BPOs offering on the job education to stop attrition

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 27 December 2010, 20:16 IST   |    2 Comments
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BPOs offering on the job education to stop attrition
Ahmedabad: At a time when IT giants are battling their way to fight the rising rates of attrition, the BPOs are playing smart and introducing on the job education courses to curtail their staff from quitting, reports Vinay Umarji of Business Standard. BPOs are now collaborating with business schools in the country to provide customised certificate programs to their staff at work. An example would be Infosys BPO that has tied up with IIM-A, IIM-B and Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research in Mumbai to launch short term management courses to its employees. D Swaminathan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Infosys BPO says, "Freshers join our firms but after two-three years quit their jobs to pursue further education, mostly in management. We have been trying to address this issue by launching short term certificate programmes in management education within the campus. This way, our employees will not only be able to develop their skill set but also use this education to grow within the organisation without having to quit their jobs." The module differs from course to course and can either be taken in the form of distant learning or the employees can attend evening classes for the same. These courses are specially designed to suit the needs of the BPO industry. This leads employees to grow academically and progress in the BPO field without the need to change their stream after taking a management course. The BPO arm of Infosys witnesses an attrition rate of 45-50 percent annually mainly because the staff quit to pursue higher studies. What is more, the BPO organizations bear the cost of the courses, adding it as part of their training budget. This comes up to 4-5 percent of the total expenditure of the organizations. The B-schools just charge consulting fees for these programs. BH Jajoo, Dean, IIM Ahmedabad says, "They are not management development programmes where the entry is open for everyone by paying fixed set of fees. Instead, they are customised through an in-depth study of these BPO campuses, employees and organisational structure and the company is charged a consulting fee." There are several BPOs that are engaged in providing their employees education on job. Genpact, the largest BPO services provider in India, has tie-ups with many colleges and universities in India and abroad for the same cause known as the Education@work program. Mumbai-based WNS provides similar courses, with tie-ups running to 25 institutions in India as well abroad.