The Hindu Business Line : Vertex retains staff by letting'em grow

This is the experience of Vertex India, arm of United Kingdom-based BPO Vertex. It says its career progression plan has helped it bring to below five per cent the attrition rate at the team manager level in its 750-seater facility in Gurgaon.

"For this five per cent attrition also, the prime reason is relocation of staff, and not movement to another company," says its CEO, Mr Dan Sandhu. He emphasises that even at the entry level the company has been able to maintain an attrition rate of less than 20 per cent due to its "strong, yet open work culture". The company is planning to put in place a second site by mid-2004.

In the career progression plan, "the pyramid has been worked out is such a way that it makes for continuous progress upwards." At Vertex the hierarchy is well charted - from Business Associate to Senior Business Associate to Team Manager to Duty Manager to Operations Manager to Service Delivery Leader to Vice President.

And how long does it take to get to the top? For Vice-President, it is typically 11 to 12 years, while to reach the Operations Manager level a Business Associate requires to put in roughly five and a half years of service.

And to get to the top of the pyramid, other catalysts are provided as well. For instance, specific training is offered to supplement the operational training according to the need of the business associate. The training could be technical, motivational or communication-oriented. However, the biggest plus for the employee is a tie-up Vertex has with four partner academic institutions - XLRI-Jamshedpur, IIM-Koizhikode, Narsee Mohanjee Institute of Management, Mumbai, and International Management Institute, Delhi - that offer management education at discounted rates to the employees, provided they have been with the organisation for a specific number of years.

However, Mr Sandhu who is on the CII National BPO Committee, takes pains to clarify that these are not mere "retention" tactics. "We believe that each person should be given opportunities to grow and if in the process it helps to decrease attrition, why not?"

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