'Contain Attrition with IT '

Wipro Spectramind is the largest third-party offshore Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) provider in India, offering a full spectrum of BPO services.
Being the fastest-growing industry today, and manpower-intensive as well, BPOs
face a major human resource challenge: high attrition. Sunil Gujral, vice
president, technology, speaks to Bhaswati Chakravorty of Dataquest about how
people management through IT is helping Wipro Spectramind tackle the challenges.

What are the HR challenges at Wipro Spectramind?

HR challenges at Wipro Spectramind, in reality, goes beyond the company. The
biggest challenge it faces today, like do other players in the industry, is that
of attrition. There is always a constant need for manpower at any point of time.
Candidates are required to be screened, suitable candidates need to be
identified and interviews have to be scheduled. To an extent, there is a certain
amount of madness involved in this entire process! So a Human Resource
Management System (HRMS) in the form of IT solutions, that would facilitate
seamless and quick execution of the recruitment process, is required.

In addition, every company in this industry has a huge manpower. For example,
5000 executives work at our call center in Delhi. Besides that, we have other
centers in Gurgaon and other parts of the country. Management of the existing
resources; appraisal of the huge manpower; meeting diverse locational challenges
and reducing administrative activities, are some of the other issues that can be
simplified and streamlined with the help of effective IT implementation. Most
importantly, the BPO industry is one that typically functions on a 24x7 basis.
So a certain amount of self-automation is required in the existing processes to
facilitate efficient functioning.

What are the applications that have been deployed by Wipro Spectramind to
facilitate HRMS?

We have deployed specialized applications that cater to the specific
requirements of the organization at a macro level and employees at the micro
level.

One of the most important applications is 'Manages Agent Productivity'
(MAP), which facilitates performance management. This application maps employees
from the induction stage and keeps track of their performance and movement. Data
management with MAP not only streamlines the HR management system within Wipro
Spectramind, but also shares this data with Wipro Corporate that allows the
parent to get a breakup of headcount across functions at the end of every month
as well as assess revenues from different cross-sections.

Then there is "i-Orbit," an intranet application system that
facilitates payroll requirements, claims management, and IT worksheet management
system. "Wings Within" is an internal site that allows internal job
postings within the Wipro group. This allows lateral movement for employees
within the group and offers them a career path within the organization. The
"WLQ Survey" is a Wipro Leadership Survey that serves as a feedback
tool for 360-degree analysis. An employee survey tool called "Survey"
has also been deployed. Then there is "TED Web," a talent engagement
and development application, that is available across Wipro Corporate. We are in
the process of deploying a performance management system called "Online
PMS." Apart from these, we have also implemented SAP R3 as our core SAP
package.

What are the qualitative benefits of HRMS?

An efficient HRMS system helps handle scalability issues in a better way:
availability of applications with updated employee information facilitates
efficient human resource management and streamlines the entire HR process in the
organization. Updated employee records is easily accessible and this, in turn,
helps the HR department identify training needs and facilitate employee
development which is a very important aspect of human resource management today.
First-hand information is available to employees on the company intranet. The
HRMS at Wipro Spectramind has helped to tie a locationally diverse organization
like ours together. Workflow measurement, reduced paper work, reduced downtime
and uniformity and transparency of HR processes are some of the other key
benefits.

How do you see HRMS helping Wipro Spectramind tackle its challenges?

BPO is a manpower-intensive industry and Wipro Spectramind is no exception.
Human resource management, therefore, is an extremely critical function at Wipro
Spectramind, and it is important to align our IT processes with the requirements
of HR. We hope to contain attrition, one of the biggest ailments in the
industry, through transparent and employee-friendly systems and processes like
information kiosks that would tie employees with organization and meet employee
aspirations.