TMCnet News
Now, top-level attrition haunts BPOs(The Economic Times (India)): The ghost of attrition is now beginning to haunt the top brass of large BPOs. After Wipro Spectramind, senior executives in EXL, Genpact, Vertex and EFunds are quitting in quick succession. EXL's country manager Rakesh Chopra and vice-president Lalit Vij have quit in the last few days. That's not all, two seniors executives, VP Amit Tyagi and hiring head Aseem Handa have also quit EXL. Similarly, Vertex COO Shailaja Purane left the company a few days ago. Genpact saw four senior HR executives quit recently, which includes Joe Petronas and Srikant Karra. But companies say it's the sign of a maturing industry. "Top-level attrition this year is the same as last year. But some of the top guys put in their papers in quick succession and that's what has made the attrition look significant. But we have a good succession plan in place," says EXL HR head Deepak Dhawan. This apart, there have been other movements as well. Efunds chief executive officer Atul Kanwar quit recently to join Transworks. The BPO's senior V-P Vipul Khanna also quit to join UBS backoffice as its head. Also Ashok Chaddha of Spectramind joined Globalvantage as its CEO sometime back. Industry analysts say the explosive growth in the sector is one of the main reasons behind the top management exodus. BPOs have been expanding at a breakneck speed due to a plethora of MNCs moving their backoffice to India. And that's what is fuelling demand for managerial talent. Not surprisingly, the second-rung of senior executives in established BPOs are being promoted as head of new businesses. "In the past five years, the number of BPO companies has more than tripled. Given the nature of demand, executives with good work experience are badly chased especially because the new backoffices coming to India are engaged in complex processes," says Aseem Handa, CEO, Futurestep, an executive search firm. Not only are the new companies growing but the older ones are also expanding increasing the demand for executives in leadership positions. Also, for the second rung of managerial talent, heading a business is the next logical step. "It's the natural conclusion as opportunities are lot more with people exercising their options," says Wipro Spectramind ex HR head S Varadarajan. "The motivation for all second-level managers is to run their own ship," says a headhunter. MNCs are paying globally comparable salaries which is an added advantage. Another factor responsible for top-level attrition is the unique character of the BPO industry. New businesses prefer to poach from established sister companies because the BPO experience is invaluable and scarce. |