnaire a general one to one interview was also done of few employees to ensure accuracy of the data collection. Secondary Method: The secondary data is the data, which have already been collected by someone else and which have already been passed through the statistical process. The company has maintained rag data and attrition data per month maintained and reports are generated based on this report. Based on this data a certain amount of data was collected and certain analysis and conclusions were drawn. The data helped in understanding the current steps that were taken in terms of controlling the attrition rate and to find the trend in attrition and to determine the attrition based on the reports that were generated. Other sources were like internet website, company intranet, books etc.

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RESEARCH PROCESS GOES AS

43

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

SETTING THE AREA UNDERTAKEN TO STUDY

DESIGNING THE METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

DEFINING THE SAMPLE SIZE

DATA COLLECTION

INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

FINDINGS

SUGGESTIONS

CONCLUSION

44

45

6.DATA ANALYSIS
1 A) Are you staying with your family? Tabular Representation: Sr.No. 1 2 Response Employees staying with the family Employees not staying with the family 30 23% Respondents (in no.) 100 Respondents in % 77%

Diagramatic Representation:

St ying w h fa ily a it m

23% staying w ith fam Yes ily 77% staying w ith fam No ily

Figure1

Data Analysis: This has been asked at the very beginning to understand the circumstances that the employee is working and does he have any sort of support from the family. The reason being it helps understand the attitude towards his work.

46

B. Are your family members dependent financially on you? Tabular Representation:

Sr.No. 1 2

Response Yes No

Respondents (in no.) 45 85

Respondents in % 35% 65%

Diagramatic Representation:

70 % 60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0 % Yes Is fam d en ent ily ep d No

Figure2

Data Analysis:

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This question helps us to gain an insight into his background usually as observed a person supporting the family will help us understand a) Attitude towards work- if he is supporting his family he would tend to have certain sincerity and be willing to work. b) Opportunities If the person is qualified and has completed basic graduation he / she would constantly look for better job prospects in terms of money. Hence there is always a chance of them leaving the organization. There are around 65% of people who are financially dependent on the family. This shows that the 35% of the people are likely to leave if they have better opportunities and better job prospects.

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2) Do you have any family problems or medical problems which may be a hindrance to your work in future?

Tabular Representation:

Sr.No. 1 2

Response Yes No

Respondents (in no.) 17 113

Respondents in % 13% 87%

Diagramatic Representation:

49

Series1

Family or Medical problem

113 17 Yes No

Family or Medical problem

Figure3

Data Analysis: If employee may have such problems they can be worked out with the help of the colleagues or seniors. It may help to convince the employee to retain his job if it causes a hindrance. Also there are medical problems that the employee may face then a solution can be worked out of it. This shows that only 13% of the are likely to quit the job due to any family or medical problems are likely to leave which if found out can be possibly resolved to a certain extent. The 87% is positive in terms of employees coming from sound family and can be used in favor of the company as well.

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3) What are you doing/pursuing currently?

Tabular Representation:

51

Sr.No. 1 2 3 4

Response Not pursuing Dist learning Part time Full time

Respondents (in no.) 48 4 13 65

Respondents in % 37% 3% 10% 50%

Diagramatic Representation:

No Pursuing Dist learning P art time Full time 0% 20% Series1 3% 10%

37%

50% 40% 60%

52

Data Analysis: This would help us understand how long the employee may work or when is he likely to quit the organization if we are able to determine that we could offer a leave of adjust his timings if he needs to appear for exams etc. This helps us also to understand what age group is generally working and also to find out if they are studying part time, full time or distance learning which in turn can make are ability to control attrition easier.

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4)A)Do you wish to pursue or plan on pursuing higher education?

Tabular Representation:
Sr.No. 1 2 Response Wish to pursue Dont wish to pursue Respondents (in no.) 110 20 Respondents in % 85% 15%

Diagramatic Representation:

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Yes Wish to pursue Series1 15% No 85%

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This being one of the major reasons for a person to leave the organization and this also important considering the general age required for a person for joining the organization.

B) If yes, would you want to work part time or split time at least? This is to make the agent aware of the options available to them. In case they want to pursue higher education or leave due to exams.This to pursue the employee to consider the opportunities before they decide on quitting. Tabular Representation: Sr.No. 1 2 Response Continue working Quit Respondents (in no.) 87 23 Respondents in % 79% 21%

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 Diagrammatic Representation:
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

79% 21% Continue work Quit

Preference of the employee if he/she wishes to pursue higher education Series1

There are around 79% of people who are willing to continue to work if offered an option of continuing to work. There is a positive attitude toward working in the company. The 21% of people who are not willing to continue and this is something which has been realized at an early stage they and need to be looked at from the list submitted in the company. Encouraging people to work split time or part time is important as percentage of people who are not willing to work is around Th. 5) Do you see yourself working at Aegis Ltd one year from now? Tabular Representation: Sr.No. 1 2 Response Yes No Respondents (in no.) 126 4 Respondents in % 97% 3%

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 Diagrammatic Representation:

At aegis aftr 1yr

No

3% Series2 Series1 97%

Yes

0%

50%

100%

This is to try and find out if the employee has a long term plan or does is only wish to continue for a while. The period here is taken as one year as generally a period of 4-6 months is generally observed but not a period of year .It has an underlined objective of asking them to continue for a year at least for various other benefits that the company offers if they complete here.

6 a) Do you share a good working relationship with your Batch mates, Trainers, supervisors?

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Tabular Representation: Sr.No. 1 2 Response Yes No Respondents (in no.) 130 0 Respondents in % 100% 0%

Diagrammatic Representation:

This question helps us to find out if the employee has been able to build up a rapport with his trainers. Colleagues and other supervisors. The building of rapport is important as they have to interact continuously with each other and hence affects work environment. Also there seems to be no problem for the

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employee to feel associated with organization at the beginning of the employment. This was asked if the employee feel the work environment is conducive and if through the induction any of their queries have not been answered .

b)Are they able to solve your problems? Tabular Representation: Sr.No. 1 2 Response Yes No Respondents (in no.) 128 2 Respondents in % 98% 2%

Diagrammatic Representation:

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Is you superiors solv your problem e Yes Is you superiors solv your problem e No

98%

2%

During the induction phase the employee is comparative new to the organization and hence for them to feel comfortable in the organization and hence this to find out if they feel free to interact with everyone in this organization. The result of the analysis of the above two questions was very positive almost 99% of the people were happy with whatever level of interaction they and with the company, they seemed satisfied with as all their issues in terms of work were resolved by the organization. However the amount of interaction is very less as they would have interaction just during their training phase and they are being into the company and this point of time.This is important as it will actually analyse if there is any gap in in what issues employee has and are they being resolved.

7)

Would you recommend Aegis to your family and

Friends?

Tabular Representation:

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Sr.No. 1 2

Response Yes No

Respondents (in no.) 130 0

Respondents in % 100% 0%

Diagrammatic Representation

Recommend
Recommend Aegis Yes Recommend Aegis No

100%

0%

This is to find out the opinion that the employees hold about the organization and would they be interested in recommending it to anybody . The other objective also being in reference to the referral race being carried out in the organization among all the three major processes namely- Cluster (Idea, Vodafone, Videocon, Onida, Hul etc), AIRTEL, TTML. The observation here was that lot employees would recommend this organization as they seem to find the working atmosphere conducive.

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8) If you are not able to handle work pressure you would. a)If need be talk to hr (employee relations)- This to see if the employee is able to identify the people that they can approach to solve their problems. As seen in the previous questions they may have certain medical or family problems which cannot be sorted at their level. b)Leave the job-This is the generally observed choice of the employees. The other options observed make the employee aware of the other choices available to them instead of leaving the job. c)Talk to team Leader- This is possible As The employees tend to interact with the team leader on a continuous basis. Hence they are aware or understand of the possible issues that the employees may be possible. d) Only discuss this with Colleagues- This generally the most common things a person does share it with their friend, colleagues at workplace as they tend to meet them and interact with them on continuous basis.

Tabular Representation:

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Sr.No. 1 2 3 4

Response HR (ER) TL Discuss with colleagues Quit

Respondents (in no.) 24 104 2 0

Respondents in % 18% 80% 02% 0%

Diagrammatic Representation:

Figure-5

As we can see above that a lot of people would prefer talking to the team, one leader instead of talking to the HR it leads to two assumptions, one being that are not comfortable discussing it with ER SPOC or that they are not aware of the fact that the can talk to them. 80% of the employees will actually like to discuss this problem with HR. This means if these Team Leaders 63

actually can recommend higher authority there is possibility of their problems being looked into with better expertise.

9) Why have you joined Aegis? to gain extra income this industry to support family decide on your career The above mentioned are the various reasons that the employee tend to work in a BPO. to gain experience till you to make a career in

Tabular Representation:

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Sr.No. 1 2 3 4 5

Response Extra income make a career in this industry support family Gain experience Other

Respondents (in no.) 10 58 19 41 1

Respondents in % 8% 45% 15% 31% 1%

Diagrammatic Representation:

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Reasons for joining Aegis

1% 8% 31%

45% 15%

extra income experience

make career anything else

support family

Figure-6

As observed above we can see that 45% of the people are actually willing to make BPO industry as their career path we can probably work towards retaining them in the organization and 31% of those who are sure of their career paths can guided about making a career here. Also the fact that the ratio between those who are sure who want to make a career and those who are unsure is very close and can be used to companys advantage.

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8. Observations & Findings

Even today making a career in the BPO industry is a

lesser looked upon path. Although the a lot of employees gave a positive reply to making a career in this industry but through our one on one interaction we realized there is still apprehensions in terms of making a career in this industry The employee may have other reasons for leaving the job which may be beyond the employers capacity for retaining them, there can be reasons like better job prospects, marriage, shifting base etc which the employee cannot offer any solution
Large number of employees are staying with their

families however only few are financially supporting them. Thus the dependence of the income is not high and hence reflects on the casual attitude towards work.
The cause of leaving the organization due to any kind of

problems at work place and due to family and medical problems are found to be less. As shown previously these problems can be resolved to an extent to retain the employees in the organization.
Maximum number of employees is observed as keen on

pursuing higher education which may be a reason for them to leave the organization. Thus a lot of them can be seen willing to continue to work in the organization.

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 The age group of the employees was observed to be in the bracket of between 17-23. There were more male and less female employees as previously mentioned and the female employees seemed to want to leave the job for higher education. Larger numbers of male employees were supporting family as compared to female employees

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9 .BEST PRACTICES AT AEGIS

Aegis has many clients. Aegis Pune ensures that it provides friendly experience to employees from the hiring to the exit. AEGIS Pune handles inbound calls of telecommunication and electronic companies. Work Culture- AEGIS provides very friendly work culture and working 70

environment to its employees. Example: I have observed that Operations Head and Centre heads having lunch with employees and having friendly and knowledgeable talks with employees. Good Career Growth- AEGIS provides good career growth to its employees. Depending on the experience with the industry and performance it provides good career growth opportunities to executives. Employee referrals- During recession when most of the companies have stopped paid employee referrals. AEGIS still believes that friends at work place improves the team bonding and is the mantra for motivation and happiness at work place. HR Policies- Policies are being changed by the companies for improvement. ExamplePolicies for providing transport allowance to employees, No female employee should be there in office after 8 PM. Medi-Claim/ Medi Insurance- All employees of AEGIS have been covered under ESIC for their insurance and Employees can reimburse their medical treatments if he/she produces the required documents too. Open Door Policy(Open communication)- HR and management gives the freedom to employees to approach with their concerns anytime and management sees that problems can be sorted out soon. Opportunity to Rotate responsibilities- Team leaders gives opportunities to executives also to learn and handle his/ responsibilities. This provides them a chance to learn for their betterment and growth in company.

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Trainings- AEGIS, Pune has recently taken the initiative to provide trainings to its employees . Example. AEGIS has taken this initiative by planning monthly training programs on EXCEL. Fun Element- AEGIS believes that work pressure can be reduced and work place can be made more congenial by engaging employees in fun activities. So, it organizes FUNDOO FRIDAY as one of the fun day where many activities, fun games are kept and theme of the day is being celebrated. Briefing sessions: These are the sessions taken before the employee starts his login hours and at the end of his login hours. In this the team leaders address to the product updates and the problems and queries of employees. Internal Job Postings (IJPs): AEGIS strongly believes that its employees should be given a fair chance whenever opportunities are their in companies. Thus, based on the performance evaluation and evaluation employees are given the opportunity to change their area of operation from front desk to back office responsibility which comes under lateral growth and the opportunity of vertical growth by applying for team leaders and AMs. SKIP levels: Open communication allows employees to communicate their differences of opinions with their team leaders to the higher positions

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10.Limitations.
.
Biases by the employee while answering the

questionnaire. There are various reasons for this likefriends or colleagues around them, not understanding the question, not wanting to give the actual answer etc The questionnaire has been at the very beginning and their opinions are likely to change once they have been working for a little longer.
Due to nature of confidentiality followed in some

important aspect of the company, detailed information was not available for the project study.

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 Time Constraint: - Total available time for project was only 50 days. Only Band 5 (executive) were taken for study.

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11.Conclusion
After successfully completing the research work with result of the research study entitled Attrition Control Mechanism and the information collected from the employee about themselves in terms of that affecting their work and the level of attrition that the company might face due to these issues. It would help the company to forecast the possible reasons of the employee leaving the organization. This was done using questionnaire as

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primary method of collection of data through the interaction with employees it is concluded that the organization has a sound HR practices in place to retain the employees. It also that the employees find the working atmosphere very conducive and that they would recommend it to their family and friends for working. This I found to be a positive feed back about the company and can be used to for getting more recruitment and for retaining the employees. The conclusion drawn here is that through continuous monitoring and feedback in terms of employee satisfaction level, employee retention or attrition control has become efficient and effective.

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12.Suggestions
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1.

Grievance Day- This

has been suggested to make the

HR more approachable to employees especially because through the survey we realized the employees are more comfortable talking to the team leader. Also this is has been suggested so that if any female employees who are not able to share their issues with their anyone they may be able to talk to any female HR if need be.
2.

Transportation There is drop service to employees to

the nearest bus stop. There is no pick up points provided to the employees thus having specific pick up points depending on the shift timing and the total employees coming at these points the company can reduce late comers and also would help in saving the transportation time for the employees as the company is the last building in the commerce zone. This would also help to check how many employees adhere to the rules in terms of the time keeping.
3.

Monthly meetings with ER SPOC (employee relations

Single Point of Contact) and the operations teams.-This is to understand and discuss any issues which are causing a problem in terms of their behavior, quality of work. This us also to cross check in terms of the feedback the employee tend to give to their supervisors.
4.

Aegis Academy- There as business school the company which offers an MBA degree

has started in COIMBATORE

and hence if we can find out anyone who is in their final year of graduation and has potential to do better in the company we could probably offer some opportunity to get a post graduation.
5.

Ask for Employee for Recommendation-This can be

during the full and final settlement and or during the exit interview the employee could probably suggest someone who is

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interested in working in this organization. This would help the company create a source of recruitment for the company which would help if the company is unable to retain the employee.
6.

If planning to shift base to a place where Aegis exist

recommend him at that place-This is also suggested because it is not in the hand of the management in case the employee has to leave and is shifting to place where the company is existing and hence instead of quitting they could probably be transferred which would help in retention of the employee.
7.

Offer retention bonus-This for the employee to who have

continued to work in this organization for more than a year and also to the employees who have been working in the organization for a long time. This also works as an incentive to the employee.
8.

To be able to adjust their shift timing-This is to offer the

employee to be able to shift from full time to part time or split shift or vice versa so that instead of leaving the organization the employee is able to come to work as per his/her convenience

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13.BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.bpoindia.org/research/attrition-ratebig-challenge.shtml
www.citehr.com www.nasscom.org www.aegibpo.com 82

Aegis intranet www.chrmglobal.com Research Methodology, Kothari. C.R., Research

Methodology Methods & Techniques, 4835/24, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New-Delhi- 110002, edition 2004. Challenges of Attrition and Retention Strategies By Anil Verma

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14.ANNEXURE Survey Questionnaire

Name: ______________________________ Gender: Male/Female Process: _____________________________ Date: June 2010

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1) A) Are you staying with your family? Yes No B) Are your family members dependent financially on you? Yes No 2) Do you have any family problems or medical problems which may be a hindrance to your work in future? Yes No 3) What are you doing/pursuing currently? Degree:_____________________Type: Full Time Part Time Dist. Learning Not pursuing 4) A) Do you wish to pursue or plan on pursuing higher education? Yes No B) If yes, would you continue to work Part time or Split time at least? Yes No 5) Do you see yourself working at Aegis Ltd. one year from now? Yes No 6) A) Do you share a good working relationship with your Batch mates, Trainers, supervisors? Yes No B) Are they able to solve your problems? Yes No 7) Would you recommend Aegis to your family and Friends? Yes No

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8) If you are not able to handle work pressure you would If need be talk to your HR(ER). Leave the job
Talk to your TL this with your Colleagues.

Only discuss

9) Why have you joined Aegis? To gain extra income this industry To support family you decide on your career

To make a career in

To gain experience till

Thanking you!!

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