BPO Companies Highest Attrition Rate in India, Says Hay Group Report

Incentive Plans in BPO Companies Lag General Market Practices

DELHI, India & MUMBAI, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attrition rates in India’s lucrative BPO industry are about 7.8 percentage points higher than in other industries, according to a report released today by Hay Group, a global management consulting firm.

The finding comes from a new report, BPO Special Sector Survey 2008, based on Hay Group’s global online compensation and benefits database, PayNet. It showed that in general, staff turnover in India is 15.7%, but at BPO companies, attrition is the country’s highest at 23.5%, followed by Communications (22%) and Retail (18%).

The report explained that one of the factors is that the remuneration structure design is not as attractive when compared to other industries in India:

• Short-term incentives account for only 4% of total remuneration, compared to 10% generally
• Benefits are limited to those that can be enjoyed only post-retirement, like pension fund and gratuity, and not during the employment period.
• While pay is generally designed to give employees more take-home cash, a higher portion is allocated to allowances like housing/rent and not base salary.

“The BPO industry hires a large number of graduates who are bright and ambitious. From our analysis, the overall compensation structure design is not competitive when compared to general market practices.
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Infosys opens second BPO campus in Jaipur

JAIPUR, INDIA: Infosys BPO Ltd, the subsidiary of Infosys Technologies Ltd, today announced the inauguration of its second BPO campus at Mahindra World City, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje was the chief guest on the occasion. She was accompanied by Dr. Digambar Singh, Minister of Industries, Government of Rajasthan. Infosys' CEO and MD, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Mohandas Pai, along with CEO and MD of Infosys BPO, Amitabh Chaudhry, were also present.

The new campus at the SEZ at Mahindra World City, Jaipur, spread over 42 acres, is being set up in phases and an estimated amount of Rs. 531 crore would be invested in the project, said a press release.

In the first phase, Infosys has made an investment of Rs. 171 crore, creating a built-up area of 3,69,100 sq. ft with a seating capacity of 3,200.

It works with universities in Rajasthan through 'Project Genesis', a program to enhance skill-sets in students and make them industry-ready.

Since October 2005, it has worked with 229 lecturers in 110 colleges and imparted training to 3,250 students in industry-relevant skills including language, presentation, and analytical skills, the release said.

As a part of company's drive to become carbon neutral, this campus would have 49% of the total area as the green belt.

"Jaipur is becoming an exciting destination for the IT-ITES industry. The Honorable Chief Minister, Smt. Vasundhara Raje has proactively put in place progressive policies and has invested in infrastructure to ensure rapid growth," said Kris Gopalakrishnan.
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Infosys opens BPO campus at Mahindra SEZ

Infosys today announced the inauguration of its BPO at Mahindra World City's SEZ with an investment of Rs 171 crore in the first phase.

Rajathan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who inaugurated the facility, said it was not the issue of land or money, but she had to changed the mindset of people specially bureaucratic set up.

"Though we are lagging behind in the race of SEZ set up, but it is an amazing efforts that the goal was accomplished in less than 2 years of its inception," she said.

Infosys CEO and Managing Director Kris Gopalakrishnan said," Jaipur is becoming an exciting destination for the IT-ITeS industry. Raje has proactively put in place progressive policies and has invested in infrastructure to ensure rapid growth."

The new campus at the SEZ would be spread over 42 acres of land with a total investment of Rs 531 crore to be made in phases, he said.

Infosys HR Director T V Mohandas Pai said their campus at Sitapura near Jaipur has been operational since August 2006 and seen an investment of Rs 22.77 crore with a capacity of 890 employees. The Sitapura BPO made a revenue of USD 15 million, Pai said.
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Are BPO jobs no longer attractive? Working for a BPO today is a fast way to rake in the moolah!

But what’s it like to be a BPO employee? The popular perception now is that ‘BPO’ is no more the acronym for Brighter Prospects & Opportunities. But is this true?

Well, the truth is that the BPO industry has done a whole lot of good for the country in terms of providing mass employment opportunities. In the early 1990s, it was unheard of for a graduate to get a job without having any additional qualifications. Today, an English-speaking graduate from any town or city in the country can easily find employment.

So, while the West continues to depend on us because of the relatively cheaper costs and intellectual capital here, why are people still hesitant to take up a BPO job? A former BPO employee, Arvind quit his job and opted for higher education. “It’s difficult to climb the corporate ladder beyond a certain point without a master’s degree.

A stint with a BPO became absolutely necessary to kill spare time while preparing for the numerous entrance exams to various colleges. I don’t want to be a BPO employee all my life,” he says.

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BPOs get `code of conduct` for employees` security, finally

Taking the first concrete step towards curtailing the rising incidents of crime against business process outsourcing (BPO) staffers, a group of 32 Pune-based BPOs and National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) have framed a "code of conduct" to ensure their physical security.

The code of conduct, which is soon expected to be replicated across the country, deals with aspects such as security during travel, selection of transport vendors, internal communication and security within company premises.

Pune city has a BPO community of more than 95,000 and some 3,000 cars and jeeps are used as pick-up and drop vehicles for them by the 32 units.

Prominent players like Wipro, Zensar, WNS, KPIT Cummins, Mphasis and Ocean Connect have all agreed to implement the code of conduct framed by the best practises committee.

BPO scales a new peak with version 3.0

NEW DELHI: Move over night long slogs on mundane outsourcing jobs. The $9-billion business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has graduated to the third generation services, or BPO Ver 3.0. Thanks to moving up the ladder many of the over 5,00,000 staff now see a meaningful career in outsourcing and companies are able to get tasks with higher billing rates. Sample the work in BPO 3.0: developing structured products for investment banks, using Monte Carlo simulation (statistical tools, in common lingo) based patent valuation, providing actionable legal and engineering reports for products that can be launched in multiple global markets and more.

This is far too complex from what the industry started with — that is, transcribing medical records, answering phone calls and data entry (BPO Ver 1.0). Later the firms graduated to doing problem solving and decision-making tasks such as processing insurance claims or enhancing limit on credit cards. That was BPO Version 2.0.

While the third version is being incorporated by BPOs over the last few months, it is still in its infancy. What distinguishes itself perhaps from the other versions is that the companies are recruiting experts with up to 15 years of experience and the higher billing rates.
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India most mature spot for BPOs - BPO Updates

BANGALORE: India has emerged as the most matured location for offshored IT and BPO services, though this dominance might be chipping away given the rising costs. Everest Research Institute in its report “Global Sourcing--Market Vista Q1 2008” said that the cost inflation in Indian cities is exceeding the 2007 levels and this has increased the risk of labour arbitrage closing very rapidly.

There has been a constant threat of newer locations such as China, Philippines and Eastern Europe, which are challenging the dominance of India. Everest said that players are continuing to expand and the competitive intensity for talent remains unabated. Further the consumer price at an alltime high since 2004 is potentially creating inflationary pressure on wages.

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Indian BPO ranks high - BPO News

Satyam BPO also ranked fourth on the Knowledge Process Outsourcing vendors list. more than 4,000 organizations were evaluated in compiling the listsSatyam Computer Services Ltd announced on Monday that Satyam BPO, its business process outsourcing BPO arm, has been ranked second among the worlds leading BPO vendors in BrownWilson Groups Black Book of Outsourcing. Satyam BPO also ranked fourth on the Knowledge Process Outsourcing vendors list. more than 4,000 organizations were evaluated in compiling the lists.

For the third consecutive year, Satyam BPO has been ranked among the top 10 in BrownWilson Groups Black Book of Outsourcing. In 2007 and 2006, Satyam BPO, formerly Nipuna, had been ranked in several categories such as FAO, KPO and Energy and Utilities.

The categories in which we have been ranked this year BPO and KPO are the key growth areas that we have been focusing on basing our Specialty BPO positioning on. This ranking fits in extremely well from a strategic perspective for us, said Satyam BPOs Chief Executive Officer Venkatesh Roddann. Recognition from the BrownWilson Group shows our commitment to developing partnerships with clients and enabling transformation through superior delivery.

Satyam BPO is powered by a combination of domain expertise, operational excellence, process skills, and superior technology. The company is the worlds first eSCM Capability Level 5 service provider and Indias leading integrated endtoend outsourcing service providers. Satyam BPO offers proven,fullservice expertise for multiple industries, including telecom,pharmaceuticals, financial services, and manufacturing. Its global delivery standards have resulted in numerous longstanding client relationships with Fortune 500 companies.

Source : http://www.offshoringtimes.com/