Retention of Employees - A Case Study of Wipro: Prasannakumarib@absi - Edu.in
Retention of Employees - A Case Study of Wipro: Prasannakumarib@absi - Edu.in
Dr.B.Prasanna Kumari
B.com, M.com, M.phil, PGDCA, MBA, Ph.D
Associate professor & Asst. Dean of Academics
Aurora’s Business School, Panjagutta, Hyd.
Prasannakumarib@absi.edu.in
+919848799635
Miss. K.Sruti
B.sc, MBA, Research Associate
Aurora’s Business School, Panjagutta, Hyd.
kandalasruthi@absi.edu.in
+919966536262.
The most valued assets of an organization are the people who directly or indirectly contribute to
achieving the various business objectives laid down by the organization. Human Resource Management
is a very strategic approach to managing these most valued assets. It helps management in identifying key
skill sets, knowledge, values required in the employee and the rewards that are needed to be given to the
employees so that the organization goals are fulfilled. This current paper “Retention of Employees-A
case study of Wipro” studies various reasons for attrition of the employees and also strategies to retain
the employees. This study includes general study and also case study of Wipro.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Retention management is the latest and most pressing problem of the new Millennium. Each and every
business in this economy has now become knowledge based. It has therefore become essential for the top
management to preserve the dynamic repositories of learning, which are their employees.
Staff retention in the current economic environment is a major challenge. The major focus for employees
in hyperinflation environment is survival. If the organization cannot provide enough to enable the
employee to survive, the employee is likely to look elsewhere for survival. However if organizations
manage to identify causes of staff turnover that they can control, they should target those areas for change
or making improvements.
HYPOTHESIS:
H0 – Pay and benefits, Career Growth, Training and Development, Work
Environment and Job Satisfaction doesn’t have impact on employee retention in Wipro.
METHODOLOGY:
The primary data was collected through questionnaires. These questionnaires were distributed to 60
employees of Wipro Technologies. Due care was taken to make sure that the employees filled this with
interest and not as a routine.
The data was collected only from those employees who have completed at least one year in the
organization. The selection of employees is sampling for the study. Questions 1 to 6 are related to the
employees tenure in the organization and the ratings that he or she would assign to each of the factors
considered for this study in view of their longer tenure with the organization.
Questions 7 and 8 are related to Pay and Benefits, 9 and 10 are related to Career Development &
Growth, 11 and 12 are related to Training and Development, 13 and 14 are related to Work
Environment and 15 and 16are related to Job Satisfaction.
SAMPLE:
The study is of employee retention in IT sector (Wipro). Since all the companies, irrespective of their
ownership and projects undertaken, compete in the same global market, it is deemed appropriate to
analyze one of the leading companies. The sample comprises employees from Wipro Technologies,
Gachibowli. The basic motive behind choosing this organization is increasing global presence of Wipro
in varying aspects of technology solutions.
TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS:
The comparative study is done with the help of Chi Square test (χ2). Mean and coefficient of
correlation have also been used for the analysis of the link between the two age groups of employees of
the organization.
For the analysis, two attributes for each factors is considered. χ2 is taken between these two attributes and
stated whether each factor has impact on retention of employees or not.
SOURCES OF DATA:
The data required for the study is collected both from primary and secondary sources. Primary data is
collected by conducting personal interviews, discussions with the employees and managers considered
for the study. In addition, data was collected through questionnaires, feedback, observations etc.
Secondary data includes reports and records of the organizations for the past two years and the data
collected from the NASSCOM website on the rates of attrition. Research studies conducted by
individuals, institutions and agencies, and various other journals were considered.
Talent retention is identified as the second top HR challenge to critically meet the business demands
beyond tomorrow. Organizations can use a combination of five strategies viz., pay and benefits, career
growth, learning and development, work environment and job satisfaction to create and retain pool
of talented employees for the organization. Successful companies assign the same importance to
employer branding as they give to product branding which help them in becoming an employer of choice.
They are continuously innovating and inventing new ways to keep talented to the organization which is
changing the face of talent management in India. Now more than ever in the history of business, it is
imperative for the organizations to manage people well.
Wipro uses a combination of these to succeed in their talent management efforts. The various talent
management strategies and the success achieved by Wipro and its competitors by using these strategies
are discussed below:
Out of the sample size of 60 employees, 33 answered that performance based pay is important to a large
extent, 21 to some extent and 6 to little extent. When asked about Benefits given to the employees, 20
employees answered that it is significant to large extent, 24 to some extent and 16 to little extent.
χ2 value between performance based pay and the benefits given to employees is 7.9326 (>5.99) at 2
degrees of freedom. Thus the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This
proves that Pay and benefits is significant for retention of employees.
CAREER GROWTH:
Career Growth can be defined as a way of success where at every regular interval we must have new
challenges to face, new activity to do, responsibilities to handle and most importantly new process to
learn.
A promotion is the advancement of an employee's rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system
Before the company promotes an employee to a particular position it ensures that the person is able to
handle the added responsibilities by screening the employee with interviews and tests and giving them
training or on-the-job experience. As per Guidelines for supervisory employees’ promotion/up gradation,
applicable to the present year, Manager (HR) prepares the list of eligible employees. Simultaneously, V P
(HR) also asks for recommendations from HODs.
Bases of Promotion:-
1. Seniority:-
Seniority simply depends upon how long the employees is doing job with the company. The length of
service and talent are both interrelated with each other. It is based on the tradition of respect for older
people. It creates a sense of security among employees and avoids conflict arising from promotion
decision.
2. Merit:-Merit implies the knowledge, skill and performance records of an employee. It helps to
motivate competent employee to work hard and acquire new skills. It helps to attract and retain young
and promising employees in the organization.
Wipro also prompts employee by conducting different case studies on different aspects of Information
Technology. Working at Wipro is very competitive and smart work and projection is required for growth.
.
Source: Primary Data (compiled from tabulated responses)
In Wipro, 27 employees feel their career aspirations have been to large extent, whereas 24 employees feel
their career aspirations have been met to a little extent. However, when asked about mentoring, 23 said to
large extent and 25 said to some extent.
χ2 value is between these two points is 12.6778 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of freedom, implying that we have
to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. This proves that career growth is
significant for retention of employees
According to the recent review by Harvard Business Review, there is a direct link between training
investment of the companies and the market capitalization. Those companies with higher training
investment had higher market capitalization. It clearly indicates that the companies which have
successfully implemented training programs have been able to deliver customer goals with effective
results.
With the growing investment by IT companies in the development of their employees many companies
have now started their own learning centers. As an example, Sun has its own training department.
Accenture has Internet based tool by the name of “My Learning” that offers access to its vast learning.
resources to its employees. Companies are investing in both the technical training, which has always been
an essential part in IT industry, as well as in managerial skills development.
Companies now keep aside 3-5% of revenue for training programs. As an example, some of the major
players like Accenture and Wipro are allocating 7% and 3% respectively of the company’s overall
revenue.
Training & Development of individuals is a key focus area at Wipro. Wipro invests about 4 percent of its
annual revenues in Learning and Development, to build competency capital within the company in
cutting edge technologies, domain and functional areas. Special emphasis is placed on providing
necessary learning interventions to associates with potential of being leaders in the company. Wipro has
state of the art training facilities in all its delivery centers. The centers are equipped with world-class
infrastructure. The Talent Transformation Division handles this in Wipro. For those with less than one
year of experience a well-structured induction training program is conducted. This will cover all aspects
of software development skills that are required.
Out of the 60 employees, 29 feel that the training and development programmes are at par with industry
standards only to some extent. The study reveals that 36 people feel that they are provided equal
opportunity to attend training programmes only to some extent.
χ2 value between these two factors considered is 6.986 (>5.99), at 2 degrees of freedom, which implies
that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted. This proves that training and development is
significant for employee retention.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
A healthy corporate culture of caring for the workers, community and environment will strengthen the
social spiritual capital, leading to a positive work climate of empowered and supported workers.
TCS has an open door policy in which any employee can approach the CEO or the top management with
work related problems. Open-house session and engagement programmes allow the employees at all
levels meet and discuss various work issues. Employees can also take part in one-on-one sessions where
they can interact privately with senior management.
At Infosys, Feedback system also plays a major role in building positive work culture in organizations as
it provides a channel by which the problems and grievances can be heard by the top management and also
a medium by which top management can be updated by the market conditions by the employees which
are in direct contact with the market.
These sessions are helpful in providing mentorship, as well as understanding real-life issues that
colleagues face at work. The queries and discussions are formally recorded and followed up .Given the
backdrop of growing levels of attrition and shortage of employable skilled talent, it is felt they would be
by building soft and intangible skills, better value systems and work culture .
Father N. Casimir Raj, XLRI, and Founder Director of LIBA, said, "There has been a clear shift in the
values and this has emerged as one of the key areas of concern as this is being increasingly neglected. A
new breed of self approach stands out where the focus is on monetary benefits."
Feedback system also plays a major role in building positive work culture in organizations as it provides
a channel by which the problems and grievances can be heard by the top management an also a medium
by which top management can be updated by the market conditions by the employees which are in direct
contact with the market.
Wipro as an organization believes in connecting and listening people. There are various communication
and feedback programmes at Wipro.
Out of the 60 employees of Wipro considered for the study, 37 employees responded that they are being
appreciated for their work to large extent, whereas 14 employees responded that they are being
appreciated to a little extent. 31employees responded that their managers are friendly approachable to
large extent. A friendly working atmosphere needs to be maintained to ensure a healthy working
atmosphere.
χ2 value between these two factors is 7.0678 (>5.99) at 2 degrees of freedom, which proves that the null
hypothesis should be rejected and the alternative hypothesis should be accepted. Hence, a good work
environment is significant for retention of employees.
JOB SATISFACTION:
Benefits and high profits are key essentials when it comes to having a high job satisfaction among the
company’s employees and a low turnover rate.
Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. The happier people are within
their job, the more satisfied they are said to be Job satisfaction is in regard to one's feelings or state-of-
mind regarding the nature of their work. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors, eg, the
quality of one's relationship with their supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which they
work, degree of fulfillment in their work, etc.
Google Inc., the number one company at high to work for two straight years according to Fortune
Magazine, seems to have job satisfaction down to a “T.”This company goes above and beyond the typical
benefits, providing free gourmet meals, onsite oil changes, onsite car washes, a $500 voucher for takeout
food after the birth of a child, a free annual ski trip, unlimited sick days, and more. An individual arriving
on a Google campus feels like they are on a high-scale college campus. The joke going around on the
Google campus says one could gain the campus-15 due to the free food. All of Google’s benefits cause
their turnover numbers to stay low while there remains a long list of employee hopefuls. Wipro focuses
on job satisfaction in order to keep employees with their company and receive a better output from their
employees.
Wipro realizes that providing flexible timings to employees is not the only way of increasing job
satisfaction. Wipro endows responsibilities to its employees and lets the employee utilize his
responsibility. Another measure taken is to respect and nurture every employee’s work life balance.
Sessions are conducted on the importance of work life balance. In Wipro, every employee career path is
marked out, helping the employee work correctly and therefore giving the company very satisfied
employees.
Chart 5: Responses for Job Satisfaction
50
40
Percentage
30
20
10
0
Pay and Career growth Training and Working job satisfaction
Benefits development environment
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RETENTION OF EMPLOYEES BETWEEN TWO AGE GROUPS
When the sample from age group from 20 to 30 years is considered, then study is dealing with
individuals who are either fresh into the industry or with experience ranging from 2 to 4 years. The
average ranking given by this group was as follows:
Table 1: Ranks Assigned by Sample of 20-30 years
This sample is relatively young in the industry. Hence, for them their pay package and career growth
plays a vital role. They are up to date with the technological aspects and therefore would not feel the need
for immediate training and development. When the study deals with an age group of 30 – 40 years, the
following is the mean of the rankings given by the individuals.
SUGGESTIONS:
The younger group of employees should be well appreciated to increase their morale to enable
them to work better.
The experienced group of employees should be exposed to the current case technology to enable
them to move forward and not be redundant in the industry.
The HR managers should check on the career paths drawn for all employees.
To retain the good talent who are new to the industry, they must be given a pay package
according to industry standards.
Employees should be rated correctly according to their performance and paid accordingly.
The career aspirations of all employees should be carefully understood by the HR managers and
career paths should be designed accordingly.
Training provided should be at par with industry standards. All employees should be provided
the training of their choice, and no favoritism should be shown amongst the employees
The managers should be friendly and approachable so as to realize the first signs of attrition. If
attrition is stopped at the preliminary stage then steps can be taken to curb the same.
Employees should be encouraged to take pride in the work they do
Employees should be informed about the relevance of their work in the organizational
development.
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WEBSITES:
1. www.wipro.in
2. www.citehr.com
3. www.talkstats.com