Retention Riddle

It's a stroll within the 50-acre, Rs 320-crore Infosys campus in Bangalore or sweating it out on the Nautilus at the gym that helps Divakar Acharya (not his real name) clear the "cobwebs in the mind". Divakar also has the option of a mocha break at the in-campus Coffee Day bistro, swimming in the 5,000-sq-ft pool or even practicing his putts at the golf course, but he prefers it this way. With stock options that make him one of the 1,600 rupee millionaires in the company and an opportunity to crack cutting-edge m-commerce solutions in an as-cutting-edge work environment, he'll only quit Infosys for his own start-up. Frankly, what more could he ask for...

NIITian, the internet setup with an average daily hit of 3,000, connects 4,600 niitians across continents at the click of a button. Online newsletters, forums, bargain counters, special staff discount programmes et al intensify the cohesive bond among the NIIT fraternity.

Pan to Hughes Software Systems (hss). Popular awards that buttress the morale of outstanding employees have been introduced. Everybody has the right to mandate and the top 20 candidates in each category are rewarded. Moreover, hss has a 360-degree feedback system where an individual is gauged by nine others. "Officious" is out, "caring", "nurturing", "informal" are in.

And for very good reasons. With demand escalating across every continent, our home-grown software developers are now a global resource pool—a driving force in the world's New Economy infobahn. Just let the statistics speak (see box).

Retaining talent is today at the top of the to-do list in every Indian software firm, large or small. And companies are pulling out all stops to provide as rich (in all senses of the term) a work environment as possible for the knights of computer code.

Breaking away from the hierarchical straitjacket, resource allocation has become horizontal with knowledge and skills of the entire fleet truly getting linked and integrated. Since people are the fulcrum in the knowledge domain, the twin credo of retention and motivation steers all employee welfare programmes. Say HR consultants Madhavi and Purva Misra of Hewitt Associates: "You can't retain everyone as you need fresh blood. The challenge is attracting the best and holding on to them."

But what makes a techie leave for the Valley lock, stock and Unix? Assignments on cutting-edge technology at the most happening social address is an intoxicating power trip. Now add greenbills to that to make the urge even more irrepressible! "The discrepancy between dollar and rupee salaries is a key factor," feels Pramod Fernandes, head of HR at Siemens Public Communications Network Ltd. "For a person in India, with 3-4 years experience, the average cost to company is Rs 4 lakh. For the same person in the US it is $60,000-65,000." Isn't that enough to amplify peer pressure?

Trans-Atlantic sojourns for an "enriched resume" does not alone aggravate the crisis. Swapping jobs locally to drive up the learning curve and personal brand equity is also a rampant trait.

The recipe for retaliation is also now well-delineated. "You have to offer challenging projects and long-term benefits. Cash is easy to match, not benefits," says Misra. She adds: "Career development opportunities are more consequential than swimming pools." But alongside, if you can provide them a life, kingsize, back at home, then you've cracked the retention riddle.

Since the most volatile group consists of those with 18-30 months of experience, the core focus is on this crop of baby bloomers. As Aadesh Goyal, vice-president, HR, hss, highlights: "One-fourth of the employees leave within the first year, another one-fourth in the second, ditto the third year and the rest over a lifetime!" Chimes in Sujit Baksi, executive VP, Human Resource Development at hcl Technologies: "People with 10-15 years experience won't relocate. Gone are the days when 40-plus professionals opted for immigration."

Infosys believes in a holistic compensation package. "Along with the money comes the learning and emotional value-adds which we have been able to extend to our employees," states Hema Ravichandar, senior vice-president, HR. That naturally makes Infy the geek mecca, with everyone craving for a break. Between April and December 1999-2000, it received 1,38,318 job applications while the numbers have surged to 3,07,042 for the same period in 2000-01.

One never ceases to learn at Infy. Almost 3 per cent of the company turnover is spent on training and research. Post a gruelling three-month grooming programme, the employees undergo appraisal. The successful candidates are assigned projects while those in-between (Infosys "maintains a strategic bench to accelerate growth if any new market opportunity arises") are either absorbed in the myriad staff functions or further motivated to learn.

This shift from shareholder value to the recognition of human capital makes eminent business sense. To quote GE ceo Jack Welch, constant training and knowledge upgradation only adds depth to an organisation and naturally everybody is zooming in. It also acts as an emotional prop for the professionals who are paranoid about lagging behind in the knowledge race.

At Wipro, under the Wings within Wings programme, switching departments has become a lot easier for the 8,554 techies on the rolls. Moreover, it has collaborations with iim Bangalore and bits Pilani for post-graduate degrees for employees. "niit has a huge training backbone. There's thus a synergy between education and work," says Rosita Rabindra, head-corporate HR. Thirteen days per person goes behind training, which includes yoga, tech updates, even rafting and rock climbing at the 'boot camps'. Similarly, Tata Consultancy Services (tcs) is also leveraging the expertise of premier educational institutions to externalise r&d and training of employees. The iit tie-up is a foolproof formula to enhance capability and assets for the future. "At 6 per cent of our revenues, we spend the highest amount of resources on training," claims V.J. Rao, VP, HR, pooh-poohing industry estimates of alarmingly high attrition at tcs.

Along with knowledge, the personal lives of the staff is at the epicentre of the IT work setup which is custom-made to cater to their needs and aspirations, albeit in varying degrees. "Wipro initiatives are an outcome of our belief in our people and their values. In all our processes, we do not lose sight of them," says Pratik Kumar, GM, HR, Wipro Technologies. Continuous feedback from the staff is supplemented through employee meetings and Gallup conducts regular employee perception surveys. The last eight years has seen hss growing at 60 per cent annually, both in terms of revenue and the number of people. Combine this with an attrition at some 20 per cent per annum and it would seem to be a perennially new company."At any time, almost 60 per cent employees have been at hss for less than a year," says Goyal.

Hence, the mission is to create a strong culture that the Generation NeXt employees and managers (75 per cent of the people fall under the 21-26 age bracket) can relate to. Zooms in Anthra—the company intranet—replete with 'Techtalk' for technical queries, newsletters and 'Junk' bulletin boards to act as online hangout corners. Fun drives the 1,000-odd techies here for whom at times even the cricket, adventure and dramatics clubs are not enough. Sectoral comparison is more than just a fetish at hss. It's what gets them going.

hcl Tech's Baksi is also insistent about a humane perspective. "Unlike others, we did not sack our mainframe guys after the Y2K hooplah. Instead, we absorbed them in our client servers wing." The approach, in turn, has only bolstered hcl Tech's pro-employee credo. Finally, the adaptability has also made it easy for some hcl centres to coalesce HR principles of key clients.

A crucial element to all people-centric exercises is the wealth creation opportunities. esops have made all Infoscions owners of the company while 75 per cent of the eligible staff at Wipro are covered under wesop, resulting in 1,500 rupee millionaires. Competitive pay, alluring loan schemes and allowances complete the monetary wish list.

The sectoral cognisance of HR notwithstanding, Infosys is still the premier employer. Its awe-inspiring physical environment, incredulous stock options, open-door environment and the brand association undoubtedly remain key galvanising agents. But it's the vision, the transparency and the high level of top-brass commitment that has ensured a low 9 per cent attrition rate at this egalitarian utopia.

Even mncs—perceived as slave-drivers offering limited growth opportunities—with r&d facilities in India have expedited their efforts. "Multinationals can provide better infrastructure and projects. We don't have cafes, gyms, golf courses or esops, but we benchmark our HR practices with the best global companies to reaffirm our staff commitment," avers Pramod Fernandes. But cautions Misra: "Many mncs do low-end development work here. Such 'porting' won't work in the long run and they will have to upgrade." The emerging scenario is stark. Shape up as a challenging niche player or ship out with a generic portfolio.

For the big fish, the ambitious HR programmes are easy to implement. But what about the smaller players sans esops and with limited investments. Does brain drain and attrition signify a looming doomsday? "Quell the small company syndrome by working extra to convince engineers about the work quality and pay packet," says Arindam Mukherjee, MD, Alumnus Software. Agrees Sunil Nair, ceo of Pixel Technologies: "We do not resist brain drain, instead we work around it."

The collective sentiment being combative, even the start-ups are shunning their ubiquitous garage mentality to adopt global HR tools. The methods may be customised, yet the agenda remains the same.

If it's the Sakkat Somavara (Superb Monday) sessions at the Rs 52-crore Phoenix Global Solutions, then it's the official method of rotation with the resource management group that provides the stimulus at Indus Software. Listing the shares on the stockmarkets is certainly an issue, but then the run-up can also be used as a kind of artificial vesting.Even stock options, with the tax hassles, are a crumbling carrot, feels an IT entrepreneur. After all, they are only pieces of paper prior to an ipo and may well turn out to be a double-edged sword!

At the end of the day, there are enough engineers who would prefer the close-knit, homely setup where responsibility and work matters more than bank cheques with a greenish hue.