A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro A SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD. Aathira Jayaraj
Oct 24, 2014
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
A SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD.
Aathira Jayaraj
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
A PROJECT REPORT ON
A STUDY OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION
IN WIPRO
A SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO
OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD.
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME OF
B.COM HONOURS IIIrd YEAR
BY AATHIRA JAYARAJ
128-08-01811
AURORA’S DEGREE & PG COLLEGE (AFFILIATED TO OSMANIA UNIVERSITY) CHIKKADPALLY, HYDERABAD – 500 020.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Certificate This is to certify that the project work entitled
A STUDY OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION
IN WIPRO
is the bonafide work done by
Aathira Jayaraj
128-08-01811
as a part of their curriculum in the Department of Commerce
Aurora’s Degree & PG College,
Chikkadpally, Hyderabad-20.
This work has been carried out under my guidance
Dr. Ravi Paturi Course Coordinator Head of Dept. Principal
External Examiner
Aurora’s Degree & PG College, Chikkadpally, Hyderabad-20.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
DECLARATION
This is to inform that I, Aathira Jayaraj of B.Com (Hons) III have completed
my project work titled A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro in the year
2009-2010. I have completed my project under the guidance of Ms.
Prasannakumari B., Faculty of Department of Commerce, Aurora’s Degree
College, Chikkadpally, Hyderabad.
I hereby declare that this project report submitted by me to Osmania
University, Hyderabad, is an original work done as part of our academic
course and has not been submitted to any other University or Institution for
the award of any degree or diploma.
Aathira Jayaraj
128-08-01811
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
I certify that Aathira Jayaraj of B.Com Honours IIIrd Year bearing Roll No.
128-08-01811 has done the project titled “A Study of Employee Retention
in Wipro” under my guidance.
PRASANNAKUMARI B.
Commerce Faculty
(Internal Guide)
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express my sincere gratitude to the staff and management of Aurora’s
Degree College for giving me an opportunity to undertake this project work.
It is my pleasant duty to express my profound gratitude and extreme regards
to my mentor Ms. Prasanakumari B. without who’s learned and able guidance
and encouragement, this work would not have been completed.
It is also my duty to thank in this regard Ms. Brinda Satish and Ms. Babita
Naik who instilled the curiosity in me which helped me perform better.
I would also like to thank my project External Mentor Ms. Juri Wagh and her
staff for their cooperation in completion of my project in the required time.
It‘s an honor to thank Principal Dr. Ravi Paturi and Vice Principal & Head of
Department Mr. Viswanadham Bulusu who has given me this opportunity.
I’m also thankful to all my family members, classmates and friends who
helped me in carrying out this project.
Name : Aathira Jayaraj
Roll No : 128-08-01811
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter Contents CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION : 1
Introduction : 1
Changing Role of HR : 2
Retention Management : 4
Need for the Study : 7
Wipro Technologies – A Company Profile : 8
Reasons for Choosing Wipro : 10
Review of Literature : 10
Objectives of the Study : 15
Hypothesis : 15
Methodology : 16
Sample : 16
Techniques of Analysis : 16
Sources of Data : 16
Period of the Study : 17
Scope of the Study : 17
Chapterisation : 17
Limitations of the Study : 18
CHAPTER II – TALENT MANAGEMENT IN IT SECTOR : 19
IT Sector in India : 19
Talent Management: A pressing problem : 21
Employee Attrition : 22
Attrition rates in IT Sector : 24
Talent Management Strategies in IT Sector : 27
Workforce Retention and Motivation : 27
Compensation and Reward : 28
Career Growth : 31
Good Environment : 32
Being the best place to work with : 33
Upgradation of skills through retraining : 34
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Conclusion : 35
CHAPTER III – FACTORS AFFTECTING EMPLOYEE
RETENTION IN WIPRO : 37
Introduction : 37
Talent Management Strategies in Wipro : 38
Pay and Benefits : 40
Career Growth : 43
Learning and Development : 44
Good Environment : 47
Job Satisfaction : 52
CHAPTER IV – DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Introduction : 53
Methodology : 54
Respondent Profile : 56
Factors affecting Retention in IT Sector : 57
Preference given to different factors by two groups : 58
Factors affecting Retention in Wipro : 60
Pay and Benefits : 62
Career Growth : 64
Training and Development : 65
Work Environment : 66
Job Satisfaction : 68
CHAPTER V – SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS : 70
Introduction : 70
Significance of the study : 71
Role of HR in Retention : 72
Need for the current Study : 73
Objectives of the study : 73
Hypothesis : 73
Methodology : 73
Sample : 74
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Techniques of analysis : 74
Sources of data : 74
Period of Study : 75
Scope of the Study : 75
Chapterisation : 75
Findings from the study : 76
Conclusions : 79
Suggestions : 80
Limitations of the Study : 81
Areas for further research : 81
ANNEXURES : 82
Questionnaire : 82
BIBLIOGRAPHY : 84
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 1 Introduction
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter being introductory presents the aspects planned for the study
and the research efforts put in thereof. It covers the importance and need for
human resource management in IT industry. The literature reviewed, the need
for the study, the objectives, scope of the study, period of the study,
methodology adopted, limitations of the study and chapterization are also
included in this chapter.
INTRODUCTION
The most valued assets of an organization are the people who directly or
indirectly contribute to achieving the various business objectives laid down by
the organization. Human Resource Management is a very strategic approach
to managing these most valued assets. No organization can function without
the human resources as they form the basis of any organization. In the wide
sense Human Resource Management means selecting and employing the
right people for the right jobs, developing their resources by training and
development to match the needs of the organization, utilizing their skills and
maintaining them to benefit the organizational needs and also providing them
compensation that matches their services and also the organizational
requirement.
The goal of Human Resource Management is to help the organization to
attract and maintain the right talent, and manage them effectively and
efficiently to meet the strategic organizational goals. In the words of Miller, a
Human Resource Management approach seeks to ensure a fit between the
management of an organization’s employees, and the overall strategic
direction of the company.
The basic theory of Human Resource Management is that humans are not
machines and therefore one needs a more critical examination at a
workplace. In Human Resource Management, a number of fields come into
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
play namely, psychology, organizational psychology, sociology, legal studies,
industrial relations etc. Today, Human Resource functions are much beyond
the basic administrative functions. They are now seen as reactive rather than
proactive partners for the top level management. The Human Resource
functions have now become revenue generating rather than just support
functions.
Human Resource Management includes several processes. These processes
are generally undertaken by the Human Resource Department of the
organization. These include:
• Planning the workforce
• Recruitment
• Skills Management
• Training and Development
• Payrolls
• Employee Benefits
• Performance Appraisals
• Time and Travel Management
• Personnel Cost Management
CHANGING ROLE OF HR
HR has become a huge investment for medium and large companies across
industries, with people-related costs averaging over 60 percent of total
corporate expenditures. The leading firms have been taking steps to ensure
that they extract maximum value from their HR investments, introducing
models that go beyond basic HR functionality to embrace new ways of
improving the quality, efficiency and productivity of their workforces. These
businesses recognize that, to be fully effective, HR programs require new
processes, supported by leading technologies.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
For these companies, the HR department, focusing predominantly on basic
administrative, record-keeping and transactional duties, is a thing of the past.
Businesses now realize that a strong foundation of information about
individuals is a highly valuable organizational resource that can be used to
drive efficiencies throughout the business.
Of course, "People are our greatest asset" is a mantra that companies have
been chanting for years. Yet it is only relatively recently that businesses have
started putting HR systems in place that support this philosophy. As a result,
the information that sits inside the HR department is being made available for
effective use throughout the wider organization, helping companies align their
workforces with long-term business objectives.
The backdrop to the introduction of these new systems is the uncertain
business conditions that followed the economic downturn. This situation has
resulted in a relentless drive for cost control, which affects the HR department
as much as any other. HR now has to demonstrate that it can develop and
deliver programs as efficiently as possible, providing greater value at a lower
cost.
Yet with increased access to information on their employees, organizations
can incorporate processes for leveraging worker skills across the enterprise,
which in turn allows them to be more flexible. Firms with an in-depth view of
employee competencies across regions or markets can immediately locate
"best-fit" candidates, identify and resolve skill shortages, and re-allocate
resources in response to changing conditions. In doing so, they often avoid
expensive layoff/rehire cycles that sap morale, productivity, and profits.
Better decision-making, significant employee benefits, increased efficiencies
and reduced costs all create a compelling argument for implementing HRMS
systems. For the HR department, these technologies provide the potential to
break away from its administrative quagmire to become a front-line function
embracing more strategic responsibilities that positively impact the success of
the enterprise. Once time-intensive processes are streamlined, HR
professionals are freed up to focus on achieving full workforce optimization, a
key source of competitive advantage and, ultimately, profitability, as it means
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
resources can be aligned with the company's business goals and used
strategically
RETENTION MANGEMENT
Retention management is the latest and most pressing problem of the new
Millennium. Each and every business in this economy has now become
knowledge based. It has therefore become essential for the top management
to preserve the dynamic repositories of learning, which are their employees.
Today, businesses across all sectors, sizes and statures now use a variety of
techniques and policies to retain their people. There is little that a company
will not do to keep its people. Be it career counseling, conflict resolution
programmes or even welfare management, companies are ready to go to any
extent possible to retain their employees. In today’s market, a manager who
has innovative retention strategies to offer to the organization is the one who
would be winning the war.
People are the backbone of an organization, hence the need to put more
effort in retaining performing employees. Staff retention in the current
economic environment is a major challenge. The major focus for employees in
a hyperinflation environment is survival. If the organization cannot provide
enough to enable the employee to survive, the employee is likely to look
elsewhere for survival.
However if organizations manage to identify causes of staff turnover that they
can control, they should target those areas for change or making
improvements.
Unless IT companies treat retention of good employees as a business priority,
they will find themselves incurring huge costs in replacing these employees.
However we need to acknowledge that retention is difficult to focus on
because so many factors affect it, and organizations cannot easily change all
of them. In addition the other demands of running a business can supercede
most efforts to promote retention.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to
remain in the organization for the maximum period of time. Corporate is facing
a lot of problems in employee retention these days. Hiring knowledgeable
people for the job is essential for an employer. But retention is even more
important than hiring. There is no dearth of opportunities for a talented
person. There are many organizations which are looking for such employees.
If a person is not satisfied by the job he’s doing, he may switch over to some
other more suitable job. In today’s environment it becomes very important for
organizations to retain their employees.
Employees stay and leave organizations for some reasons. The reason may
be personal or professional. These reasons should be understood by the
employer and should be taken care of. The organizations are becoming aware
of these reasons and adopting many strategies for employee retention.
Pay and Benefits: Compensation constitutes the largest part of the employee
retention process. The employees always have high expectations regarding
their compensation packages. Compensation packages vary from industry to
industry. So an attractive compensation package plays a critical role in
retaining the employees. Compensation includes salary and wages, bonuses,
benefits, prerequisites, stock options, bonuses, vacations, etc.
Career Growth and Development: Growth and development are the integral
part of every individual’s career. If an employee can not foresee his path of
career development in his current organization, there are chances that he’ll
leave the organization as soon as he gets an opportunity.
Work profile: The work profile on which the employee is working should be in
sync with his capabilities. The profile should not be too low or too high.
Personal growth and dreams: Employees responsibilities in the organization
should help him achieve his personal goals also. Organizations can not keep
aside the individual goals of employees and foster organizations goals.
Employees’ priority is to work for themselves and later on comes the
organization. If he’s not satisfied with his growth, he’ll not be able to contribute
in organization growth.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Training and development: Employees should be trained and given chance
to improve and enhance their skills. Many employers fear that if the
employees are well rained, they’ll leave the organization for better jobs.
Organization should not limit the resources on which organization’s success
depends.
Work Environment: Sometimes the relationship with the management and
the peers becomes the reason for an employee to leave the organization. The
management is sometimes not able to provide an employee a supportive work
culture and environment in terms of personal or professional relationships.
There are times when an employee starts feeling bitterness towards the
management or peers. This bitterness could be due to many reasons. This
decreases employee’s interest and he becomes de-motivated. It leads to less
satisfaction and eventually attrition.
The many challenges that managers and human resource practitioners face
today need a concerted effort by all those concerned with the management of
human resources in the organization.
To highlight this, the statistics got from the first ever survey national survey
conducted by All India Management Association (AIMA) can be analyzed. The
companies were divided into 4 sectors, namely, manufacturing, services,
marketing and hi-tech in order to allow intra industry comparisons. Also, two
criteria were placed to decide on whether the company was eligible for the
survey or not, the company should have a minimum turnover of 25 crore
rupees and an employee strength of above 50. 135 companies participated
and their responses were analyzed to understand the most prevalent policies
and practices in retention management. Statistics show that 3 out of every 5
software companies and almost 1 out of every 2 manufacturing companies
have serious issues relating to retention. Facts also reveal that, 90 per cent of
the companies have some or the other problem with respect to retentions.
Retention problems are more acute in SAMEs (Small And Medium
Enterprises) with turnover of less than 100 crores and headcount less than
100. There are two reasons that can be attributed to this. Firstly, due to lower
number of employees on the rolls, the departure of one makes a significant
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
difference. Also, larger companies can provide higher monetary and non
monetary compensation which cannot be afforded by the SAMEs.
NEED FOR THE STUDY
Employers have a need to keep employees from leaving and going to work for
other companies. This is true because of the great costs associated with
hiring and retraining new employees. The best way to retain employees is by
providing them with job satisfaction and opportunities for advancement in their
careers. The saying, good help is hard to find, is even truer these days than
ever before because the job market is becoming increasingly tight.
It’s not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of
retaining employees but also the need to retain talented employees from
getting poached.
The process of employee retention will benefit an organization in the following
ways:
The Cost of Turnover: The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of
thousands of money to a company's expenses. While it is difficult to fully
calculate the cost of turnover (including hiring costs, training costs and
productivity loss), industry experts often quote 25% of the average employee
salary as a conservative estimate.
Loss of Company Knowledge: When an employee leaves, he takes with
him valuable knowledge about the company, customers, current projects and
past history (sometimes to competitors). Often much time and money has
been spent on the employee in expectation of a future return. When the
employee leaves, the investment is not realized.
Interruption of Customer Service: Customers and clients do business with
a company in part because of the people. Relationships are developed that
encourage continued sponsorship of the business. When an employee
leaves, the relationships that employee built for the company are severed,
which could lead to potential customer loss.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee terminates, the
effect is felt throughout the organization. Co-workers are often required to pick
up the slack. The unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff.
Goodwill of the company: The goodwill of a company is maintained when
the attrition rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees
to join the organization
Regaining efficiency: If an employee resigns, then good amount of time is
lost in hiring a new employee and then training him/her and this goes to the
loss of the company directly which many a times goes unnoticed. And even
after this you cannot assure us of the same efficiency from the new employee.
WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES – A COMPANY PROFILE
Wipro Technologies is a global services provider delivering technology-driven
business solutions. Wipro is the No.1 provider of integrated business,
technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Azim Premji is
the Chairman of Wipro Technologies. He took over the mantle of leadership of
Wipro at the age of 21 in 1966. Under his leadership, the fledgling US$ 2
million hydrogenated cooking fat company has grown to a US$1.76 billion IT
Services organization serving customers across the globe. Wipro is presently
ranked among the top 100 Technology companies in the world. It has 66,000+
employees, serves 592 clients, and has 46 development centers across
globe.
Wipro Technologies deals in following businesses:
• IT Services: Wipro provides complete range of IT Services to the
organization. The range of services extends from Enterprise
Application Services (CRM, ERP, e-Procurement and SCM) to e-
Business solutions. Wipro's enterprise solutions serve a host of
industries such as Energy and Utilities, Finance, Telecom, and Media
and Entertainment.
• Product Engineering Solutions: Wipro is the largest independent
provider of R&D services in the world. Using "Extended Engineering"
model for leveraging R&D investment and accessing new knowledge
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
and experience across the globe, people and technical infrastructure,
Wipro enables firms to introduce new products rapidly.
• Technology Infrastructure Service: Wipro's Technology
Infrastructure Services (TIS) is the largest Indian IT infrastructure
service provider in terms of revenue, people and customers with more
than 200 customers in US, Europe, Japan and over 650 customers in
India.
• Business Process Outsourcing: Wipro provides business process
outsourcing services in areas Finance & Accounting, Procurement, HR
Services, Loyalty Services and Knowledge Services. In 2002, Wipro
acquiring Spectramind and became one of the largest BPO service
players.
• Consulting Services: Wipro offers services in Business Consulting,
Process Consulting, Quality Consulting, and Technology Consulting.
Group Companies of Wipro:
• Wipro Infrastructure Engineering: It has emerged as the leader in
the hydraulic cylinders and truck tipping systems market in India.
• Wipro Infotech: It is one of the leading manufacturers of computer
hardware and a provider of systems integration services in India.
• Wipro Lighting: It manufactures and markets the Wipro brand of
luminaries. Wipro Lighting offers lighting solutions across various
application areas such as commercial lighting for modern work spaces,
manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies, designer petrol pumps
and outdoor architecture.
Achievements of Wipro
• First Indian IT Service Provider to be awarded Gold-Level Status in
Microsoft's Windows Embedded Partner Program.
• World's largest independent R&D Services Provider.
• World's 1st PCMM Level 5 software company.
• World's 1st IT Services Company to use Six Sigma.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
• The first to get the BS15000 certification for its Global Command
Centre.
• Among the top 3 offshore BPO service providers in the world.
• Only Indian company to be ranked among the 'Top 10 Global
Outsourcing Providers' in the IAOP-Fortune Global 100 listings.
• First company in the world to be certified in BS 7799 (2002) security
standards.
REASONS FOR CHOOSING WIPRO FOR THE STUDY
Wipro was selected the study due to its high rate of attrition. Wipro’s rate of
attrition at 20.3% is highest in the industry. Attrition is a costly affair. Wipro
needs to concentrate all its efforts on retaining its best talent.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1. Eisenberger (2002) suggests that employers are fighting to get talented
employees in order to maintain a prosperous business. Ray Hammer
(2000) as well as many other researchers/authors agree.
2. Wood (1999) believes that, there is a straight line between employee
satisfaction and customer satisfaction. He believes that today’s
employees pose a complete new set of challenges, especially when
businesses are forced to confront one of the tightest labour markets in
decades. Therefore, it is getting more difficult to retain employees, as the
pool of talent is becoming more-and-more tapped-out. The research
below, which focuses primarily on employee retention through job
satisfaction, supports this contention.
3. Brown and Leigh (1996) opine that employees that are satisfied and
happy in with their jobs are more dedicated to doing a good job and taking
care of customers that sustain the operation. Job satisfaction is
something that working people seek and a key element of employee
retention.
4. Gelade and Ivery (2003) states that every person will have his or her own
definition of what it means to be satisfied with a job. And also, those
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more productive, creative
and be more likely to be retained by the company.
5. Rigby (2003) feels that when there is high retention this introduces new
problems for the organization. High retention levels, rather than being a
company-wide problem, will often occur in pockets within businesses. For
instance, an employee or a team may have become so good at their
job(s), that their boss cannot bear too lose them or even promote them,
which results in stagnation and de-motivation.
6. Sigler (1999) explains that if retention levels are in line with the norm for
the type of organization, then the productive employees should be
encouraged to stay and the poor performers encouraged to leave. If this
were measurable the then organizations would retain employees whose
contribution produces a positive risk adjusted profit for the firm. These
employees would have a positive influence on the firm. This is not the
case, through various factors that will be discussed in this paper they
leave, which forces cost onto the organisation. These employees leave an
organisation because they become dissatisfied, underpaid or
unmotivated.
7. Hacker (1996) discussed the process of recruitment and advises that
employers should consider three areas when they are preparing to
employee, these are the cost per hire of an employee; turnover rate; and
productivity. The recruiting of an employee contains hidden costs; these
include advertising and the time that is employed on screening and
interviewing the prospective employee. Therefore, if the recruitment of
people is not cost effective option, then high turnover of employees must
be avoided. Retention of the current workforce is the most economic
solution to an organization.
8. Kinnie and Hutchinson (2005) states that the cost of replacing workers
who have left can amount to two and half times a worker’s annual salary.
These costs are rarely specifically identified in any accounting records.
Therefore turnover cost data should be used to demonstrate the success
of retention strategies over time.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
9. Ramlall (2004) observed that the Human capital theory suggests that
some labour is more productive than other labour simply because more
resources have been invested into the training of that labour, in the same
manner that a machine that has had more resources invested into it is apt
to be more productive.
10. Sturman (2003) opines that Employers need to review all the costs
involved with employee turnover, not all cost are financial, hidden costs
include the reduction in knowledge. These are not tangible, and will not
show on the companies accounts, but through a lack of skills can in the
long term reduce profit.
11. Armstrong (2001) discussed that organizations are under increasing
pressure to recruit the right people for the right job. The economic cost of
getting this wrong can be vast, with the resources that have been
ploughed into the process. Numerous factors are to be considered during
this process including the culture of the organization, legal implications,
attracting and employing the correct candidate and the cost in time and
resources. Therefore it is paramount that the process is fair, reliable and
valid.
12. Alcorso (2003) discussed that recruitment of the right candidate is
problematic, the skill of the recruiter is vital to appointing a successful
candidate. Insufficient information about employees’ performance can
result in adverse selection by Managers. This arises from where the
manager does not know the information h to ask from the candidate and
the candidate does not know what to provide. Therefore, productive
workers cannot distinguish themselves from non productive candidates.
13. Breadwell and Holden (1994) explained that reviewing and monitoring
recruitment practices can lead to a reduction in key employees leaving. If
the first stage of retention is recruitment, then best practice will lead to the
correct candidate being selected. In the long term this will increase the
retention levels of key employees within the organization.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
14. Terpstra (1994) states that voluntary employee turnover can be either
dysfunctional or functional for the organization; this is dependant on who
leaves. Both low and high performers are generally more likely to leave
an organization than are average performers. Therefore, organizations
will often shed poor employees (functional turnover), but will also fail to
retain star employees (dysfunctional turnover). Therefore organizations
need to monitor their turnover of employees.
15. Berry (1997) discussed that key to retaining the right employees is
recruiting them in the first place. This process must given consideration to
their long term value to the organization. The attraction and retention of
key talent, is increasingly pivotal to organizational success. The ability to
achieve competitive advantage through people depends in large part on
the composition of the work force. This, is the function of who is hired,
and how they are developed, these factors will lead to who is retained.
16. Clarke (1994) stated that the problem of attempting to keep talented
members of the work force is further complicated because of bounded
rationality. This leaves colleagues who cannot improve their positions
within the hierarchy more likely to remain with the organization. This is
often due to inadequate information on outstanding performance,
therefore it is not recognizes financially. Non-productive and productive
workers end up receiving the same or nearly the same compensation and
package of perks because of management’s inability to distinguish
talented employees from the rest of the labour force in the organization.
17. Sommers (1995) suggested that incentive pay can be used for
employees, setting targets and when they are met rewarding with cash
bonuses. Share ownership by the employee is another type of pay
incentive. It in essence makes the employee a shareholder of the
organization aligning the interests of the employee with the owners.
Employee share ownership can come through restricted share plans
where ownership of the share is not transferred to the employee until after
a specific period of time has passed or a specific goal has been achieved.
This not only provides the employee with the incentive to drive the share
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
price higher through their work effort, but also remain with the
organization until maturity of the plan.
18. Pfeffer and Viega (1999) explained that management can ensure talented
employees are given autonomy in their job functions and are given
meaningful assignments, allowing them to be involved in the decision
making for their area of expertise. Pleasant working conditions can entice
productive workers to stay in their organization and not look elsewhere. In
addition, offering these employees training to keep them current on their
job functions and allowing them to learn new skills can also be utilized to
improve employee satisfaction with the organization.
19. Ulrich (1995) stated that organizations no longer offer a job for life there is
no longer guaranteed employment, with a pension as a reward for loyalty
and compliance. Employees are increasingly mobile, changing
employment for promotion, reward and job satisfaction; top employees
have more choice as to where to work. To retain these key employees the
organizations culture needs to allow an environment of personal growth.
With less job security, the best reward an organization can give an
employee is transferable skills.
20. Williams and Anderson (1991) observed that workers have been forced to
take more responsibility for their own careers, going where the work is
rewarding and where they can develop skills that will guarantee their
employability in whatever organisation. This mobility and “free agency”
has created greater competition for skilled workers between
organisations. Good workers have more choices than before, and are
more likely to use them.
21. Browning and Edgar (2004) suggested that when Maslow’s hierarchy
theory is applied to organisations, the implications for managerial actions
become obvious. “Managers have the responsibility to create a proper
climate in which employees can develop to their fullest potential. Failure
to provide such a climate, would increase employee frustration and result
in poorer performance, lower job satisfaction, and increased withdrawal
from the organisation”.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
22. Huselid (1995) differentiated overload in terms of quantitative and
qualitative. Quantitative refers to having “too much to do”, whilst
Qualitative means work that is “too difficult”. Employees at all levels
occasionally find themselves faced with excessive work demands, and
will leave it if is the only course of action.
23. Patterson, West et al. (2005) explained that recent research validates
factors such as stimulating and challenging work, career growth, learning,
and development are keys to retention. This research challenges
conventional HR perception in several aspects. The most notable
disparity of views emerges when comparing the importance of “boss
reputation,” the perceived quality of the immediate manager. The CLC
research concluded that high-value employees rate this as the single
most important consideration in staying with an organisation, that 80
percent of turnover is related to unsatisfactory relationships with their
boss.
24. Edgar and Geare (2005) argued that employees are more likely to remain
with an organisation if they believe that their managers show interest and
concern for them. Buckingham added that They are know what is
expected of them, if they are given a role that fits their capabilities and
they receive regular positive feedback and recognition.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To study the factors that affect employee retention in IT sector
2. To study the attributes that can be adjusted to retain employees in
Wipro Technologies.
HYPOTHESIS
H0 – Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction are not significant for employee retention.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
METHODOLOGY
The primary data was collected through questionnaires. These questionnaires
were distributed to 60 employees of Wipro Technologies. Due care was taken
to make sure that the employees filled this with interest and not as a routine.
The data was collected only from those employees who has completed
at least one year in the organization. The selection of employees is a
random sampling for the study.
Questions 1 to 6, are related to the employees tenure in the organization and
the ratings that he or she would assign to each of the factors considered for
this study in view of their longer tenure with the organization
Questions 7 and 8 are related to Pay and Benefits, 9 and 10 are related to
Career Development & Growth, 11 and 12 are related to Training and
Development, 13 and 14 are related to Work Environment and 15 and 16
are related to Job Satisfaction.
SAMPLE
The study is of employee retention in IT sector. Since all the companies,
irrespective of their ownership and projects undertaken, compete in the same
global market, it is deemed appropriate to analyse one of the leading
companies. The sample comprises employees from Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli. The basic motive behind choosing this organization is increasing
global presence of Wipro in varying aspects of technology solutions.
TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS
The comparative study is done with the help of χ2. Mean and coefficient of
correlation have also been used for the analysis of the link between the two
groups of employees of the organization.
SOURCES OF DATA
The data required for the study is collected both from primary and secondary
sources. Primary data is collected by conducting personal interviews,
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
discussions with the employees and managers considered for the study. In
addition, data was collected through questionnaires, feedback, observations
etc.
Secondary data includes reports and records of the organizations for the past
two years and the data collected from the NASSCOM website on the rates of
attrition. Research studies conducted by individuals, institutions and agencies,
and various other journals were considered.
PERIOD OF THE STUDY
The study aims to understand the attributes affecting employee retention in
Wipro. The study spread over a period of two years i.e., from 2007 to 2009.
However, data pertaining to the period before that considered for the study
was also looked into depending upon the requirement for the study.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The data required for the present study was collected using questionnaires.
The data was collected from the employees of Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli across the age group of 20 to 40 years.
Wipro’s global IT services business has 97,552 employees, including 16,500
in the BPO division. There are 2645 employees in Wipro, Hyderabad and
1453 employees in Wipro Technologies, Gachibowli. The sample represents a
4.1293% of the total headcount.
CHAPTERISATION
Chapter – I INTRODUCTION
The first chapter being introductory helps in understanding the importance of
HRM and Employee Retention in the IT industry. This chapter provides
information regarding the objectives, methodology, scope, statistical tools
appointed, chapterisation and also limitations. A major part of this chapter
consists of the literature review.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter – II TALENT MANAGEMENT IN IT SECTOR
This chapter was taken up keeping the pressing problem of talent
management in mind. The chapter covers aspects and limitations of retention
in the IT sector and the factors affecting the same.
Chapter – III FACTORS EFFECTING EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN
WIPRO
Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to
remain with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the
completion of the project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization
as well as the employee. This chapter examines the factors affecting retention
and the steps taken by Wipro to tackle these factors.
Chapter – IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
In current global market, companies are composed by competitors, regardless
of industry. To develop a competitive advantage, it is important that firms truly
leverage on the workforce as a competitive weapon. This chapter analyzes
the various factors affecting employee retention and the attributes that can be
adjusted to improve employee retention. It also presents a comparative study
between employees of two different age groups and the different
requirements of the two groups.
Chapter – V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter being the last chapter gives conclusions and suggestions and
briefly explains the objectives, methodology, findings and limitations of the
study. This chapter also gives the scope for further study.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1. The study is confined only to Wipro Technologies, Gachibowli
2. The study is confined only to Wipro and does not cover other IT
companies in its cadre.
3. Pay and benefits, career growth and development, training, work
environment and job satisfaction are only some of the few factors that
effect employee retention; future studies in this area could possibly
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
include other variables that potentially have an impact on retention on
the basis of existing literature.
4. No attempt has been made in this study to do a longitudinal analysis,
that is, to explore the influence of these factors on retention over a
period of time.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 2 Talent Management in
IT Sector
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 2 TALENT MANAGEMENT IN IT SECTOR This chapter talks about importance of retention management strategies in the
IT sector and the various strategies generally adopted in the sector. It also
explains about the IT sector in India and the various attrition rates in the
different sectors in India. This chapter also studies each of the retention
management strategies in detail giving the various reasons for each of the
factors. This chapter enables us to form a general opinion about the various
strategies adopted so that further study can be conducted on the specific
organization under consideration, viz. Wipro Technologies.
IT SECTOR IN INDIA
Information Technology (IT) industry in India is one of the fastest growing
industries. Indian IT industry has built up valuable brand equity for itself in the
global markets. IT industry in India comprises of software industry and
information technology enabled services (ITES), which also includes the
business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. India is considered as a
pioneer in software development and a favorite destination for IT-enabled
services.
The origin of IT industry in India can be traced to 1974, when the mainframe
manufacturer, Burroughs, asked its India sales agent, Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS), to export programmers for installing system software for a
U.S. client. The IT industry originated under unfavorable conditions. Local
markets were absent and government policy toward private enterprise was
hostile. The industry was begun by Bombay-based conglomerates which
entered the business by supplying programmers to global IT firms located
overseas.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
During that time Indian economy was state-controlled and the state remained
hostile to the software industry through the 1970s. Import tariffs were high
(135% on hardware and 100% on software) and software was not considered
an "industry", so that exporters were ineligible for bank finance. Government
policy towards IT sector changed when Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime
Minister in 1984. His New Computer Policy (NCP-1984) consisted of a
package of reduced import tariffs on hardware and software (reduced to
60%), recognition of software exports as a "delicensed industry", i.e.,
henceforth eligible for bank finance and freed from license-permit raj,
permission for foreign firms to set up wholly-owned, export-dedicated units
and a project to set up a chain of software parks that would offer infrastructure
at below-market costs. These policies laid the foundation for the development
of a world-class IT industry in India.
Today, Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),
Wipro, Infosys, HCL et al are renowned in the global market for their IT
prowess. Some of the major factors which played a key role in India's
emergence as key global IT player are:
Indian Education System
The Indian education system places strong emphasis on mathematics and
science, resulting in a large number of science and engineering graduates.
Mastery over quantitative concepts coupled with English proficiency has
resulted in a skill set that has enabled India to reap the benefits of the current
international demand for IT.
High Quality Human Resource
Indian programmers are known for their strong technical and analytical skills
and their willingness to accommodate clients. India also has one of the largest
pools of English-speaking professionals.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Competitive Costs
The cost of software development and other services in India is very
competitive as compared to the West.
Infrastructure Scenario
Indian IT industry has also gained immensely from the availability of a robust
infrastructure (telecom, power and roads) in the country
TALENT RETENTION: A PRESSING PROBLEM
In a recent survey of 57 CEOs and HR professionals “Talent retention” is
identified as the second most HR challenge to critically meet the business
demands beyond tomorrow next only to “Creating a high performing culture”.
The results of the survey are shown in Table 2.1
The results clearly demonstrates that 28% of the respondents gave first rank
to Talent Retention as the most significant HR challenge to critically meet
business demands and none of them gave the bottom rank.
Talent retention is becoming the most pressing problem for all top HR
professionals and this is the main topic under discussion even during the time
of recession. The All India HR Summit conducted in Delhi in April 2009,
discussed the topic of talent retention and conducted workshops to improve
talent retention in organizations.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Table 2.1 HR Challenges Survey
HR Challenge Rank in order
of importance
Percentage of top
response (# 1
rank)
Percentage of
bottom response
(#10 rank)
Creating a high
performing culture 1 47 3
Talent Retention 2 28 0
Recruiting in
today’s context 3 22 0
Managing mindsets 4 6 8
Training for Growth 5 6 0
Compensating
Knowledge
Workers
6 3 8
Building
interpersonal
relationships
7 6 14
Going Global 8 6 22
HR systems
implementation 9 6 28
Human Capital
Practices 10 0 17
Source: Madhok, Anneta (2008) Managing talent tomorrow, Indian
Management
EMPLOYEE ATTRITION
Employee attrition is a very big problem not only in India but outside India too.
Attrition rate is increasing day by day and the software industry is the one that
is affected the most. Why an Employee leaves a company is the question
asked by most of the employers. Companies even hire Private HR
professionals to study the company's work and find out why an employee is
dissatisfied.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
HR department does the recruiting of new employees and then send them for
training so that they can understand work and work culture and become better
professionals. Each and every company faces employee turn over problem
whether big or small. An employee leaves his present job for another job to
get better pay package and good working conditions.
Every Company calculates Employee attrition rate and takes measures to
reduce it. The facts and figures are not made public as it may tarnish the
image of the company in front of its own employees and its loyal customers
Employee attrition costs a lot to the company. There are various costs which
are borne by the company at the start when the employee is under training
period. Costs such as
Ø Conveyance Cost
Ø Cost of lodging of the new employee
Ø Trainers cost
Ø Cost of venue where training will be conducted
Ø Materials to be supplied during training process
A company has a training period of 2 to 6 months. During this time an
employee is not fruitful for the company. If an employee leaves the company
when he starts working, company suffers a big loss in terms of money as well
as workforce. Every company takes measures to hold the talented workforce
by means of perks, increments, bonus and extra facilities. No one wants to
lose good brains to their competitors.
Flexible working conditions have been given to employees who have problem
working 10 – 5. Private hospitals for employees where they can get their
regular health check up done without spending much money. Free overseas
tour once in a year when a target is achieved. Few Companies are getting
more and more work savvy and just want to get their work done by hook or by
crook. The mentality needs to be changed. Target for completion of a work
should be there but that should not hamper an employee’s personal life.
Companies should conduct various seminars on how to balance personal and
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
professional life. A employee can be productive if and only if his personal life
is balanced. Make employees a part of your work culture family and see the
difference.
Attrition rate cannot become completely obsolete but it can surely be
minimized.
ATTRITION RATES IN IT SECTOR
Employee Attrition is one of the most critical problems which Indian IT
industry faces today.
Time to time, employee surveys are done to figure out what makes
employees to love or hate their employer. Based on these surveys, IT
companies take appropriate steps with hope of reducing the attrition. This is
an interesting fact that some companies are inherently immune to attrition,
whereas some companies fail to control attrition despite desperate efforts.
Almost every sector in India is facing high rates of attrition these days. A
recent study revealed that employees leave either because of compensation
reasons or due to better growth opportunities. According to NASSCOM,
Indian IT-ITES industry recorded US$ 49.6 billion in revenues in 2007-08. The
revenue of US$ 55-60 billion has been projected in 2008-09 at a growth rate
of 28-30 per cent. The IT industry's contribution to GDP was 8.6 per cent in
2008-09.
The Following graph describes the Attrition Rates in Different Sectors In India.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chart 2.1: Attrition Rates
Source: NASSCOM Report (www.nasscom.org)
Though the IT/ITES sector is booming, it is constantly facing high attrition
rates of 25% - 30%. Even the big brands are also facing the same problem.
Below are the details of attrition rates of various players in the IT sector.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
FMCG
Man
ufac
turin
g
Capi
tal G
oods
Cons
truc
tion
Non
Voi
ce B
PO
IT/I
TES
Tele
com
Phar
mac
eutic
als
Biot
echn
olog
y
Serv
ices
Fina
ncia
l
Avia
tion
Reta
il
Voic
e Ba
sed
BPO
Perc
enta
geAttrition Rates in 2008
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chart 2.2: Attrition Rates in IT Companies
Source: NASSCOM Report (www.nasscom.org)
Inspite of being IT giants, the 4 companies, namely Wipro, Satyam, Infosys
and TCS are facing high attrition rates. They are facing problems in retaining
their employees irrespective of the fact that they are providing an attractive
compensation packages to their employees. TCS, Infosys and Wipro faced
high attrition rate as compared to Satyam.
Wipro: The attrition rate of Wipro is 16.2% during the last quarter of 2006-07.
On annual basis, the attrition rate of Wipro BPO was 48 %. The main reasons
being told are the odd working hours and the higher studies. The attrition
rates of Wipro’s IT Division rose up to a 20.3% during the year 2008-09.
Wipro’s attrition rate is the highest in the industry.
Infosys: Attrition rate for Infosys for the period April-June 2009 was 11.9%.
But now it has increased to 13.7%, same as in the last quarter.
TCS: The attrition rate for TCS is 11.5 %, up from 10.6% last year.
0
5
10
15
20
25
Sask
en
Nuc
leus
Geo
met
ric
Flex
tron
ics
HCL
Info
sys
NIIT
Tec
hono
logi
es
Wip
ro
TCS
Info
sys
Perc
enta
ge
Attrition Rates in IT Companies
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN IT SECTOR
Software is a wealth and job creating industry, which has in just a few years,
grown to US $ 1 trillion, employing millions of professionals worldwide. The
Indian software industry has burgeoned, showing a nearly 50% compounded
annual growth rate over the recent years. Being a knowledge-based industry,
a high intellectual capital lends competitive advantage to a firm. Intellectual
capital comprises human capital and intellectual assets, the latter being any
created bit of knowledge or expertise. With a global explosion in market-
opportunities in the IT sector, the shortage of manpower both in numbers and
skills is a prime challenge for HR professionals. The related issues are varied
indeed: recruitment of world-class workforce and their retention,
compensation and career planning, technological obsolescence and
employee turnover.
WORKFORCE RETENTION AND MOTIVATION
Retention and motivation of personnel are major HR concerns today. People,
a Gartner group company specializing in management of human capital in IT
organizations has observed that the average tenure for an IT professional is
less than three years. Further, the use of new technologies, the support of
learning and training, and a challenging environment ranked higher than
competitive pay structures as effective retention practices. A recent survey of
1028 software professionals from 14 Indian software companies, showed that
while the professional gave importance to personal and cultural job-fit, HR
managers believed that the key to retention was salary and career
satisfaction. Money was a prime motivator for 'starters', but for those into their
third or fourth jobs, their value-addition to the organization was more
important. Monetarily, offering 'the best salaries in industry' is the minimum
every company is doing, apart from performance-based bonuses, long-service
awards, and stock options. Many organizations frequently conduct employee
satisfaction and organization climate surveys, and are setting up Manpower
Allocation Cells (MAC) to assign 'the right project to the right person'. In fact,
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
some are even helping employees with their personal and domestic
responsibilities to satisfy & motivate their workforce.
COMPENSATION AND REWARD
Increasing demands of technology coupled with a short supply of
professionals (with the requisite expertise) has increased the costs of
delivering the technology. This makes incentive compensation a significant
feature, with the result that software companies have moved from
conventional pay-for-time methods to a combination of pay-for-knowledge and
pay-for-performance plans. With the determinants of pay being profit,
performance and value-addition, emphasis is now on profit sharing (employee
stock option plans) or performance-based pay, keeping in view the long-term
organizational objectives rather than short-term production-based bonuses.
Skills, competencies, and commitment supercede loyalty, hard work and
length of service. This pressurizes HR teams to devise optimized
compensation packages, although compensation is not the motivator in this
industry.
In a volatile economy, businesses need to optimize the value created by their
executives through effective reward and compensation programs that reduce
costs, maximize financial efficiency and, at the same time, motivate key staff
members.
As more and more organizations face continuing talent shortages and reward
plans that fail to ultimately payout, an integrated approach to tax, finance and
human resources matters is required.
Clearly, first-class employee compensation packages are a prerequisite for
companies that want to attract and retain high-caliber, skilled employees. The
problem is, the costs of such programs can be overwhelming. Insurance
packages alone have become a contentious point as the cost of healthcare
continues to sky rocket. Plus, companies are already feeling the affects of
declining population growth and the dramatic increase in older workers, which
again will push up compensation and benefit costs over the next few decades.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Even outside of healthcare issues, compensation strategies—both during the
time an employee’s working life and after retirement—can be complex to
devise and difficult to maintain. However, as per any savvy business
professional, by aligning your compensation and performance management
programmes (base pay, perquisites, short-term and long-term incentives) with
the business objectives, can gain a competitive advantage over the market
rivals. The situation, market context, and challenges are unique and require a
tailor-made solution; in other words every organization needs a customized
remuneration structure based on internal job classifications, appropriate
career paths, and a performance management system that is also responsive
to the shareholders’ objectives.
In short, the value created by the organization’s workforce needs to outweigh
payroll and accounting expenses. And, while executive compensation often
garners the most scrutiny, costs associated with wider employee reward plans
also need to be addressed.
A comprehensive compensation and benefits package should be designed to
attract, retain, and reward the people necessary to create longer-term growth
and profitability. Wherever possible, the organization should provide the ability
for employees to participate in a range of compensation programs, which
allow employees to share in the organization’s financial success through
profit-sharing and stock programs; and innovative benefits that help
employees and their families achieve improved quality of life and financial
security.
A comprehensive package should include the following:
• Provides financial rewards based on individual performance;
• Shares the company's financial success with employees; and,
• Provides employees with a range of health care, insurance coverage,
paid leave and employee development opportunities.
The graph below illustrates the percentage of companies offering different
types of common benefits
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chart 2.3 Common Benefits offered by Companies
Source: Shruti Ambegaoker (2008) Watson Wyatt Research Report
An examination of the percentage of companies from different sectors
providing various benefits clearly states that the number of companies
providing various benefits in the IT sector is very low compared to the other
sectors.
Table 2.2 shows a comparative study between different sectors in terms of the
types of benefits given to the employees.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Gratuity
Provident Fund
Hospitalisation Cover
Personal Accident Insurance
Car Program
Company Accomodation
Personal Loan
Percentage
Common Benefits Offered by Companies
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Table 2.2 : Comparative Study of Sectors in terms of Benefits
Benefits Offered Percentage Of Companies Providing
General Industry
Auto Ancillary Pharmaceutical IT ITES FMCG
Gratuity 100 100 100 100 100 100 Provident Fund 92 89 93 100 100 95 Housing Loan 36 22 46 20 6 8
Hospitalisation Cover 84 67 80 91 95 73 Personal Accident
Insurance 78 67 79 95 85 61
Company Accommodation 64 56 53 21 25 47
Car Program 68 56 87 53 78 61 Superannuation 44 33 80 30 9 42 Personal Loan 61 33 23 29 11 44 Vehicle Loan 32 22 27 40 6 8
Club Membership 27 22 33 25 18 44 Group Term Life
Insurance 40 22 36 57 41 37
Regular Medical Check Up 48 56 53 46 39 50
Hard Furnishing 20 27 13 17 Employee Education
Scheme 27 22 7 47 53 11
House Rent Deposit Scheme 8 18 30 4
Source: Shruti Ambegaoker (2008), Watson Wyatt Research Report
CAREER GROWTH
One of the key retention challenges is meeting people's career expectations.
Inevitably, many people want to move upwards quickly; sometimes this just
isn't possible.
What you need to do is discuss expectations from the very beginning. Some
seemingly ideal candidates don't seem quite so attractive once you realise
that they expect to be promoted almost straight away, otherwise they'll be off,
causing more disruption, more trouble than it's worth. Other candidates,
perhaps slightly less driven, less ambitious, may be a better fit for your
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
situation, their aspirations in line with your company's typical career
progression timeframes.
Current employees may also have unrealistic expectations. In this case, their
manager or supervisor needs to use a bit of imagination, creativity, flexibility,
to see if a compromise can be reached. Perhaps providing some
developmental coaching so the employee can gain the skills they need to gain
a promotion.
It is no use simply telling employees that their expectations are unrealistic,
that almost inevitably sends them towards the exit door. There needs to be a
sense of progress, a clear pathway towards their medium term and longer
term career goals. There needs to be a reason to stay around.
GOOD WORK ENVIRONMENT
Sometimes the relationship with the management and the peers becomes the
reason for an employee to leave the organization. The management is
sometimes not able to provide an employee a supportive work culture and
environment in terms of personal or professional relationships. There are
times when an employee starts feeling bitterness towards the management or
peers. This bitterness could be due to many reasons. This decreases
employee’s interest and he becomes de-motivated. It leads to less satisfaction
and eventually attrition.
A supportive work culture helps grow employee professionally and boosts
employee satisfaction. To enhance good professional relationships at work,
the management should keep the following points in mind.
• Respect for the individual: Respect for the individual is the must in the
organization.
• Relationship with the immediate manager: A manger plays the role of a
mentor and a coach. He designs ands plans work for each employee. It
is his duty to involve the employee in the processes of the organization.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
So an organization should hire managers who can make and maintain
good relations with their subordinates.
• Relationship with colleagues: Promote team work, not only among
teams but in different departments as well. This will induce competition
as well as improve the relationships among colleagues.
• Recruit whole heartedly: An employee should be recruited if there is a
proper place and duties for him to perform. Otherwise he’ll feel useless
and will be dissatisfied. Employees should know what the organization
expects from them and what their expectation from the organization is.
• Promote an employee based culture: The employee should know that
the organization is there to support him at the time of need. Show them
that the organization cares and he’ll show the same for the
organization. An employee based culture may include decision making
authority, availability of resources, open door policy, etc.
• Individual development: Taking proper care of employees includes
acknowledgement to the employee’s dreams and personal goals.
Create opportunities for their career growth by providing mentorship
programs, certifications, educational courses, etc.
• Induce loyalty: Organizations should be loyal as well as they should
promote loyalty in the employees too. Try to make the current
employees stay instead of recruiting new ones.
BEING THE BEST PALCE TO WORK WITH
Just as with any other profession, what really matters to software
professionals is selecting 'the best place to work with' which is what every
company is striving to be. The global nature of this industry and the 'project-
environment' (as opposed to product environment) has added new cultural
dimensions to these firms. In a value-driven culture, values are determined
and shared throughout the organization. Typically, areas in which values are
expressed are: performance, competence, competitiveness, innovation,
teamwork, quality, customer service, and care and consideration for people.
Flat structure, open and informal culture, authority based on expertise and
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
ability rather than position, and flexi-timings are some of the norms software
firms follow. The idea is to make the work place a 'fun place' with the hope of
increasing loyalty and commitment.
Hiring and retaining great employees is a key factor in the success of your
business. Without the right people with the right skills, your business can’t
consistently fulfill your customer’s needs. Great employees support your
business success and also allow you, the business owner, to fulfill your role
as the entrepreneurial leader. Without effective managers to lead and
organize the work of the business, and technicians to do the work, you
wouldn’t have the time to focus on the critical strategy that drives your
business.
UPGRADATION OF SKILLS THROUGH RETRAINING
Rapid and unpredictable technological changes, and the increased emphasis
on quality of services are compelling software businesses to recruit adaptable
and competent employees. Software professionals themselves expect their
employers provide them with all the training they may need in order to perform
not only in their current projects, but also in related ones that they may
subsequently hold within the organization. As observed by Watts Humphrey,
Fellow of the Carnegie Mellon University, "as software professionals gain
competence, they do not necessarily gain motivation. This is because a
creative engineer or scientist who has learned how to accomplish something
has little interest in doing it again. Once they have satisfied their curiosity,
they may abruptly lose interest and seek an immediate change". And when
the rate of technological change is high may be higher than the time required
to acquire competence in one area professionals could undergo psychological
turbulence owing to the need to work in a new technology throughout their
career. They want to gain new knowledge, which will be utilized by their
organization. On the basis of the new learning they want to work in higher
segments of software value chain. Therefore, constant up-gradation of
employee skills poses yet another challenge for HR personnel.
New employee orientation, or new employee onboarding, is a significant
factor in helping new employees hit the ground running. Training that helps
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
each employee grow their skills and knowledge to better perform their current
job is appreciated as a benefit. Training also increases employee loyalty, and
thus retention, and helps you attract the best possible employees.
The American Society for Training and Development has traditionally
recommended a minimum of 40 hours of training a year for every employee.
This is consistent with the emphasis employees place on the opportunity to
grow and develop both their skills and career while in your employ. The
chance for ongoing development, is one of the top five factors employees
want to experience at work. In fact, the inability of an employee to see
progress is an often cited reason for leaving an employer.
CONCLUSION
With the advent of a work situation where more and more companies are
having to concede that their valued employees are leaving them, a new
concept of career and human resource management is bound to emerge. The
focus of this new paradigm should not only be to attract, motivate and retain
key 'knowledge workers', but also on how to reinvent careers when the loyalty
of the employees is to their 'brain ware' rather than to the organization.
With lifetime employment in one company not on the agenda of most
employees, jobs will become short term. Today's high-tech employees desire
a continuous up-gradation of skills, and want work to be exciting and
entertaining a trend that requires designing work systems that fulfill such
expectations. As employees gain greater expertise and control over their
careers, they would reinvest their gain back into their work.
HR practitioners must also play a proactive role in software industry. As
business partners, they need to be aware of business strategies, and the
opportunities and threats facing the organization. As strategists, HR
professionals require to achieve integration and fit to an organization's
business strategy. As interventionists, they need to adopt an all-embracing
approach to understanding organizational issues, and their effect on people.
Finally, as innovators, they should introduce new processes and procedures,
which they believe will increase organizational effectiveness.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 3 Factors affecting
Employee Retention in Wipro
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 3 FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN WIPRO This chapter helps to understand the major talent management strategies
adopted by Wipro Technologies to retain its best talent. Retention is a major
issue for any major player and an even bigger concern for Wipro for its
highest rate of attrition in the industry. This chapter studies all the talent
management strategies in comparison to other major players in the IT sector
so as to understand where Wipro can make minor modifications in its
strategies to be rated the best in the industry.
INTRODUCTION
Talent retention is identified as the second top HR challenge to critically meet
the business demands beyond tomorrow. Organizations can use a
combination of five strategies viz., pay and benefits, career growth, learning
and development, work environment and job satisfaction to create and retain
a pool of talented employees for the organization. Successful companies
assign the same importance to employer branding as they give to product
branding which help them in becoming an employer of choice. They are
continuously innovating and inventing new ways to keep talented employees
stick to the organization which is changing the face of talent management in
India.
Now more than ever in the history of business, it is imperative for the
organizations to manage people well. The shift from industrial age to the
knowledge worker’s age is sweeping the country, in fact the whole world. In
today’s information economy, people’s knowledge, skills, and relationships
are an organization’s biggest asset and main source of competitive
advantage. People related costs have risen to more than two thirds of
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
organizational spending. Increasingly, talent attraction and retention is viewed
as a significant driver of shareholder value and bottom line results.
Hewitt Best Employers in Asia 2005 study clearly shows that best employers
record over 60 percent higher revenue growth, 30 percent higher growth in
revenue per employee and half the recruitment costs of the rest.
A K Balyan, HR Executive Director of ONGC Ltd, describes one of his most
important tasks as a “fight to end, the flight of talented professionals” from his
organization.
The fight so far has been immensely successful, Balyan says, as ONGC has
been able to hang on to its talent pool despite the entry of so many
multinationals and private sector competitors after liberalization.
According to a survey done by the All India Management Association (AIMA),
90 per cent of Indian companies have talent retention problems.
The last decade has seen acute problems in sourcing right talent, rising
attrition rates, decreasing retention rates, and poaching of star employees by
competitors. To deal with the problems companies resorted to extensive
organizational change programmes and OD interventions from outside
consultants. These large scale programmes without any proper diagnose of
the prevailing problems resulted in more troubles rather than any fruitful
changes for the organizations.
TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN WIPRO
Talent Management basically requires proper diagnose of the current
employee attitudes and organizational culture and than targeting the problem
through a suitable strategy. Wipro does not have a Human Resource
Department; instead its entire Human Resource Wing is divided into different
departments that handle specialized issues. Wipro has a Talent Management
Department with highly qualified HR professionals targeting the problem of
employee attitudes and culture and providing good solutions for retention. The
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
strategies adopted by the department to manage talent can be best depicted
by the Talent Management Matrix as shown in Chart 3.1
Chart 3.1 Talent Management Matrix
Source: Lily Berry (1997), Psychology at Work
As shown in figure the strategies to attract and retain talent viz. pay &
benefits, learning and development, work environment and job satisfaction
can range from highly individual to communal and highly tangible to
intangible. Wipro uses a combination of these to succeed in their talent
management efforts.
The various talent management strategies and the success achieved by
Wipro and its competitors by using these strategies are discussed below:
Talent Retention
Pay and Benefits
Career Growth
Learning and Development
Work Environment
Job Satisfaction
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
PAY AND BENEFITS
Pay is the most important factor responsible for keeping the employees in the
organizations. It should be kept competitive to ensure that the employees do
not defect to competitors. Wipro adopts various vehicles to validate and
benchmark its salary and employee emoluments. It participated in a market to
market exercise done by agencies that surveys compensation trends. It also
carries out continuous quick market exercises to validate trends in the market
place and findings of Benchmarking exercises.
Apart from offering competitive salaries, introducing variable pay component
in the total compensation package acts as a major morale booster for superior
performers.
IT & ITES players are using variable pay as a strategic tool not only to retain
but also for taking the best out of their employees. At Wipro, variable
component in pay at higher levels is between 30-50 percent whereas at lower
levels, it varies between 7-15 percent. At Infosys, Variable pay varies from 10-
30 percent, whereas at Polaris Software, it varies from 5 percent at lower
levels to 25 percent at senior-most level.
Only 85 percent of IT companies had variable pay plans in 2005, compared to
89 percent in 2008. Significantly, variable pay as a percentage of total
compensation has increased from an average of 11.5 percent to nearly 19
percent across all sectors.
Many organizations today actively differentiate high performers, and in the
2007-08 study high performers received double the salary increase of an
average performer.
Sectors also display differentiation in their appetite for variable pay. The
increase in the variable pay among various industry sectors is shown in Table
3.1
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Table 3.1 Growing Variable Pay among various Industry Sectors
Industry Variable Pay in 2005 Variable Pay in 2008
Manufacturing 11% 16.2%
Banking 13.5% 23.2%
IT 10.9% 13.7%
ITES 12.9% 16.4%
Telecommunications 14% 17.8%
FMCG 19.2% 23.5%
Source: Vaishvanath, Sharad (2006), The evolving rewards landscape in
India
Hewitt’s research also shows that the services sectors offer variable pay more
than capital intensive sectors. The success of a services company lies in its
people, and therefore service-oriented organizations are more willing to
include a higher variable pay component in their compensation structures.
Wipro runs offices both in India and abroad. The salary brackets of the
employees classified according to the ranks are given in Table 3.2
Table 3.2: Payscale of Employee at Wipro
Employee Class No of Employees Salary (Rs/Month)
A+ Class 128 120000 U.S $
A Class 1240 150000
B+ Class 33000 60000
B Class 22000 40000
Technician 4000 35000
Zero level 3440 10000
Source: Steve Hamm (2007), Bangalore Tiger
Offering flexible benefits is another way to raise employee satisfaction. In
India, some 10-15 percent of companies allow executives to make their own
mix of salary packages. Wipro has adopted a flexible pay system in which all
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
managerial employees can design their own compensation package based on
their individual needs like car, furnishings, etc. Wipro (HR) Head believes that
this flexibility in compensation structuring helps satisfy individual needs better
at different stages in his career or life. Some other companies, such as Marico
and Accenture have similar approach.
Another area in which employers need to look while framing the retention
strategy, is Employee Benefits, such as, free medical & transport facilities,
company accommodation, life insurance, savings and investment plans,
employee stock option plans (ESOP), paid holidays, tax assistance, credit
cards and the list is endless.
Wipro has a group insurance scheme for its 9000 employees in Hyderabad
where each employee is covered to the tune of Rs. 5 Lakhs. The provider of
this policy is ICICI Prudential. The insured employees did not have to undergo
any prior medical examination. It is also has an Employee Stock Offer Plan
(ESOP). Under the plan, about 110 top performers have been offered 152,000
warrants, which can be exercised to buy the company’s shares within the lock
in period of five years. Wipro also provides Cab Service from the city to the
respective campus to protect employees from a 60-minute harrowing drive
through the crowded roads. Wipro offices also have bank extension counters.
TCS on the other hand offers a number of benefits to employees such as
loans for housing, personal computers, durable consumer goods, and
automobiles; medical insurance for employees and family; Air fares for
spouse and two children; medical insurance coverage; bank extension
counters; welfare trust facilitation for higher education and retirement benefits.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
CAREER GROWTH
A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an
organizational hierarchy system. In Wipro, promotion may be an employee's
reward for good performance i.e. positive appraisal. Before the company
promotes an employee to a particular position it ensures that the person is
able to handle the added responsibilities by screening the employee with
interviews and tests and giving them training or on-the-job experience.
As per Guidelines for supervisory employees’ promotion/up gradation,
applicable to the present year, Manager (HR) prepares the list of eligible
employees. Simultaneously, V P (HR) also asks for recommendations from
HODs. A comprehensive list is then prepared by Manager (HR) and submitted
to the EPPP which is announced by the Site President, for Executive and
Manager Family, and by the Group President (MSD), for Leader Family.
Bases of Promotion:-
1. Seniority:-
Seniority simply depends upon how long the employees is doing job with the
company. The length of service and talent are both interrelated with each
other. It is based on the tradition of respect for older people. It creates a
sense of security among employees and avoids conflict arising from
promotion decision.
2. Merit:-
Merit implies the knowledge, skill and performance records of an employee.
It helps to motivate competent employee to work hard and acquire new skills.
It helps to attract and retain young and promising employees in the
organization.
On the above basis, promotion of employees is done in Wipro. Wipro also
prompts employee by conducting different case studies on different aspects of
Information Technology. Working at Wipro is very competitive and smart work
and projection is required for growth.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
LEARNING AND DELVELOPMENT
The importance of Learning & Growth in order to retain ambitious employees
cannot be undermined especially when the competitors have a well
established training system. It not only acts as a way to attract and retain
employees but also provides competitive advantage by strengthening the
intellectual base of the company. According to Prashant Sachdeva, Business
Analyst, IT & Research, Elixir Web Solutions, “With the face of business
changing & knowledge worker increasing in almost all organizations, the
factor that currently retain people are opportunities to learn and grow.”
Training & Development of individuals is a key focus area at Wipro. Wipro
invests about 4 percent of its annual revenues in Learning and Development,
to build competency capital within the company in cutting edge technologies,
domain and functional areas. Special emphasis is placed on providing
necessary learning interventions to associates with potential of being leaders
in the company. Wipro has state of the art training facilities in all its delivery
centers. The centers are equipped with world-class infrastructure.
The Talent Transformation Division handles this in Wipro. For those with
less than one year of experience a well-structured induction training program
is conducted. This will cover all aspects of software development skills that
are required.
As a PCMM Level 5 organization, there is also high focus on Competency
Development. Talent Transformation Department has a mandate to provide
technical & business skill training based on the departmental and divisional
need. All employees are eligible to take training based on the competency
gap identified or Project need.
In addition to class room training the employees can take e-Learning with out
waiting for class room training. However the training calendar for each quarter
is rolled out at the beginning of the quarter so that employees can make
themselves free for the desired training.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Compliance and Regulatory training is an important aspect in today’s
regulated environment and is often implemented as part of one of Wipro’s
corporate initiatives.
Wipro Leaders’ Qualities Survey, which started in 1992, is one of the oldest
leadership development initiatives. It has successfully contributed nurturing
top class business leaders in Wipro. There are 8 Wipro Leadership Qualities,
which are based on Wipro vision, values and business strategy. In order to
identify and help leaders develop these competencies Wipro adopts a 360-
degree survey process. This is an end-to-end program, which starts with the
obtaining of feedback from relevant respondents and ends with each leader
drawing up a Personal Development Plan (PDP) based on the feedback
received. The PDP is developed through “Winds of Change” which is a
seven-step program that helps in identifying strengths and
improvement areas, and determining the action steps.
Chart 3.2: The Leadership Development framework at Wipro
Source: The learning and development section, www.wipro.com
Wipro Leader
Objective Setting
Competency Based
Performance Appraisal
WLQ 360 degree
CSS customer
inputsMeet your
people program
HR Review and
Planning
Early opportuniti
es
Lifecycle Leadership Programme
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Wipro has developed an approach for Life Cycle Stage Development Plan.
Training and development programs at various stages have been designed by
mapping the competencies to specific roles. Competencies specify the
specific success behaviors at every role.
• Entry-level program (ELP) - The program covers the junior
management employees with the objective of developing managerial
qualities in the employee. The target group is campus hires and lateral
hires at junior level.
• New Leaders’ Program (NLP) - It is popularly known as NLP and aims
at developing potential people managers, who have taken such roles or
are likely to get into those roles in the near future.
• Wipro Leaders’ Program (WLP) - This program is for middle level
leader with people, process, and business development and project
management responsibilities. These leaders are like the flag bearers of
Wipro values and Wipro way of doing business.
• Business Leaders’ Program (BLP) - This is for senior leaders with
business responsibility. At this level, people are trained up for revenue
generation; and Profit & Loss responsibilities. The program covers
commercial orientation, client relationship development, and team
building and performance management responsibilities among other
things.
• Strategic Leaders’ Program (SLP) - This program covers top
management employees. The focus is on Vision, Values, Strategy,
Global Thinking and Acting, Customer Focus and Building Star
Performers. Wipro ties up with leading business schools of
international repute to conduct this program for Wipro leaders.
Most IT corporations are becoming familiar with the use of virtual meeting
rooms and on-demand information gathering tools. Patni Computers employs
a software called ‘Centra’ which enables them to create a virtual classroom to
conduct training for people across multiple locations. According to Sunil
Kuwalekar, Senior Vice President – Learning & Leadership Development,
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Patni Computer Systems Limited, the effectiveness of Centra is almost 90
percent of classroom training.
GOOD ENVIRONMENT
Factors such as organizational climate & culture, communication system,
participation & recognition, recreation, etc form the working environment
which is the major factor responsible for establishing a long-term bond
between the individual and the organization. A healthy corporate culture of
caring for the workers, community and environment will strengthen the social-
spiritual capital, leading to a positive work climate of empowered and
supported workers.
The communication system prevailing in the organization determines the
manner in which employees receive information from the management.
TCS has an open door policy in which any employee can approach the CEO
or the top management with work related problems. Open-house sessions
and engagement programmes allow the employees at all levels meet and
discuss various work issues. Employees can also take part in one-on-one
sessions where they can interact privately with senior management. These
sessions are helpful in providing mentorship, as well as understanding real-life
issues that colleagues face at work. The queries and discussions are formally
recorded and followed up.
At Infosys, InSync is the internal communication program focused on keeping
the Infoscion abreast of latest corporate and business developments, and
equipping him or her to be a "brand ambassador" for the company. This
program combines a communication portal with workshops, monthly
newsletters, articles, daily cartoons and brainteasers to synchronize each
Infoscion with the organization.
Feedback system also plays a major role in building positive work culture in
organizations as it provides a channel by which the problems and grievances
can be heard by the top management and also a medium by which top
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
management can be updated by the market conditions by the employees
which are in direct contact with the market.
Wipro as an organization believes in connecting and listening people. The
various communication and feedback programmes at Wipro are depicted in
Table 3.3.
Table 3.3 Communication and Feedback Programmes in Wipro
Channel W Channel W is the employee portal at
Wipro which creates a de facto ‘Wipro
community’ by allowing Wiproites to
interact and disseminate information
on things they most cherish. The
intranet ensures that the entire
organization is wired and there is
meaningful exchange of information /
views across domains and
geographies. Key sections encourage
employee participation and
communication through bulletin
boards and chat rooms.
W10 W10 is a dipstick survey with 10
questions which checks the
satisfaction level on issues, which
affect the health of the workplace and
supervisory effectiveness. The
feedback given by employees is
shared with management through
scorecards.
Employee Perception Survey Wipro conduct employee satisfaction
surveys every two years. Employees
are encouraged to give comments
and rank the organization on certain
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
areas satisfaction drivers. Top
management then prepares a timely
action plan to address the areas of
concern and task forces are created
to focus on improvement areas and
implement action.
Action plan (Meet your people
program)
The W10 scores provide the trigger to
managers /supervisors to meet their
teams and resolve issues which
create dissatisfaction in the
workplace.
Skip Level Wipro believe that team feedback is
an important parameter of leadership
development as well as team
cohesiveness. A Skip level meeting is
a formal team feedback session
facilitated by HR as well as the
supervisor’s supervisor. This is an
institutionalized process in Wipro and
managers see great merit in it as they
get feedback from the team that
affects team performance and can
make mid-course corrections to
improve effectiveness at work.
Source: Employee Feedback, Career Section, Wipro Website,
www.wipro.com
Next comes the Recognition & Rewards (R & R) programs which are the most
cost effective medium to ensure that talented employees stick to the
organization.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
According to Anuradha Purbey, Associate Director (HR), Aviva Life insurance,
“Since ‘pure’ monetary means were losing their steam, Corporates came up
with innovative alternatives which were high on ‘emotional’ quotient and low
on ‘monetary cost’.”
Explaining how R & R works as a motivating tool, Harish Govind, GM (HR)
Blue Star Infotech says, “It is a motivator both for the person who is receiving
the reward and the others who are witnessing this event. The message goes
home is, today it’s this person, tomorrow it could be you, if you keep up a
good performance.”
Recognition & Rewards comes in many shades: acknowledgement from a
senior cash incentives, gift certificates, stock plans, certificates of
appreciation, opportunities to attend management workshops and training
sessions, membership associations to exclusive clubs, scholarships and paid
sabbaticals, holiday packages, etc.
Table 3.4: Recognition and Rewards Programmes at Wipro
Encore Wipro has a unique package called
‘Encore’ which is essentially a basket
of non-monetary rewards given to
motivate employees and recognize
excellent work performance. The
basket of rewards comes at two
levels- individual level and the
organization level:
Feather-In-My-Cap
Dear Boss
At individual level one award is
‘Feather-In-My-Cap’ which is¬ on-the-
spot recognition of an effort that is
important to a project team. Another
award is ‘Dear Boss’ which
recognizes the positives of a good
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
boss.
Mastermind
Hall of Fame
At organizational level one award is
‘Mastermind’ which notes the¬ most
innovative solution or idea in Wipro.
Another award is ‘Hall of Fame’ which
recognizes the superlative performers
in different roles as well as superlative
team performance.
Source: Rao, K Raghavendra (2004) Are you rewarding right; Indian
Management
Further, developing social ties among key employees through recreational
activities such as clubs, sports, etc., companies can significantly reduce
turnover among workers who are high on affection need.
Work-life programmes for employees such as health clubs, yoga & aerobic
classes, sports facilities, stress management programmes, cultural initiatives,
etc not only directly help organizations in increasing the satisfaction level of
employees, but also indirectly contribute to its financial performance by
improving the employee capability to perform.
To motivate the employees of the company, Wipro organizes different sports
tournaments i.e. Cricket, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Badminton etc. For the
recreation of the employee, there are company organized gets to gather once
in a year with their family. The purpose of the club membership is to meet
the other members of the industrial community and interact with them for
relation personnel leisure. This facility is provided only to the SMC and above.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
JOB SATISFACTION
Benefits and high profits are key essentials when it comes to having a high
job satisfaction among the company’s employees and a low turnover rate.
Google Inc., the number one company at which to work for two straight years
according to Fortune Magazine, seems to have job satisfaction down to a “T.”
This company goes above and beyond the typical benefits, providing free
gourmet meals, onsite oil changes, onsite car washes, a $500 voucher for
takeout food after the birth of a child, a free annual ski trip, unlimited sick
days, and more. An individual arriving on a Google campus feels like they
are on a high-scale college campus. The joke going around on the Google
campus says one could gain the campus-15 due to the free food. All of
Google’s benefits cause their turnover numbers to stay low while there
remains a long list of employee hopefuls.
Wipro focuses on job satisfaction in order to keep employees with their
company and receive a better output from their employees. Wipro realizes
that providing flexible timings to employees is not the only way of increasing
job satisfaction. Wipro endows responsibilities to its employees and lets the
employee utilize his responsibility. Another measure taken is to respect and
nurture every employee’s work life balance. Sessions are conducted on the
importance of work life balance. In Wipro, every employee career path is
marked out, helping the employee work correctly and therefore giving the
company very satisfied employees.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 4 Data Analysis and
Interpretation
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION This chapter represents an empirical analysis of the data pertaining to study
collected through the questionnaires and personal interviews. It presents the
study through the use of statistical tools so as to provide validity to the
hypothesis and assumptions made. The chapters also presents the
interpretations made from the data.
INTRODUCTION
Hiring is the core activity for any company with more than one employee.
Retention, on the other hand, can be viewed as a non-core activity or
something that occurs organically. Leadership comments such as “people
should be happy to just have a job,” or “we are so busy working with our
customers,” or “we need to reach profitability” are focus-stealing excuses
diverting leaders from the activities to retain wonderful team members
recruited so diligently by the company.
Simply put, retention is securing your talent for the long term and
advancement of the company. The depth and quality of your retention
practices today will distinguish you as a talent winner from the talent losers
when the economic recovery begins.
It is not unusual to have a talent and recruitment shuffle during recovery as
team members seek a more fulfilling opportunity. When you consider the high
cost of finding the right team member, it is surprising to see companies not
spend more time and effort on retention.
If you want to understand what it is really costing your company to lose
employees, examine your turnover rates for the last five years. Put a number
on the cost of lost intellectual company knowledge, talent and reduced
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
productivity and then you might reconsider what it really costs to retain great
team members. The numbers can be staggering.
Creating and maintaining high employee morale is mission critical to retention
and more often than not a measure of the ultimate health of an organization.
Retaining your best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales,
satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded
organizational knowledge and learning.
The same goes for attracting great employees. Applicants often ask about a
company’s culture and professional development opportunities as well as
inquire about the support of management. Speaking directly about the
company retention program and sharing retention successes reassures the
applicant that the company is a fit for them.
Jonna Greene, vice president of human resources with La Tortilla Factory in
Santa Rosa stated: “First and foremost, you have to be the organization that
you present to the applicant. If ongoing training and professional development
are selling points offered by your company, you better deliver on your
promises. A key factor in employee motivation and retention is the
opportunity to grow and develop career-enhancing skills. In fact, this is one of
the most important factors stated in an applicant’s decision-making process.”
METHODOLOGY
Data Collection
Primary data was collected using questionnaires and personal interview. The
respondents were approached personally in order to seek fair and frank
responses on the factors affecting retention in the organization. Secondary
data has been collected from the internet, published reports and the fact
sheets Wipro Technologies and the NASSCOM website. For analysis of the
data, rank correlation and chi – square techniques have been applied.
The primary data was collected through questionnaires. These questionnaires
were distributed to 60 employees of Wipro Technologies. Due care was taken
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
to make sure that the employees filled this with interest and not as a routine.
The data was collected only from those employees who has completed
at least one year in the organization. The selection of employees is a
random sampling for the study.
Questions 1 to 6, are related to the employees tenure in the organization and
the ratings that he or she would assign to each of the factors considered for
this study in view of their longer tenure with the organization
Questions 7 and 8 are related to Pay and Benefits, 9 and 10 are related to
Career Development & Growth, 11 and 12 are related to Training and
Development, 13 and 14 are related to Work Environment and 15 and 16
are related to Job Satisfaction.
Sample
The study is of employee retention in IT sector. Since all the companies,
irrespective of their ownership and projects undertaken, compete in the same
global market, it is deemed appropriate to analyse one of the leading
companies. The sample comprises employees from Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli. The basic motive behind choosing this organization is increasing
global presence of Wipro in varying aspects of technology solutions.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
RESPONDENT PROFILE
The data was collected from 30 respondents from the age group of 20 to 30
years and 30 respondents from the age group of 30 to 40 years.
Overall experience in the industry:
Generally, people stick to the same profession once they start. However, in
today’s world, a complete shift is career is nothing new. It is important to
understand the overall experience of the employee in the industry to
understand his needs and what his requirements are. This enables the
organization to understand whether the employee is looking for a change or
whether he is dedicated to the profession he is in.
Chart 4.1: Experience Profile – Years in Industry
Source: Primary Data (Complied from tabulated responses)
Experience in Wipro Technologies:
Tabulating the number of years completed by an employee in the organization
under consideration, i.e. Wipro Technologies helps to understand how strong
the retention management strategies are. Wipro, with its high rate of attrition,
is known to have employees leaving the organization within the first 2 years of
joining. Moreover, the current trend the market would also state the same.
65%
28%
5% 2%
Experience Profile - Years in Industry
1 to 2 years
2 to 4 years
4 to 6 years
More than 6 years
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Rarely, do employees remain in an organization for more than 2 or 3 years.
The main reasons that can be attributed to this are better pay and better
opportunities available outside. Hence it becomes the requirement of every
organization to retain its best talent to ensure that their competitor does not
take over the intellectual capital of the organization.
Chart 4.2: Number of years of the employee in Wipro
Source: Primary Data (complied from tabulated responses)
FACTORS AFFECTING RETENTION IN IT SECTOR
The problems affecting retention in the IT sector in general was studied from
the point of view of each of the employees. The 5 factors taken for this study,
viz. Pay and Benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction were introduced to the employees taken for
this study to understand their views on the same. The study finds that majority
of the employees feel that Career Growth and Training and Development of
their skills would be the reason why there generally is attrition in the IT sector.
People move from one company to another usually because of the jump in the
growth ladder. Sometimes, it is also found that employees leaving due to the
lack of training in the organization. Retraining of the skills of the employee is
very important. Technology is developing fast, and everyone needs to be
updated and trained in the upcoming technological advancements to make
65%
28%
5%
2%
Number of Years in Wipro
1 to 2 years
2 to 4 years
4 to 6 years
More than 6 years
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
sure that they are at par with others and to ensure fast advancement in the
career ladder.
Out of the 60 people considered for the study, the chart 4.3 depicts the
responses got for the factors affecting retention in IT sector.
Chart 4.3 Factors affecting retention in IT sector
Source: Primary Data (Compiled from tabulated responses)
PREFERNCE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FACTORS BY THE TWO GROUPS
When the sample from age group from 20 to 30 years is considered, then
study is dealing with individuals who are either fresh into the industry or with
experience ranging from 2 to 4 years. The average ranking given by this
group was as follows:
Table 4.1: Rankings assigned by sample of 20-30 years
Factors Pay
Package Job
Satisfaction
Lack of Career Growth
Problems with
Supervisors
Lack of Training and Development
Rankings 1 2 3 4 5 Source: Primary Data (Compiled from tabulated responses)
Pay and Benefits
Career Growth
Training and Development
Work Environment
Job Satisfaction
Number 17 16 19 6 2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Factors affecting Retention in IT sector
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
This sample is relatively young in the industry. Hence, for them their pay
package and career growth plays a vital role. They are up to date with the
technological aspects and therefore would not feel the need for immediate
training and development.
When the study deals with an age group of 30 – 40 years, the following is the
mean of the rankings given by the individuals.
Table 4.2: Rankings assigned by sample of 30-40 years
Factors Lack of Career Growth
Pay Package
Lack of training and development
Job Satisfaction
Problems with
supervisors Rankings 1 2 3 4 5 Source: Primary Data (Compiled from tabulated responses)
This sample deals with a group of individuals who have more experience in
the industry. For them, career growth plays an important role. They rate
training and development after that because for a quick career growth they
need to updated with the current case technologies. Hence, higher end
training and development should be provided by the company.
Basically for retention of employees, the organizations must concentrate on
pay package, career growth that is charting out a career plan for the
employees, and training and development of skills of the higher talent. This
can be shown by the following rank correlation between the two groups.
Table: 4.3 Rank Correlation Between the two age groups
Factors Age Group 20-30 years
Age Group 30–40 years
D=R1 – R2 D2
Pay Package 1 2 -1 1 Lack of career growth 3 1 2 4 Lack of training 5 3 2 4 Problem with supervisor
4 5 -1 1
Job satisfaction 2 4 -2 4 Source: Primary Data (Compiled from tabulated responses)
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
The correlation coefficient for the above table would be +0.3 showing that,
though there is a low degree of correlation different retention strategies should
be adopted for different groups.
FACTORS AFFECTING RETENTION IN WIPRO
Retention is a costly affair for any company. Wipro, with the highest rates of
attrition, needs to work really hard on its retention management strategies.
Wipro registered an attrition rate of 20.3% in the year 2008-2009. When an
employee leaves an organization, the organization not only looses out on the
cost of training the employees but also the loss of intellect from the talent
pool. Today, every organization is trying to increase its talent pool. The
organizations strive on their intellectual capital and any loss on the same hits
the company really hard. This is so because the projects undertaken by the
company would require talent of special expertise and loosing that level of
expertise would make it difficult for the company to complete the same project
or even take up a new one. It might also become difficult for the organization
to replace that employee as the time taken to further train the employee would
delay the deployment of the assignment the company has taken up. The case
with Wipro is no different. Wipro conducts campus recruitments in all major
engineering colleges in India. The number of recruits per year is large.
However, so is the level of attrition, the number of recruits barely balances the
number of cases of attrition per year. These effects the company’s cost and
the budget for the year concerned.
When asked about the reasons why people would generally leave Wipro, the
answers were varied. However, most employees agreed on some common
parameters. They feel they are not paid at par with industry standards. Some
feel that the training does not develop their skills enough. The following graph
(Chart 4.4) depicts the responses given by the employees.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chart 4.4 Factors affecting retention in Wipro
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
It can be basically summarized that the training and development programs
need to be given more importance in Wipro. In the changing market, everyone
is interested in how much more they can advance their skills so that they have
better market value and they can demand higher packages.
Each of the factors considered for the study i.e. Pay and Benefits, Career
Growth, Training and Development, Work Environment and Job Satisfaction,
is further individually studied as follows.
HYPOTHESIS
H0 – Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction are not significant for employee retention.
19
15
17
4
5
0 5 10 15 20
Pay and Benefits
Career Growth
Training and Development
Work Environmnet
Job Satisfaction
Factors affecting Retention in Wipro
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Pay and Benefits
Compensation constitutes the largest part of the employee retention process.
The employees always have high expectations regarding their compensation
packages. Compensation packages vary from industry to industry. So an
attractive compensation package plays a critical role in retaining the
employees.
Compensation includes salary and wages, bonuses, benefits, prerequisites,
stock options, bonuses, vacations, etc.
These days, an attractive performance based pay also plays a very important
role. This is because it motivates an employee to perform better.
The study was conducted on two factors, viz. Performance based pay and the
benefits given to the employees. Performance based pay is accepted well by
majority of the employees. The component of performance based pay in the
pay in the pay structure is increasing year by year. However, on one hand
when performance based pay motivates an employee to work to his best, care
should also be taken to make sure that the component of performance based
pay should not be too stressful for the employee. It might so happen that an
employee was unable to perform for a particular period considered due to
some personal issues however he is generally at the top of the performance
rating.
Employee benefits typically refers to retirement plans, health life insurance,
life insurance, disability insurance, vacation, employee stock ownership plans,
etc. Benefits are increasingly expensive for businesses to provide to
employees, so the range and options of benefits are changing rapidly to
include, for example, flexible benefit plans. Benefits are forms of value, other
than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution
to the organization, that is, for doing their job.
Benefits keep up the employee morale and encourage the employee to stay
back in the organization, as benefits are the perks apart from the actual salary
they receive.
Chart 4.5:
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the sample size of 60 employees, 33 answered that performance
based pay is important to a large extent, 21 to some extent and 6 to little
extent. When asked about Benefits given
answered that it is significant to large extent, 24 to some extent and 16 to
large extent.
χ2 value between performance based pay and the benefits given to employees
is 7.9326 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of freedom. Thus the null h
and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This proves that Pay and benefits
is significant for retention of employees.
Career Growth
Career Growth can be defined as a way of success where at every regular
interval you must have new
responsibilities to handle and most importantly new process to learn. And if
Performance Based Pay
Benefits
A Study of Employee Retention in
Chart 4.5: Responses for Pay and Benefits
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the sample size of 60 employees, 33 answered that performance
based pay is important to a large extent, 21 to some extent and 6 to little
extent. When asked about Benefits given to the employees, 20 employees
answered that it is significant to large extent, 24 to some extent and 16 to
value between performance based pay and the benefits given to employees
is 7.9326 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of freedom. Thus the null hypothesis is rejected
and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This proves that Pay and benefits
is significant for retention of employees.
Career Growth
Career Growth can be defined as a way of success where at every regular
interval you must have new challenges to face, new activity to do, new
responsibilities to handle and most importantly new process to learn. And if
Large Extent Some Extent
Performance Based Pay 33 21
20 24
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Pay and Benefits
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the sample size of 60 employees, 33 answered that performance
based pay is important to a large extent, 21 to some extent and 6 to little
to the employees, 20 employees
answered that it is significant to large extent, 24 to some extent and 16 to
value between performance based pay and the benefits given to employees
ypothesis is rejected
and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This proves that Pay and benefits
Career Growth can be defined as a way of success where at every regular
challenges to face, new activity to do, new
responsibilities to handle and most importantly new process to learn. And if
Little Extent
6
16
these things gets saturated at any environment then this indicates that it time
to bring about a change.
Drive, or focused concentratio
growth. Although taken for granted by many, concentration is not an easy
thing to achieve routinely. Improving productivity of oneself or ones workforce
is also often cited as an aim of career growth. Teachi
their own career growth and potential is one important part of this.
Chart 4.6:
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
In Wipro, 27 employees feel their career aspirations have been met
extent, whereas 24 employees their career aspirations have been met to a
little extent. However, when asked about mentoring, 23 said to large extent
and 25 said to some extent.
χ2 value is between these two points is 12.6778 (>
freedom, implying that we have to reject the null hypothesis and accept the
alternative hypothesis. This proves that career growth is significant for
retention of employees.
Career Aspirations
Mentoring
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
A Study of Employee Retention in
these things gets saturated at any environment then this indicates that it time
to bring about a change.
Drive, or focused concentration is generally identified as important to career
growth. Although taken for granted by many, concentration is not an easy
thing to achieve routinely. Improving productivity of oneself or ones workforce
is also often cited as an aim of career growth. Teaching workers to improve
their own career growth and potential is one important part of this.
Chart 4.6: Responses for Career Growth
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
In Wipro, 27 employees feel their career aspirations have been met
extent, whereas 24 employees their career aspirations have been met to a
little extent. However, when asked about mentoring, 23 said to large extent
and 25 said to some extent.
value is between these two points is 12.6778 (>5.99), at 2 degrees of
freedom, implying that we have to reject the null hypothesis and accept the
alternative hypothesis. This proves that career growth is significant for
retention of employees.
Large Extent Some Extent
27 9
23 25
Career Growth
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
these things gets saturated at any environment then this indicates that it time
n is generally identified as important to career
growth. Although taken for granted by many, concentration is not an easy
thing to achieve routinely. Improving productivity of oneself or ones workforce
ng workers to improve
their own career growth and potential is one important part of this.
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
In Wipro, 27 employees feel their career aspirations have been met to large
extent, whereas 24 employees their career aspirations have been met to a
little extent. However, when asked about mentoring, 23 said to large extent
5.99), at 2 degrees of
freedom, implying that we have to reject the null hypothesis and accept the
alternative hypothesis. This proves that career growth is significant for
Little Extent
24
11
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Training and Development
According to the recent review by Harvard Business Review, there is a direct
link between training investment of the companies and the market
capitalization. Those companies with higher training investment had higher
market capitalization. It clearly indicates that the companies which have
successfully implemented training programs have been able to deliver
customer goals with effective results. It shows that good training results in
enhancement of individual performance, which in turn, helps the organization
in achieving its business goals. Training is a tool that can help in gaining
competitive advantage in terms of human resource.
With the growing investment by IT companies in the development of their
employees many companies have now started their own learning centers. As
an example, Sun has its own training department. Accenture has Internet
based tool by the name of “My Learning” that offers access to its vast learning
resources to its employees. Companies are investing in both the technical
training, which has always been an essential part in IT industry, as well as in
managerial skills development. Companies now keep aside 3-5% of revenue
for training programs. As an example, some of the major players like
Accenture and Wipro are allocating 7% and 3% respectively of the company’s
overall revenue.
Chart 4.7:
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees, 29 feel that the training and development
programmes are at par with industry standards only to
the study reveals that 36 people feel that they are provided equal opportunity
to attend training programmes only to some extent.
χ2 value between these two factors considered is 6.986 (>5.99), at 2 degrees
of freedom, which implies t
This proves that training and development is significant for employee
retention.
Work Environment
Given the backdrop of growing levels of attrition and shortage of employable
skilled talent, it is felt the
would be by building soft and intangible skills, better value systems and work
culture.
The Ex-Chairman of Satyam Computers, Mr. B. Ramalinga Raju, said building
world-class institutions called for better hu
At Par with Industry Standards
Equal Opportunity
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
A Study of Employee Retention in
Chart 4.7: Responses for Training and Development
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees, 29 feel that the training and development
programmes are at par with industry standards only to some extent. However,
the study reveals that 36 people feel that they are provided equal opportunity
to attend training programmes only to some extent.
value between these two factors considered is 6.986 (>5.99), at 2 degrees
of freedom, which implies that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted.
This proves that training and development is significant for employee
Work Environment
Given the backdrop of growing levels of attrition and shortage of employable
skilled talent, it is felt the best way to address the demand-
would be by building soft and intangible skills, better value systems and work
Chairman of Satyam Computers, Mr. B. Ramalinga Raju, said building
class institutions called for better human resource management skills,
Large Extent Some Extent Little Extent
At Par with Industry 15 29
Equal Opportunity 19 36
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Training and Development
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Responses for Training and Development
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees, 29 feel that the training and development
some extent. However,
the study reveals that 36 people feel that they are provided equal opportunity
value between these two factors considered is 6.986 (>5.99), at 2 degrees
hat the alternative hypothesis should be accepted.
This proves that training and development is significant for employee
Given the backdrop of growing levels of attrition and shortage of employable
-supply mismatch
would be by building soft and intangible skills, better value systems and work
Chairman of Satyam Computers, Mr. B. Ramalinga Raju, said building
man resource management skills,
Little Extent
16
5
particularly in a knowledge
uniquely placed. Its strength lies in its large young talent pool.
"If one were to analyze the work patterns, nothing much separates one
individual from another, and an employee is as good or as bad as the
opportunity and the environment he gets to work. A conducive work
environment, where every individual employee is seen as a leader, actually
helps build better organisation, something we learnt a
Father N. Casimir Raj, XLRI, and Founder Director of LIBA, said, "There has
been a clear shift in the values and this has emerged as one of the key areas
of concern as this is being increasingly neglected. A new breed of self
approach stands out where the focus is on monetary benefits."
Chart 4.8:
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees of Wipro considered for the study, 37 employees
responded that they are being appreciated for their work to large extent,
whereas 14 employees responded that they are being appreciated to a little
extent. 31employees responded that
Appreciation for Work
Managers friendly and approchable
A Study of Employee Retention in
particularly in a knowledge-driven industry. Unlike other countries, India is
uniquely placed. Its strength lies in its large young talent pool.
"If one were to analyze the work patterns, nothing much separates one
al from another, and an employee is as good or as bad as the
opportunity and the environment he gets to work. A conducive work
environment, where every individual employee is seen as a leader, actually
helps build better organisation, something we learnt at Satyam," he said.
Father N. Casimir Raj, XLRI, and Founder Director of LIBA, said, "There has
been a clear shift in the values and this has emerged as one of the key areas
of concern as this is being increasingly neglected. A new breed of self
pproach stands out where the focus is on monetary benefits."
Chart 4.8: Responses for Work Environment
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees of Wipro considered for the study, 37 employees
responded that they are being appreciated for their work to large extent,
whereas 14 employees responded that they are being appreciated to a little
extent. 31employees responded that their managers are friendly and
Large Extent Some Extent
Appreciation for Work 37 9
Managers friendly and approchable 31 22
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Work Environment
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
driven industry. Unlike other countries, India is
uniquely placed. Its strength lies in its large young talent pool.
"If one were to analyze the work patterns, nothing much separates one
al from another, and an employee is as good or as bad as the
opportunity and the environment he gets to work. A conducive work
environment, where every individual employee is seen as a leader, actually
t Satyam," he said.
Father N. Casimir Raj, XLRI, and Founder Director of LIBA, said, "There has
been a clear shift in the values and this has emerged as one of the key areas
of concern as this is being increasingly neglected. A new breed of self-centric
pproach stands out where the focus is on monetary benefits."
Responses for Work Environment
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees of Wipro considered for the study, 37 employees
responded that they are being appreciated for their work to large extent,
whereas 14 employees responded that they are being appreciated to a little
their managers are friendly and
Little Extent
14
7
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
approachable to large extent. A friendly working atmosphere needs to be
maintained to ensure a healthy working atmosphere.
χ2 value between these two factors is 7.0678 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of freedom,
which proves that the null hypothesis should be rejected and the alternative
hypothesis should be accepted. Hence, a good work environment is
significant for retention of employees.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The
happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job
satisfaction is not the same as motivation, although it is clearly linked. Job
design aims to enhance job satisfaction and performance; methods include
job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. Other influences on
satisfaction include the management style and culture, employee involvement,
empowerment and autonomous work groups. Job satisfaction is a very
important attribute which is frequently measured by organizations. The most
common way of measurement is the use of rating scales where employees
report their reactions to their jobs. Questions relate to rate of pay, work
responsibilities, variety of tasks, promotional opportunities the work itself and
co-workers.
Job satisfaction is in regard to one's feelings or state-of-mind regarding the
nature of their work. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors,
eg, the quality of one's relationship with their supervisor, the quality of the
physical environment in which they work, degree of fulfillment in their work,
etc.
Chart 4.9:
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employee
take pride in their work to large extent. However, when asked about their
knowledge about how their work reflects in the organization growth, 29 and 25
employees answered large extent and some extent respe
χ2 value between these two above factors is 11.4854 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of
freedom, which again implies that the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternative hypothesis is accepted. This means that Job Satisfaction is
significant for employee rete
Pride in Work
Reflection of Work on Org. Growth
A Study of Employee Retention in
Chart 4.9: Responses for Job Satisfaction
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
Out of the 60 employees considered for the study, 41 responded that they
take pride in their work to large extent. However, when asked about their
knowledge about how their work reflects in the organization growth, 29 and 25
employees answered large extent and some extent respectively.
value between these two above factors is 11.4854 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of
freedom, which again implies that the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternative hypothesis is accepted. This means that Job Satisfaction is
significant for employee retention.
Large Extent Some Extent
41 10
Reflection of Work on Org. 29 25
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Job Satisfaction
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
s considered for the study, 41 responded that they
take pride in their work to large extent. However, when asked about their
knowledge about how their work reflects in the organization growth, 29 and 25
ctively.
value between these two above factors is 11.4854 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of
freedom, which again implies that the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternative hypothesis is accepted. This means that Job Satisfaction is
Little Extent
9
6
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 5 Summary, Conclusions
and Suggestions
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Chapter 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS In the present scenario, world is turning into a global village and the whole
globe is reachable from any destination. In this small world even companies
are reachable to the people and vice versa. Hence, the various job profiles
are available across the globe. In this situation, the biggest challenge for a
company is to retain its workforce intact especially the Knowledge Banks.
Every company is trying to increase its turnover to the very possible extent.
While in all this workout of increasing the turnover, they fail to notice the loss
incurred due to the los of employees and the expenses of hiring new
employees (Hiring Cost, Training Cost, Productivity Loss etc.) Hiring of new
employees normally costs around 35% or more of the average employee
salary. Moreover there is risk involved in getting the right employee for the
right position with the right attitude.
If an employee resigns, then a good amount of time is lost in hiring a new
employee and then training him/her. Moreover, recruitment and training
cannot assure the same level of efficiency from the new employee. Moreover,
one resignation brings about more, which can even bring the process to a
standstill.
For retention of employees, the HR manager needs to understand the
requirements of the employees and at the same time, the employees should
be clear about the organizational expectations. The organization should make
every employee accountable for his own job so that each employee feels that
he is important and significant for the organization which would lead to the
smooth functioning of the organization.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Employee retention is important for any organization despite the sector or its
specialization in the industry. This is for a multitude of reasons. For starters,
there are hidden costs associated with hiring just one employee. For every
lost employee, a business will have advertising and administrative expenses
to replace that employee such as the following:
• time spent reviewing and/or revising the job description;
• time spent drafting the ad;
• costs for running the ad;
• time and resources required for reviewing the resumes;
• time and resources required for interviewing the applicants;
• expenses related to background checks; and
• on-boarding, orientation and training, etc.
The bottom line is that businesses are looking to increase revenues. As
mentioned above, the recruiting and hiring expenses to replace just one
employee are substantial, which end up cutting into revenues. In addition to
that, an organization’s experienced employees are more likely to have higher
productivity levels, which help bring in increased revenues. On the other
hand, an organization’s profit and loss statements can be negatively impacted
by high employee turnover.
In fact, American businesses spend millions of dollars for turnover and
recruiting costs. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says
that it can cost up to one and half times an employee’s starting annual salary
to replace that employee. So employers need to strategically and tactically
utilize their current talent to compete in this “war for talent.”
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
ROLE OF HR IN RETENTION
As every person differs from the other, there is no standard recipe to
handle an employee and his requirements. However, the reporting HR
manager of every employee is his connection to the organization. Researches
conducted across several organizations have consistently validated the
reality that the HR manager plays a significant role in influencing the
employee's commitment level and retention. There are a number of
retention practices HR managers can use to increase the probability that
an employee will remain committed to the organization over time. These
retention practices reflect the manager's attitude and actual relationship with
employees reporting to him.
Most organizations ask their managers to place highest priority for client
delight, productivity and timely delivery undermining delight of their employees
who actually run the show. Good retention practices work on a two way give
and take- based on not only what the employee contributes to the
organization, but what the organization gives back to the employee. One
such tool would be for managers to be accessed on the success rate of
retaining employees of their unit as one of the competencies of their Key
Performance Indicator (KPI) over a period of time. Finally such
performances could be linked with their incentives. When managers are held
accountable in this fashion, it ensures that the motivation to examine and
enhance retention practices is ever present.
While some enlightened leaders balance the needs of the organization with
the needs of the employee, the truth is that these leaders are rare. Though
managers play a very crucial role in retention, they do not control all of
the factors that can affect attrition. Therefore, the second component
represents the organization’s responsibility in the retention equation.
An ideal combination of the Organizational Retention Systems and managers’
positive attitude towards employee retention, when working in a
complimentary manner rather than contradictory manner is the best recipe for
achieving organizational objectives.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
NEED FOR THE CURRENT STUDY
A study of employee retention is Wipro is essential for the following reasons:
• Wipro is emerging as one of the top global player in the IT sector
• The number of projects in Wipro has been increasing the last two years
• Wipro has the highest attrition rate in the IT industry at 20.3%
• The cost of attrition is very high and eats into the profits of the
company
• The loss from the knowledge pool is very high and can lead to bringing
projects to a standstill
• The cost and time involved in replacing an employee is very high and it
might effect the reputation of the company
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
3. To study the factors that affect employee retention in IT sector
4. To study the attributes that can be adjusted to retain employees in
Wipro Technologies.
HYPOTHESIS
H0 – Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction are not significant for employee retention.
METHODOLOGY
The primary data was collected through questionnaires. These questionnaires
were distributed to 60 employees of Wipro Technologies. Due care was taken
to make sure that the employees filled this with interest and not as a routine.
The data was collected only from those employees who has completed
at least one year in the organization. The selection of employees is a
random sampling for the study.
Questions 1 to 6, are related to the employees tenure in the organization and
the ratings that he or she would assign to each of the factors considered for
this study in view of their longer tenure with the organization
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Questions 7 and 8 are related to Pay and Benefits, 9 and 10 are related to
Career Development & Growth, 11 and 12 are related to Training and
Development, 13 and 14 are related to Work Environment and 15 and 16
are related to Job Satisfaction.
SAMPLE
The study is of employee retention in IT sector. Since all the companies,
irrespective of their ownership and projects undertaken, compete in the same
global market, it is deemed appropriate to analyze one of the leading
companies. The sample comprises employees from Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli. The basic motive behind choosing this organization is increasing
global presence of Wipro in varying aspects of technology solutions.
TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS
The comparative study is done with the help of χ2. Mean and coefficient of
correlation have also been used for the analysis of the link between the two
groups of employees of the organization.
SOURCES OF DATA
The data required for the study is collected both from primary and secondary
sources. Primary data is collected by conducting personal interviews,
discussions with the employees and managers considered for the study. In
addition, data was collected through questionnaires, feedback, observations
etc.
Secondary data includes reports and records of the organizations for the past
two years and the data collected from the NASSCOM website on the rates of
attrition. Research studies conducted by individuals, institutions and agencies,
and various other journals were considered.
PERIOD OF THE STUDY
The study aims to understand the attributes affecting employee retention in
Wipro. The study spread over a period of two years i.e., from 2007 to 2009.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
However, data pertaining to the period before that considered for the study
was also looked into depending upon the requirement for the study.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The data required for the present study was collected using questionnaires.
The data was collected from the employees of Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli across the age group of 20 to 40 years.
Wipro’s global IT services business has 97,552 employees, including 16,500
in the BPO division. There are 2645 employees in Wipro, Hyderabad and
1453 employees in Wipro Technologies, Gachibowli. The sample represents a
4.1293% of the total headcount.
CHAPTERISATION
Chapter – I INTRODUCTION
The first chapter being introductory helps in understanding the importance of
HRM and Employee Retention in the IT industry. This chapter provides
information regarding the objectives, methodology, scope, statistical tools
appointed, chapterisation and also limitations. A major part of this chapter
consists of the literature review.
Chapter – II TALENT MANAGEMENT IN IT SECTOR
This chapter was taken up keeping the pressing problem of talent
management in mind. The chapter covers aspects and limitations of retention
in the IT sector and the factors affecting the same.
Chapter – III FACTORS EFFECTING EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN
WIPRO
Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to
remain with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the
completion of the project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
as well as the employee. This chapter examines the factors affecting retention
and the steps taken by Wipro to tackle these factors.
Chapter – IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
In current global market, companies are composed by competitors, regardless
of industry. To develop a competitive advantage, it is important that firms truly
leverage on the workforce as a competitive weapon. This chapter analyzes
the various factors affecting employee retention and the attributes that can be
adjusted to improve employee retention. It also presents a comparative study
between employees of two different age groups and the different
requirements of the two groups.
Chapter – V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter being the last chapter gives conclusions and suggestions and
briefly explains the objectives, methodology, findings and limitations of the
study. This chapter also gives the scope for further study.
FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY
65% of the sample consisted of employees who have completed only 1 to 2
years in Wipro, whereas only 5% of the sample was in the 4 to 6 year bracket
and a mere 2% were above 6 years. This clearly indicates that the average
tenure of employee in organization is not very high.
According to the sample considered for the study, the factors affecting
retention in IT sector were quantified as follows:
• Lack of proper training and development (31.66%)
• Pay and benefits not at par with industry standards (28.33%)
• Lack of Career Growth (26.66%)
• Conducive Work Environment (10%)
• Lack of Job Satisfaction (3.33%)
Whereas the factors affecting retention in Wipro were quantified as follows:
• Lack of proper training and development (28.33%)
• Pay and benefits not at par with industry standards (31.66%)
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
• Lack of Career Growth (25%)
• Conducive Work Environment (6.66%)
• Lack of Job Satisfaction (8.33%)
This shows that the training and development programmes are not at par with
the other players and probably suggests that the pay and benefits are not at
par with industry standards. These factors can lead to a lower employee
morale leading to low level of job satisfaction.
From the study conducted it was found that the expectations and
requirements of employees who are in the age group of 20 to 30 yrs and 30 to
40 yrs are different. This is because; the employees who are in the age group
of 20 to 30 years are relatively new to the organization. The group who are in
the 30 to 40 age bracket are usually people who have a wider range of
experience ranging anywhere between 6 to 10 years.
The finds that though the requirements of the two groups are different a small
level of correlation (r=+0.3) exists between the groups showing that though
different, there are minor similar requirements like that of career growth.
Findings as per hypothesis
H0 – Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction are not significant for employee retention.
The test of chi square applied to the data collected in the study helped to
reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis; proving that
Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction are significant for employee retention.
The study shows that performance based pay is a very strong factor for
employee retention with more than 50% of the sample agreeing to the same.
The responses regarding benefits were rather varied.
The study reveals that people who feel their career aspirations have been met
and people who feel they haven’t follows almost a 1:1 ratio, with 27 feeling the
former and 24 feeling the latter. This could be due to the difference in age
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
groups considered. Whereas, the study clearly shows that mentoring is a
strong factor for career growth and hence for retention.
From the study it was learned that about 50% of the respondents felt training
programmes were at par with industry only to some extent. 60% of the
respondents felt that they were being given equal opportunity to attend the
training programmes of their choice only to some extent. This shows that
majority of the employees are not very satisfied with the training programmes.
More than 60% of the employees considered for the sample feel that they are
being appreciated for their work however only 50% feel that their managers
are friendly and approachable. The managers, create a healthy working
atmosphere for the employees which in turn helps the employees to approach
them for their problems.
Out the sample, about 66.66% of the employees take pride in the work they
do, however only a small fraction of the employee understand how their work
reflects in the overall growth of the organization. Job satisfaction forms an
important component of employee retention as unsatisfied employee tends to
look for different places to work with.
CONCLUSIONS
§ A huge fraction of the people have less experience only one to two years
in Wipro and hence high level of importance should be given to employee
retention
§ All the factors viz. Pay and Benefits, Career Growth, Training and
Development, Work Environment and Job Satisfaction are important for
employee retention.
§ The study of rank correlation between the two groups show that there is a
small level of correlation which implies the needs of the two groups are
different however, the small level of correlation implies the importance of
career growth in both the sections of employees
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
§ For retaining a talent from an age group of 20 to 30 years, the HR
manager must concentrate more on career growth and charting out a good
career plan
§ When it comes to an employee of an age group of 30 to 40 years, more
emphasis must be paid on training and development as without training,
this cadre of employees may not be at par with the current technology.
§ Performance Based Pay should be given utmost importance. Employees
are happier if they are paid according to their performance and this
encourages them to perform better
§ Benefits are important for retention however with varied opinions.
§ HR managers must give special importance in charting out the career
plans for the employees
§ Career Aspirations of all employees have not been met uniformly.
§ Mentoring in Wipro is pretty successful as most employees feel its being
done in the right direction.
§ Training at Wipro is not at par with industry standards as majority feel its
so only to some extent.
§ The data reveals that equal opportunity is not being given to all employees
to attend the training programs of their choice.
§ More than 60% feel they are being appreciated for their work, which shows
the rewards and recognition programmes are strong.
§ The opinions regarding the friendliness and approachability of managers
seem varied
§ Almost 67% take pride in the work. However, employees do not know how
their work reflects in the growth of the organization.
SUGGESTIONS
ü The younger group of employees should be well appreciated to increase
their morale to enable them to work better.
ü The experienced group of employees should be exposed to the current
case technology to enable them to move forward and not be redundant in
the industry.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
ü The HR managers should check on the career paths drawn for all
employees.
ü To retain the good talent who are new to the industry, they must be given
a pay package according to industry standards.
ü Employees should be rated correctly according to their performance and
paid accordingly.
ü Right type of mentoring should be provided to all employees to help them
grow up the career ladder.
ü The career aspirations of all employees should be carefully understood by
the HR managers and career paths should be designed accordingly.
ü Training provided should be at par with industry standards.
ü All employees should be provided the training of their choice, and no
favoritism should be shown amongst the employees
ü The managers should be friendly and approachable so as to realize the
first signs of attrition. If attrition is stopped at the preliminary stage then
steps can be taken to curb the same.
ü Employees should be encouraged to take pride in the work they do
ü Employees should be informed about the relevance of their work in the
organizational development.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
5. The study is confined only to Wipro Technologies, Gachibowli
6. The study is confined only to Wipro and does not cover other IT
companies in its cadre.
7. Pay and benefits, career growth and development, training, work
environment and job satisfaction are only some of the few factors that
effect employee retention; future studies in this area could possibly
include other variables that potentially have an impact on retention on
the basis of existing literature.
8. No attempt has been made in this study to do a longitudinal analysis,
that is, to explore the influence of these factors on retention over a
period of time.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
1. The study can be extended to other organizations both in IT sector and
others
2. Comparative study can be undertaken between sectors and within the
IT sector
3. Other variables can be included in the study so as to get a broader
picture.
4. Further study can include a longitudinal analysis to correctly
understand the extent of impact of these factors.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Annexures
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
WHY DO PEOPLE LEAVE AN ORGANISATION? 1. Age : __________
2. Number of years of experience in current organization : _________
3. Total number of years of experience in your profession : ______________
4. What according to you is the most important in your tenure with an
organization a. Pay and Benefits b. Career Development and Growth c. Development of your skills through training d. Conducive work environment e. Job satisfaction
5. According to you why do people generally leave an organization, please rank the factors from 1 to 5, 1 being the highest.
a. Pay and benefits___________ b. Career development and growth_________ c. Lack of training to enhance their skills.___________ d. Problem with Work Environment __________ e. Job satisfaction _______
6. If you were to leave this current job what reasons would contribute to the same:
a. Pay and Benefits b. Lack of Career Development and Growth c. Lack of Training and development d. Problem with Work Environment e. Job Satisfaction
7. According to you, Performance based pay is important: a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
8. According to you, the benefits provided by your organization would extent your stay with the organization
a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
9. Have your career aspirations been met or in the process? a. To little extent b. To some extent
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
c. To a large extent
10. Is the right kind of mentoring given to you for your growth in the organization?
a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
11. Are the training and development programmes in your organization at par with industry standards?
a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
12. Are all employees in your organization given equal opportunity to attend the training programmes of their liking?
a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
13. Do you think you are being appreciated for your work a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
14. Do you think your managers are friendly and approachable a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a larger extent
15. Do you take pride in your work? a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
16. Do you know how your work reflects in the overall growth of the organization?
a. To little extent b. To some extent c. To a large extent
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Bibliography
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
Bibliography JOURNALS & BOOKS
1. Eisenberger, R., F. Stinglhamber, et al. (2002), "Perceived supervisor
support: Contributions to perceived organizational support and employee
retention " Journal of Applied Psychology 87(3): p565-573.
2. Wood, S. (1999), "Human Resource Management and Performance"
International Journal of Management Reviews 1(4): 367-413.
3. Brown, S. and T. Leigh (1996), "A new look at psychological climate and
its relationship to job involvement, effort and performance." Journal of
Applied Psychology 81: 358-368.
4. Gelade, G. A. and M. Ivery (2003), "The impact of human resource
management and work climate on organizational performance" Personnel
Psychology 56(2): 383-404
5. Rigby, R. (2003), The churning curve of Human Resources. London: Oct
2003
6. Sigler, K. (1999), Challenges of employee retention Management
Research News, Patrington: 1999.Vol.22, Iss. 10; pg. 1
7. Hacker, C.A. (1996), (2nd edition) The Costs of Bad Hiring Decisions &
How To Avoid Them St Lucie Press, Florida.
8. Kinnie, N., S. Hutchinson, et al. (2005). "Satisfaction with HR practices and
commitment to the organisation: why one size does not fit all." Human
Resource Management Journal 15(4): 9-29.
9. Ramlall, S. (2004), A Review of Employee Motivation Theories and their
Implications for Employee Retention, Journal of American Academy of
Business, Cambridge Sep 2004.Vol.5, Iss. 1
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
10. Sturman, M (2003), Is It Worth It To Win The Talent War? : Evaluating the
Utility of Performance-Based Pay Personnel Psychology. Durham: Winter
2003.Vol.56, Iss. 4
11. Armstrong, M. (2001) (8th Edition), The Handbook of Human Resource
Management Practice, Kogan Page Limited, London.
12. Alcorso, C. (2003), Immigrant employees in hotels (August 2003) Labour
& Industry, v14
13. Beardwell, I. & Holden, L (1994), Human Resource Management. Pitman
Publishing, London.
14. Terpstra, D. (1996), The Search for Effective Methods HR Focus May.
1996 Vol.73
15. Berry, Lily M. (1997). Psychology at Work. Mc.GrawHill Co., San
Fransisco.
16. Clarke, Liz.(1994). The Essence of Change. Prentice Hall International
(UK) Ltd.
17. Somers, M John. (1995). Organizational commitment, turnover and
absenteeism: an examination of direct and interaction effects. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 16 (1), 49-58.
18. Pfeffer, Jeffrey and Viega, John F. (1999). Putting People First for
Organizational Success. Academy of Management Executive, 12 (2), 337-
348.
19. Ulrich, Dave. (1998). Intellectual Capital = Competence x Commitment.
MIT Sloan Management Review, 15-16.
20. Williams, LJ and SE Anderson. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational
commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role
behaviors. Journal of Management, 17, 601-617.
A Study of Employee Retention in Wipro
21. Browning, V. and F. Edgar (2004). "Reactions to HRM: an employee
perspective from South Africa and New Zealand " Journal of the Australian
and New Zealand Academy of Management 10(2): 1-14.
22. Huselid, M. A. (1995). "The impact of human- resource management
practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance."
Academy of Management Journal 38(3): 635-672.
23. Patterson, M. G., M. A. West, et al. (2005). "Validating the organizational
climate measure: links to managerial practices, productivity and innovation
" Journal of Organizational Behavior 26(4): 379-408.
24. Edgar, F. and A. Geare (2005). "HRM practice and employee attitudes:
different measures different results " Personnel Review 34(5): 534-549.
WEBSITES
1. www.wipro.in
2. www.citehr.com
3. www.talkstats.com