Employee retention a key challenge for IT, BPO cos: Expert

Panaji, Jan 31 (PTI) Information Technology (IT)companies and BPOs are witnessing large-scale attrition oftalented employees, making retention of critical manpowerresources a key challenge going forward, according to anindustry expert.

Fidelity National Financial India Country Head SameerDhanarajani says IT companies and BPOs are witnessing a majortalent crunch.

"The macro effect is balanced by one company losing itscritical staff to another and a company getting criticalresources in return. But aligning them to the organisationstill remains a challenge," he said, adding there are hiring,training and maintenance costs associated with a new inductee,irrespective of the place in the hierarchy that the personassumes.

As per a NASSCOM survey, 2.3 million people are employedin India''s IT and BPO sector.

"There has been an increased investment to retain theright talent and to keep the customer operations smooth.

Infrastructure and maintenance costs go together to keep theorganisations streamlined to their service delivery model andcustomer satisfaction. There have been steps taken to redefinethe pricing model across organisations to keep their increasein the cost of operations low," Dhanarajani said.

He said as the world recoups from a recessionary phase,the cost of operations and alarming unemployment rates gave aboost to outsourcing around the globe.

"India, still a preferred location, is facing a threatfrom emerging geographies like China, Vietnam andPhilippines," Dhanarajani said, adding that North America,South America, Eastern Europe and North Africa are othercountries emerging as outsourcing destinations.

"There is a fierce competition in terms of the economiesof scale of operations between various organisations orbetween India and emerging outsourcing destinations," he said.

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