BPO No More Stopgap

Right from the early years of its existence, the Indian BPO industry has been
wrought with these clichéd associations-night shifts, monotony of work,
attrition, digestive disorders on the one hand-and a fun work environment and
college like atmosphere at the other. While night shifts and the consequent
health issues and attrition haven't gone away and continue to be among the
biggest bother, there is beginning to emerge a new face of the Indian BPO
industry-that it's a serious career and not a 'stopgap arrangement'. This, in
turn, has pushed the satisfaction index up.

Don't know for sure if God called on some BPO employees (like in Chetan
Bhagat's 'One Night@ Call Center') but the dip in attrition rates by more than
five percentage points is being looked upon by many BPO managements as divine
intervention.

Nevertheless, the BPO dichotomy still exists. The 'big positives' often get
offset by isolated but unfortunate cases of rapes, reinforcing the vulnerability
of women employees in the BPO sector.

But one rape case, whether it be the HP BPO case in Bangalore or the
allegedly more recent one in Pune involving an IBM Daksh employee (under police
investigations), the changing face of the Indian BPO industry is relegated to
the background. The only focus then becomes issues like employee safety and what
companies are or are not doing to ensure it. Even as the companies are working
on strengthening their inner mechanisms, it will still take some time for it to
stop impacting overall employee satisfaction.

It's a Career!

As per the survey findings, growth opportunity or lack of it is among the
top three reasons for joining as well as leaving a company. Thereby becoming a
key factor for determining satisfaction. Some other factors gaining importance
from the employees' perspective are training, certifications, leadership
development, etc. People are realizing that a BPO opportunity can actually
become a great career. The industry is evolving and the focus for the employees
is moving away from just fun and parties to 'how I can develop myself'. Some of
the oft asked questions that employees are posing to their employers are: “What
sort of a career growth am I getting; where am I going to be five years from
now; how does it fit into my career plan; etc.' In a nutshell, employees are
becoming more ambitious and are looking at BPO jobs to fulfill their
aspirations.

BPO companies too are rising to this trend and focusing on meeting the career
aspirations and needs of their employees. It's no longer just about number of
bodies but also about inter-personal relationships and increased focus on
individual recognition and growth. That probably also explains the fall in
attrition rate, which is a mirror of the satisfaction levels running within the
company. The attrition rate dropped from 21% in 2007 to16% in 2008.

Seven of the top 15 BPO companies (as per the DQ Top 20 BPO companies based on revenue) are also among the top 15 BPO employers in the country. But, these bigwigs are not among the biggest gainers or losers of the day. With the exception of EXL Service and Aditya Birla Minacs, it is the smaller entities like e4e, Knoah and Ajuba that have been most susceptible to the spiked highs and lows

Companies are undertaking a slew of initiatives targeted toward focused
training, certifications and up-skilling for their employees to aid them in
their career progression. For instance, Ajuba runs a Leadership Enhancement and
Assessment Program (LEAP) designed to hone leadership skills. Brigade too has
undertaken mentoring, coaching and leadership development initiatives. Big BPOs
like Genpact, IBM Daksh and HCL BPO have comprehensive programs. Genpact has
introduced Information Management Leadership Program to nurture its top talent
and prepare them to lead Genpact in the future. It also has a program that acts
as a launch-pad to help high caliber employees to pursue a career in
Transitions. On the education front, it has Senior Leadership Program targeting
Executive Education tailored for senior Genpact employees. Besides, the company
has seventy-eight programs running across domain, and continuous education. HCL
BPO has launched its career progression program last year for BPO employees to
pursue career in software/infra divisions of HCL Technologies. It also has a
Common Fast Tracker Program to provide an accelerated career progression path
for team members to develop them as future team leaders and motivate the top
performers of the organization. IBM Daksh runs a team leader up-skilling
initiative and an accelerated management program to enable junior management to
move into middle management positions.

This transformation of the Indian BPO does not go back a long way-maybe just
a year or two. So it might be wrong to classify this as a full-fledged trend,
but the shift definitely signals the beginnings of one. As far as the trigger
point is concerned, it's hard to get a hold on the exact one. The most likely
explanation would be the increasing flow of high-end analytics work into India,
warranting the need for up-scaling as well as bringing about some change in the
fundamental image of BPOs-away from the low-on-skills work image. According to
Raju Bhatnagar, VP at Nasscom, with the kind of level of specialization that is
emerging, it's not the usual run-of-the-mill employees that will do. Also, some
of the HR firsts that the BPO industry has been known for and associated with
(transport facilities, free food, employee welfare incentives, etc) have now
become hygiene factors for all BPOs, prompting the employers to look for
differentiators. And, the differentiator that the employers are now trying to
create is in terms of growth opportunity and an enhanced personal balance sheet.

It's the smaller companies that dominate among the 10 best performing when it comes to employee satisfaction. Having lesser employees perhaps makes it easier to satisfy. That however should not take away from the way these organizations have innovated to make their employees happy

Money Matters

While well-defined growth opportunities and a career path are gaining
significance, it doesn't necessarily discount some of the basic satisfaction
factors like salary, work culture and due recognition of efforts. As per the
survey findings, 'being paid enough for the work being done' has come across as
the parameter having the strongest bearing on satisfaction, followed by
parameters like quality of training provided by the company and exciting growth
opportunities having. Also, while salary is the # 1 reason for leaving, a good
work environment is the top most reason for joining a company. Though this year
a lesser proportion of employees have cited salary as the chief reason for
leaving compared to last year. While the proportion leaving jobs due to lack of
growth opportunities went up by 22.3% this year. But money does continue to be
the top reason.

And the grouses remain the same: work timing, long working hours, repetitive
nature of work, health issues, travel time, et al-keeping stress levels high.
According to Thomas Sebastian, President at CareerNet Consulting, even though
there has been a change in the people's perspective towards a BPO career, night
shift is still a dampener for many.

Perhaps, the slowdown took its toll on hiring as the average employee growth among the surveyed companies plunged down to 26% from last year's 36%. While a go-slow or even a cap on on hiring during slowdown was understandable, more worrying was the fact that there was a workforce reduction in five of the companies. Does this herald the advent of the pink slip culture in Indian BPO?

The Disconnect

It's the small to medium BPOs that dominate the list of the top 5 companies
when it comes to purely employee satisfaction. But, when one also takes into
account the HR scores, which measure the company's growth, employee growth,
tenure of the employees, etc, the scenario changes. Two of the big BPOs which
fail to make it to the top 5 in terms of employee satisfaction, make it among
the industry's top 5 BPO employers riding on their HR scores. IBM Daksh and
Genpact, the top two rankers on the HR score, fail when it comes to meeting
their employees' expectations. Their ranking on the employee score stands a
distant #10 and #12 respectively. Pushed by their HR scores, both companies
finally are able to make it to the #2 and #4 places, respectively, on the top
BPO employers list.

The other big companies on the top BPO employers' list, ie EXL Service, HTMT
and Aegis BPO take this anomaly further. For instance, EXL, which ranks at #6 on
HR score falls down to #9 when it comes to employee satisfaction. HTMT, at #7 on
HR, could manage only manage to be at #13 on employee score. The disconnect is
highest in case of Aegis BPO, which is strong on its HR at #3, and just about
makes it to the top 15 employee satisfaction list at #15.

A plausible reason for this disconnect could be the fact that the big
companies have better processes and systems in place as compared to the smaller
companies. They are also able to score higher owing to their large employee
base. Allsec, with 2,349 employees is an exception to this, making it to #5 on
HR scores.

But, with growing number of employees, there is a tendency for the companies
to become more impersonal and too process driven in their dealings with their
employees. This, in turn, can affect employee satisfaction. However, HCL BPO
with 10,443 employees has successfully made an exception to this rule by making
it to the #5 position on employee score. The company has also significantly
improved upon its performance, moving up five notches since last year.

Ups and Downs at the Top

Talking about performance comparisons, there have been some major
displacements over last year. Knoah was the biggest success story of the survey
as it moved up six notches. This was owing to the significant improvement in its
employee score wherein it jumped eight positions. The company has shown good
performance compared to the industry average on parameters like training and
salary structure. Its employees are also found to be satisfied with the
companys appraisal system and image. EXL emerged as the next biggest gainer,
with an improvement of five positions. It has especially done good (compared to
the industry average) on parameters like company culture and company image.
Other significant gainers include Aditya Birla Minacs (up four ranks) and HCL
BPO (up three ranks).

Correlation coefficient implies the relation between employee satisfaction and the above mentioned parameters. For example, I am paid enough for the work I do in this company has the strongest bearing on satisfaction

Among the losers, both e4e and Ajuba Solutions slipped five ranks each. For
e4e, the score has declined in most of the employee parameters. Employees are
found to be particularly dissatisfied with the cultural aspect and feel that it
doesnt create a very positive work environment. They are also not too happy
with the appraisal system, apart from job content. Its time both companies
analyze and upgrade their appraisal systems as well as make the job and work
environment more exciting for their employees.

Satisfaction Up

Of the seven broad employee satisfaction parameters captured in the survey,
satisfaction levels have improved in four over last year: work culture, job
content, people, and salary. While the score on the image front remained
constant at 7.70, there was a slip in training and appraisal.

Interestingly, salary, which has an important bearing on employee
satisfaction, has got the least satisfaction score among the parameters. Salary
scoring the least on satisfaction means that it has become the most significant
reason for discontent among the surveyed employees. One of the reasons for this
can be the fall in average salary hike across categories from 16.2% last year to
14% this year. With the slowdown blues forcing companies to go slow on spending
and squeezing the salary hikes, there is always the fear of attrition assuming
greater force.

Not so Healthy

One of the biggest detractors in the otherwise shining Indian BPO story has
been the health issue, the result of the need for night shifts, an inherent
requirement of the industry. Considering that most clients these companies are
catering to are in the US and Europe there is nothing much that can be done
about this problem. As a result, health has become a prime area of concern.
While it is true that there are other industries as well that require working in
the nightlaw enforcement services, medical servicesbut no other industry has
received this kind of attention, or rather flack, for promoting a lifestyle
thats contrary to the natural body clock. Even the Union Health Minister
Anbumani Ramadoss got very involved and proposed a special health policy. While
this might have been taking matters too far, there is no denying that health
remains an important issueand the industry has to find ways to tackle it.

At a closer look, sleeping disorder came out as the biggest ailment plaguing
BPO employees with 32.20% of surveyed employees citing it. Interestingly, eye
sight problem has become a larger menace than last year, overtaking digestive
disorders to take the third position.

Companies already have corporate health programs, and with more awareness now
they are further stepping up their health initiatives making them regular
periodic programs rather than once in a while initiatives. Ajuba has a corporate
wellness program, Svasth; initiatives under this include doc-on-call, diabetes
awareness camp, and weight management. vCustomer also organizes health week each
quarter wherein the doctors/dieticians/dentist/eye specialists and other
specialists are called for employees to get checked free of cost. IBM Daksh runs
periodic health camps organized with well defined scope and methodology. It also
runs employees awareness on workplace ergonomics matters. Patni, on the other
hand, has tied with Apollo Hospitals for personalized health survey of the
employees.

Matters to Stress

Though workload, timings and health issues together have taken a toll on
stress levels, the number one stress factor for employees is travel timing
followed by insufficient holidays. One of the reasons for this can be the choice
of location for BPOs. With most BPOs located in the suburbs and the outskirts of
cities, travelling takes a toll on the employees. So even the office transport
provided by the company is not sufficient to take away the woes of long traffic
jams which are becoming a common feature in these increasingly crowding suburbs.

Companies are already taking up measures like implementing automated route
planning systems. Genpact has gone a step ahead with its Work From Home model,
the objective being to allow employees to cut down on commute time and have
flexible schedules. This is also a step toward increasing productivity and
enabling a healthy work-life balance. It also allows Genpact to tap into an
alternate talent pool of potential employees, who previously chose not to join
them.

Insufficient holidays has overtaken work timing as the next biggest stress
factor. This is probably owing to the reason that these employees get their
holidays around the American and European holidays, a time when they might not
have their families free to spend time with themwhich over a period of time
becomes a huge stress factor. Companies are taking innovative measures to
counter this. EXL has sensitized its clients on this issue, resulting in some
them recognizing the Indian holidays. The good news: this years survey has
found lesser employees finding insufficient holidays, work timing and workload
stressful than last year.

Its a mix of some old and some new challenges. Despite the fact that
attrition levels have fallen, it continues to be the biggest challenge for BPO
companies today. Acquisition of the right talent is challenge number two. Its
no more about just hiring freshers. With high-end analytics work increasingly
coming to Indian BPOs, hiring the right talent has become imperative. The next
challenge: career progression and expectation managementis a relatively new
challenge.

Shipra Malhotra

shipram@cybermedia.co.in