Employee turnover in the business process outsourcing industry in India

In this chapter, we explore the problem of high turnover in the high-tech BPO sector in India, where relatively well-educated employees are performing a variety of primarily low skill, low cost jobs. We highlight the various approaches employers are taking to solve the turnover problem. As we will argue, some of these strategies are fairly traditional, focusing on various instrumental incentives to promote employee retention, while some others are new and rather radical, particularly the articulation of an organizational and work culture tailor-made for the particular demographic profile of BPO employees: young, upper middle class, well-educated graduates. Based on anecdotal evidence and interviews with industry personnel, we sense some ambiguity regarding the effectiveness of these strategies. We argue that this ambiguity is a function of (a) the recent and rapid growth of the industry and the fact that firms are experimenting with a whole variety of retention strategies, and (b) the inability of firms to develop an integrated organizational culture that permits a focus on both longer term organizational performance, as well as retention.