Swirling attrition continues to be a concern for Wipro, the country?s third-largest software exporter, despite the company?s recent makeover of its people management processes and HR policies.
The company?s attrition levels rose to 23.2% during the first quarter ended June 30 compared with 20.9% in the preceding quarter. Executives said the attrition was mainly at the 3-5 years experience level.
?More than 50% who left are in this bracket. People with 3-5 years of experience are the most valuable for any organisation. And they are the most marketable as well. We did not give a salary hike for the last 16 months because of the restructuring, which delayed the appraisal cycle and many people left. We expect the attrition level to settle down in the coming quarters,? said Saurabh Govil, senior vice-president, (HR), Wipro Technologies.
Wipro, which sees a downward trend in attrition, expects Q2 attrition level to be below 20%. ?Now with the new structure in place, all the people processes have been completed including salaries hikes, promotions, new roles and structure. This should help the attrition to come down,? said Govil.
Wirpo offered a 12-15% wage hike during the quarter, while the raise for onsite employees was in the range of 3-4%. The salary hikes were effective from June 1. The company also noted that it won?t propose any mid-term hike for its employees. However, in a bid to plug the rising attrition, Wipro has started an employee advocacy group during the quarter to build a system of openness between the management and employees. ?It will be a core group of 25-30 people who will work with another 150 people globally on any employee issue and bring it to the notice of the functional heads,? said Govil.
?If we are working on any new HR policies we will test it out with the group to see how it will be received by our employees. It will help us fine-tune our policies according to the need of our employees. It is away to understand employee need and reach to our people better,? he added. The streamline in the company?s HR policies was part of the larger organisational restructuring that took place during the last four to five months. Executives feel today there is much more clarity and transparency in HR functioning. Employees are clear about the annual cycle, client engagement and accountability.