Retention strategies in the Indian IT industry.Abstract

The hyper-competitive Indian business environment is experiencing an intensifying fight for knowledge workers, the key to enhancement of productivity in which rests on designing ways and means WAYS AND MEANS. In legislative assemblies there is usually appointed a committee whose duties are to inquire into, and propose to the house, the ways and means to be adopted to raise funds for the use of the government. This body is called the committee of ways and means.  to retain key performers in the organisation. This becomes more pertinent in the IT industry, which has embraced the modern corporate culture of quick career advancement and has thrown open multiple job opportunities, thus experiencing a steady rise in mobility among IT professionals. Varying trends of employee turnover, both voluntary and involuntary, have exposed IT organisations to the vital question: 'who stays with you?' In order to control employee turnover as a strategic concern, the right retention strategy would need to dually ensure meeting the aspirations of employees and, at the same time, enhancing their productivity.

INTRODUCTION

High employee turnover, as a consequence of quick career advancement and multiple job opportunities, has come to be known as a negative "spill-over effect" of industrial growth (Sahu and Gupta, 1999). Apart from voluntary movement of workers during prosperity, downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs.

(2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system.

(jargon) downsizing  of structure by organisations, referred to as a purposeful reduction in the size of an organisation's workforce (Cameron et al, 1991; Cascio, 1993) under periods of structural changes and recession, is a major dimension of employee turnover. On the face of such large scale volatility of labour, today's employers prefer to have a stable, committed and yet flexible workforce, the employees in which are willing to learn and develop; employers also face the strategic problem of choosing incompetent staff for retrenchment re·trench·mentn.The cutting away of superfluous tissue.  and quality staff for retention. Retaining a healthy team of committed and productive employees, therefore, is necessary to maintain corporate strategic advantage (Mak and Sockel, 2001). Hence organisations must design appropriate strategies to retain their quality employees. These strategies may involve dimensions ranging from lucrative compensation packages to involving employees in every sphere of the functioning of the organisation.

Designing of retention strategies that are organisation-specific would be determined by factors like corporate competitive strategy, importance of human resource as a driving factor and the  of the situation. Retention strategy of any organisation may have the following dimensions:

(i) Whom to retain,

(ii) Why to retain and

(iii) How to retain.

(i) Whom to Retain: Murty (2004) identifies three categories of employees-those who would need to be retained indefinitely; those who are critical to the organisation in the short run and those who are easily replaceable. Once such sets of employees are identified, any organisation can easily customise its retention strategies in order to encourage organisational loyalty among employees. Those who fall under the first category may be offered lucrative compensation packages and schemes, which may have long term positive repercussions Those who are critical to the organisation in the short run would be those whose supply would be lesser in the short run or those who would be critical to any project that necessitates completion in the short run. They would thus be the 'celebrities' in the watch of the market (Murty, 2004). Retention of such critical talents would necessitate offers which would shine bright in the short run. The third category of employees, who are easily replaceable, have the least priority in retention; they may be offered voluntary separation from the organisation.

(ii) Why to Retain: It will become significantly more important in the years ahead to recognise the commitment of individuals to an organisation, as well as the organisation's need to create an environment in which one would be willing to stay (Harris, 2000). The impact of excessive employee turnover on organisations has been found to have engendered far-reaching consequences, even to the extent of jeopardising efforts to attain organisational objectives (Abbasi and Hollman, 2000). Abbassi and Hollman (2000) further indicate that when an organisation loses a critical employee, there is negative impact on innovation and major delays in delivery of services to customers, consequently affecting the profitability of the organisation. Hale (1998) studied recruitment costs to be 50 to 60 per cent of an employee's first year's salary and up to 100 per cent for certain specialised high-skill positions. Fitz-enz (1997) indicated that when direct and indirect costs

 are combined, total turnover cost of an employee is a minimum of one year's pay and benefits, or a maximum of two years' pay and benefits. Fitz-enz (1997) also stated that the average company loses approximately $1 million with every ten managerial and professional employees who leave the organisation. These apart, the organisation also loses strategic knowledge with the departure of its critical employees. An organisation also has to bear the cost of training a new recruit on loss of departing employees. As pointed out by the American Management Association, the cost of replacing an employee is approximately 30 per cent of his annual salary. Direct costs of employee turnover may include separation costs (including severance pay cost of exit interview, outplacement out·place·ment  n.The process of facilitating a terminated employee's search for a new job by provision of professional services, such as counseling, paid for by the former employer.  fees, etc.) and replacement cost (including hiring costs, sourcing expenses, time spent in interviewing, induction or orientation and training costs, etc.). Indirect costs of losing an employee would include loss of productivity (due to loss of a productive employee and reduced productivity of new employees, till they are fully trained); new competitive pressures on account of losing top performers to a potential competitor firm and lost sales and lost customers resulting from departure of an experienced employee.

Turnover connotes costs to the departing employee as well, in the form of loss of seniority, mental stress and discomfort stemming from separation risks and uncertainty about new employment. Costs of retaining a good performer, on the other hand, include investment in that employee in the form of training, continuing education

, support for professional certifications, conferences and seminars, career advancement opportunities, etc.

Successful organisations thus realise that retention of key staff by offering competitive pay packages and other incentives, rather than letting them leave, is integral to sustaining their leadership and growth in the marketplace.

(iii) How to Retain: The very first step towards effective retention is the acceptance of the reality that movement of employees is governed not only by the organisation, but also by the market. Fast moving markets require fast-moving organisations that are continually refreshed with new talent. No company can insulate

2.  its employees from knowing about the attractive opportunities thrown open to them by the aggressive recruiters in the market (Murty, 2004). The retention strategy of any organisation would aim at increasing interest in job, which would lead to satisfaction, which in turn would lead to motivation. Job satisfaction is an important motivator for employee performances; it is a causal antecedent ANTECEDENT. Something that goes before. In the

construction of laws, agreements, and the like, reference is always to be made to the last

antecedent; ad proximun antecedens fiat relatio.  to organisational commitment (Mowday et al, 1982); and negatively related to turnover (Ward, 1988) and absenteeism (Muchinsky, 1977). It has been found to be related to turnover and performance of Information Systems workers (Igbaria and Guimaraes, 1993). Blankertz and Robinson (1996) have demonstrated that employees with high job satisfaction are highly motivated and have little desire to leave their jobs. Productivity of employees and retention of such productive employees can be linked to factors like competitive pay and benefits, good working conditions, advancement and growth opportunities, etc. Productivity of workers can thus be attributed as a function of how well such workers are motivated.

Understanding the different dimensions of a job that may increase satisfaction or, at least, reduce dissatisfaction would be the very first step towards designing a strategy for retention of quality staff. This would enable organisations to determine what their staff do and do not like about their job and the work environment. Once

such areas are identified, organisations can go for improving employee satisfaction in tandem Adv. 1. in tandem -

one behind the other; "ride tandem on a bicycle built for two"; "riding horses down the path in tandem"

tandem  with employees' concerns, which in turn, would have a direct effect on their level of motivation. Satisfaction would thus raise the likelihood that the organisations are able to retain such employees, as these satisfied employees would be less likely to look for another job.

In many large organisations, HR recruitment and retention strategies revolve around Verb 1. revolve around - center upon;

"Her entire attention centered on her children"; "Our day revolved around our work"

center, center on, concentrate on, focus on, revolve about  creating a competitive compensation and benefits package. However, smaller companies consider attracting the best talent is a lost cause for them because they can not offer the competitive compensation packages that their big brothers offer (Raju, 2004). Companies reputed reputed adj. referring to what is accepted by

general public belief, whether or not correct.  as top retainers realise that the organisational characteristic that their competitors can most easily duplicate is money (Brannick, 2001). Non-monetary strategies are also widely used by companies to retain top talent. Organisations however need to develop the

right mix of monetary and non-monetary elements in a retention strategy, depending on a variety of factors like the nature of job, demand and supply conditions of a particular skill set and ability to pay of the organisation. Besides, as suggested by empirical studies Empirical studies in social sciences are when the

research ends are based on evidence and not just theory. This is done to comply with the scientific method that asserts the objective discovery of knowledge based on verifiable facts of

evidence. , bond between employees and their organisation may be strengthened by a number of factors like job scope, job challenge, occupational commitment, job involvement and job satisfaction, thus leading to organisational commitment, which in turn is considered a desirable trait, since it appears to result in lower employee turnover and contributes to greater productivity.

RETENTION STRATEGY: THE TREND IN INDIAN IT INDUSTRY

The problem of retention has become even more pronounced in the Indian IT industry, owing to owing to

prep.Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness.

owing to prep → debido a, por causa de  the higher mobility of IT professionals. IT the world over has been

continually experiencing a volatile demand-supply equation. New career horizons within the industry have multiplied the prospects of mobility of IT professionals among different companies; a growing number of such employees no longer want to spend their career with the same employer or occupation. Professional loyalty has replaced the age-old concept of organisational loyalty (Das, 1996). Retention strategies in this industry yield to careful analysis, on account of their wide diversity. It is in this industry that the period of prosperity has witnessed the twin forces of alluring talent from rival companies on the one hand and retaining key professionals on the other, with the working principle being "Cage them at any cost, or simply lose them"; the phase of recession has seen retrenchment of less productive professionals and retention of only selected performers; finally recovery of the industry has seen lavish spending of IT companies to retain key performers being replaced by 'intelligent' spending and a focus on building long-standing stronger relationship between the employer and the employees.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PAPER

Recognising that the true HR challenge in IT is retaining, this paper is an attempt to highlight the popular measures to retain IT professionals, vis-a-vis the criteria for retrenching them. The purpose of the study is to examine the different strategies of retention and criteria for retrenchment of IT professionals. The questions that are being sought to be answered are:

1. Why do IT professionals switch jobs?

2. What are the benefits offered by IT companies for retaining these employees?

3. What criteria does an IT company apply to lay-off vis-a-vis retention of employees?

4. What are the reactions of IT professionals to the concept of laying-off?

METHODOLOGY

The population for the study was chosen to be IT companies in India; registration with NASSCOM NASSCOM

National Association of Software and Service Companies (India) , a quasi-

government software industry promotion organisation, was taken to be the deciding creation for sampling. The primary activity of all the companies surveyed is software development. Other activities range from software consultancy to web-based solutions (including web-designing and web hosting Making a Web site available on the Internet. Many ISPs host a few personal

Web pages for an individual at no additional cost above the monthly service fee, but the address

is subordinate to the ISP; for example, www.friendlyisp.com/pat_smith. ) to ERP (Enterprise

Resource Planning) An integrated information system that serves all departments within an enterprise. Evolving out of the manufacturing industry, ERP implies the use of packaged software

rather than proprietary software written by or for one customer.  services and database administration. All the companies surveyed are organised as private limited. This might be indicative of the influence of policies of liberalisation being pursued by the Government of India The

Government of India (Hindi: भा�रत सरका�र [3]Bhārat Sarkār), officially referred to as the Union

Government, and commonly as Central Government  since 1984. Only 16 per cent of the respondents reported having a parent organisation outside India, either in U.K. or in U.S.A.

Given the relative youth of the Indian IT industry, it is not easy to obtain time series data on growth of establishments in the industry. Majority of the respondents in our sample have reported their date of establishment to be post-1990. They have also exhibited a wide range in their size (in terms

of number of employees) (Table I).

36 software professionals and 12 managerial-level staff taking care of HR activities in the IT companies formed the sample for this study. The mean age of the samples was 27 years and average length of service in IT industry was 18.30 months. Of the 36 software professionals, 10 were at the lower level of the hierarchy (namely Project Trainees, Software Developers, Web Designers and Programmers), while the rest were at the middle level (namely Senior Programmers, Senior System Analysts, Senior Consultants and Software Development Managers).

TOOL

In order to ascertain the various aspects of retention strategies in IT industry, two sets of questionnaires were designed with a mix of open and closed ended questions. The idea behind was to gauge the designing of and consequent repercussions of retention strategies of IT companies. As such the two sets were targeted for HR Managers on one hand and IT professionals on the other. Information on demographic

characteristics (age, sex, designation, work experience and number of organisations worked with before) was also sought. The sample were electronically mailed, sending a detailed explanation of the purpose of the study and a copy of the questionnaire for their initial approval. Of all the companies which responded, some were personally visited and in such cases the questionnaire was administered on a face to face basis. Respondent professionals, on being convinced that the purpose of the survey was purely academic in nature, were given the option of answering the questions verbally, or filling up the questionnaire by themselves in presence of the surveyor.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Employee Characteristics

Of the IT professionals who had responded, only 16.60 per cent were qualified Engineering Graduates in Computer Sciences or Electronics, while 13.33 per cent were Post Graduates in Engineering. Non-Engineering Graduates with IT certifications, however, stood at the majority. This

may explain the demand-supply mismatch mismatch

1. in blood transfusions and transplantation immunology, an incompatibility between potential donor and recipient.

2. one or more nucleotides in one of the double strands in a nucleic acid molecule without

complementary nucleotides in the same position on the other  of IT professionals; excess demand for professionals having a particular skill-set critical for any on-going project, say, may compel IT organisations to lower their quality standards and recruit ordinary Graduates with requisite hardware and/or software certifications.

Reasons behind Leaving the Earlier Job

Through the various instruments used, an attempt was made to understand why IT employees surveyed had left their earlier jobs to join the current job. As indicated in Table II, compensation, lack of challenges and opportunities in one's position and dissatisfaction in job were cited as the main reasons.

Compensation: With 50 per cent of the IT professionals citing poor compensation packages in earlier jobs as the main reason behind leaving

such jobs, compensation clearly continues to be the age-old mechanism of retention; organisations try to hold back their talented employees by paying them even more than market-defined salaries. If pay levels do not match others or the best in the industry, it may be a cause of dissatisfaction.

Organisations may also insulate their key performers from moving over to their rivals by signing bonuses in installments, so that they can be sure of having such employees on rolls till the payment is effected; moreover, such pay-spreads can always be matched with the required period of retention of such skills in the organisation (Murty, 2004). They may also offer 'hot skills' premium to attract knowledge workers who are short in supply, though such strategies are meant only for the short term and are found to manage migration-driven skill gaps.

Career Development Opportunities: Appropriate and well designed career development opportunities may prove to be a vital tool to enhance the level of motivation of the workforce. 27.3 per cent of the IT professionals surveyed

have revealed lack of such opportunities as the reason behind leaving their earlier job.

IT organisations thus need to consider individual learning needs of employees and address them suitably by creating learning opportunities for them (Kodwani and Kumar, 2004). Realising that employees have definite career needs, organisations should not only chart different career paths in accordance to such needs, but also make such paths known to all employees. Besides, promotion routes within the organisation should also be made public. Openness should be the hallmark of an effective organisation in this area (Pattanayak, 2001). Such internal motivators may help organisations retain their quality workforce.

Job Dissatisfaction: Traditionally defined to be a positive emotional state reflecting affectiveaffective /af·fec·tive/

(ah-fek´tiv) pertaining to affect.

af·fec·tiveadj.1. Concerned with or arousing feelings or emotions; emotional.

2. ..... Click the link for more information.  (fondness) attitude or response towards the job situation (Mak and Sockel, 2001), job satisfaction, or for that matter, job dissatisfaction has been another major cause behind switching jobs. Such dissatisfaction has stemmed from factors like dearth of challenging projects and absence of a suitable work environment.

Positive changes in the physical work environment can help in staff retention; designing working conditions that may suit the needs of different employees may prove to be a vital retention strategy. The key issues herein may be the organisation's posture towards work hours and environment, communication concerning projects and their employment and forms of supervision. Variables like telecommuting telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, transmitting work material to a business office by means of a modem and telephone lines; it is also known as telework. , compressed workweeks, work sharing and flexible work hours may be introduced to suit specific needs of employees. Recognition of professional work by way of awards and appreciation in public may also motivate employees.

Reasons that May Cause Employees to Stay in their Present Job

The likelihood of an employee leaving an organisation is an effective way of predicting if an employee will leave within a relatively short period of time. Approximately 10 per cent of the participants indicated that they were likely to leave the present job within the next two years; 57 per cent expressed their plans to stay in the present job till the next two years. Quite interestingly, lessen tendency to leave the current job was found among professionals who had more than six years of experience. Older employees had significantly longer tenure than younger employees (r=0.48); the former were found to give more weightage to growth opportunities within the organisation and stability in current job than to higher salaries and better projects, as done by the latter.

The revolving door culture of IT companies was further tested by asking the respondents the reasons for staying in their current job (Table III). Reasons cited included satisfaction in the current job, adequate career development opportunities and security in the present job.

Job Security: Job security has been revealed to be a cause cited by IT professionals to stay it their present job. It assumes critical significance in the face of massive layoffs, downsizing and closure of companies in the phase of recession.

Organisations may provide job security to their talented staff by way of alternatives like redeployment re·de·ploy  tr.v. re·de·ployed, re·de·ploy·ing, re·de·ploys1. To move (military forces) from one combat zone to another.

2.  and reduction of pay levels and perks perk  1  v. perked, perk·ing, perks

v.intr.1. To stick up or jut out: dogs' ears that perk.

2. To carry oneself in a lively and jaunty manner. , in order to avoid retrenchments and lay-offs. Paying less and retaining employees may be a better option than laying them off altogether.

Benefits, Rewards and Recognition as Tools for Retention

IT companies are renowned for offering innovative benefits, both monetary and non-monetary, to retain their key performers. Among the fringe benefits fringe benefits,n.pl the benefits, other than wages or salary, provided by an employer for employees (e.g., health insurance, vacation time, disability income).  given out to the employees surveyed, the most popular ones were allowances for lunch, accommodation, conveyance The transfer of

ownership or interest in real property from one person to another by a document, such as a deed, lease, or mortgage.

conveyance n.  and medicine (Figure 1). Others included festival allowances and retirement packages.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Rewards included commission on turnover, performance bonuses (both individual and team-based) and stock options. Non-monetary incentives included words of praise, job security, special recognition on the basis exemplary performance and decision-making autonomy.

Choice between Retrenchment and Retention as a Strategy

Job slashing as another major cost-cutting measure was found to be a popular trend in IT companies. Organisations surveyed have revealed to be compelled to downsize Downsize

Reducing the size of a company by eliminating workers and/or divisions within the company.

Notes:When a company downsizes, it is attempting to find ways to improve efficiency and increase profitability.

It is sometimes referred to as trimming the fat.  their structures in recession, when quality did supercede Verb 1. supercede - take the place or move into the position of; "Smith replaced Miller as CEO after Miller left"; "the computer has supplanted the slide rule"; "Mary replaced Susan as the team's captain and the highest-ranked player in the school"  quantity. 58.33 per cent of companies surveyed have revealed to have laid their staff off during this period; the reasons cited being staff incompetence (33.33 per cent), market conditions (8.33 per cent) and others (33.33 per cent) that included poor management and disciplinary action.

Reactions of IT Professionals to the Concept of Lay-off

An attempt was also made to know the perception of IT professionals about lay-off. 54.16 per cent of the IT professionals admitted that lay-off is a part of the process and that it is inevitable. They have revealed that it may not be possible for a company to pull along with its entire staff in recession and hence it may normally go for downsizing. Most of these professionals believe that all performance-related lay-offs are justified.

Retrenchment to the tune of market conditions is considered to be much easier, except the humanitarian aspect in it. Most middle and senior-level managers have agreed that IT would continue to experience major job-cutting and restructuring. Surprisingly, this apprehension is much less pronounced in the junior levels. Obviously people at higher level will have a larger perspective. They have even perceived that lay-off would leave scars in the minds of employees who have been retained. 58 per cent of the senior IT professionals have expressed their apprehension that retrenchment of a portion of the workforce would tell on the retained peers, except if such lay-off is on grounds of performance. In such cases, they propose to maintain transparency in objectives and expectations from employees. They expressed the view that the management should organise frequent HR meetings to share the company's vision and motivate the retained employees. They also propose to keep the entry-level people abreast of such trends to remove misunderstandings and false hopes. This would also give the juniors a fair chance to re-assess and re-evaluate their position and prospects in the organisation.

The trend of laying-off has been much hyped and organisations which have gone for such steps have lost much of their goodwill in the industry. When asked, however, around 60 per cent of the companies have come up with the response that they have not seen any decline in goodwill, if they have already laid-off or if they proposed to, in the future. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.  such organisations, laying off would ultimately help in developing a performance-driven culture and ensure quality recruitment. Criteria of retrenchment however, have been seen to be diverse, ranging from performance of employees to market conditions.

CONCLUSION

Organisations in the IT industry encounter the twin problems of recognising and weeding out of unwanted and less performing employees on the one hand, and retaining the high performers on the other. When valuable workers would want to quit their job, how would the organisation encourage them to reconsider their decision? How does the management convince them to work out any problem that might be acting as a 'push' factor in their decision to leave; or to re-evaluate the benefits of offers acting as a 'pull' factor (Sahu and Gupta, 1999), would be a major area of concern of IT organisations.

In order to curb such problems, organisations in the IT industry must strive to set the right retention strategy with a two-pronged approach. Such a strategy would, on the one hand, ensuring coming at par with aspirations of employees by giving them a conducive work environment with Quality of Work Life and the right work culture. On the other hand, such a retention strategy would help in increasing performance. Though most of the professionals covered in the survey have expressed retention to be an obvious phenomenon, it undoubtedly affects the goodwill of the downsizing company, besides affecting the morale of its workforce. Several strategies may be adopted to retain quality staff. The biggest of them is perhaps training and retraining re·train  tr. & intr.v. re·trained, re·train·ing, re·trainsTo train or undergo training again.

re·train  wherever necessary. Rapid and unpredictable technological changes and an enhanced emphasis on quality would necessitate IT employers to provide new incumbents with all the training they may need to perform in their current projects. Besides, cross-platform training would help them to undertake related projects at a subsequent point of time. Job rotation 17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)17:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)~~×≥ An approach to management development is job rotation  may also prove to be a valuable strategy in this regard. Apart from these, organisations may also need to ensure an immediate assignment to an employee who has just completed a project or engage him in training on any latest technology in line with the business strategy. Other retention strategies may include reward for outstanding contribution, tuition reimbursement Reimbursement

Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred.  programmes, service or longevity awards, flexible working schedules, quality of work life, focus on not only how to embellish the work environment, but also how to positively impact employees' lives beyond their

9 to 5 schedule. Refocusing Noun 1. refocusing - focusing againfocalisation, focalization, focusing - the act of bringing into focus  on vital human resource would help ensure that employee retention is an operational issue that is well under control, rather than watch a fire-breathing monster go on a rampage (Mamidenna, 2004). The final design of the retention strategy would, however, rest on the uniqueness of the problem and the specific requirements of the organisation.

Organisations may also resort to using retrenchment as a controlling device. Fear of lay-off (or termination) may create tension in the minds of employees. Such use of coercion, i.e. the threat of punishment (here termination) if rules are broken, or if targets are not achieved, may be a direct corollary corollary: see theorem.  of McGregor's (1960) Theory X. The only problem with such threats would be that, they are effective only if the persons being threatened believe that such threats would be actually implemented. Such fear of termination may thus be effectively used to increase performance of employees and raise their productivity. These two aspects of any retention strategy may thus increase employee commitment and enhance their performance, leading to lower employee turnover, be it voluntary or involuntary.

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psy·cho·so·cialadj.Involving aspects of both social and psychological behavior.  Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy.  Worker?", Psychiatric Rehabilitation Psychiatric rehabilitation, also known as Psychosocial rehabilitation, is the process of restoration of community functioning and wellbeing of an individual who has a psychiatric disability (been diagnosed with a mental disorder).  Journal, 19 (4), 1996, 3-13.

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industrial relationsNoun, pl

the relations between management and workers

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PIYALI GHOSH

Faculty, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India (popularly known as 'BITS Pilani') is one of the oldest leading technology schools of India. In addition to Pilani, BITS has campuses in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Goa, India, an extension center in Bangalore,  Pilani, Goa

GEETIKA

Moti Lal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad Table ISize of Companies

Size (in terms of number of employees) Percentage of Companies

Below 20 8.3320-40 16.6840-60 16.6660-100 25100 and above 33.33

Source: Authors' compilation of survey results

Table IIReasons Behind Leaving the Earlier Job

PercentageReasons Description of Firms

Compensation The amount of money paid to an 50 employee, including healthcare benefits, allowances for conveyance, etc.

Career Development The ability for one to advance 27.3Opportunities within the company, by available opportunities.

Job Dissatisfaction The dissatisfaction perceived 27.3 by any one from his job.

Job Itself The actual responsibilities and 22 profile of an employee in a job.

Reputation of Reputation of the company as per 22Company market analysis, opinions of employees, etc.

Other. Factors like training and 9.1 development, shut down of earlier company worked with, etc.

Source: Authors' compilation of survey results

Table IIIReasons behind Staying in the Present Job

PercentageReasons Description of Firms

Job Satisfaction Satisfaction perceived by an 41.7 individual in this her job

Career Development The ability for one to advance 33Opportunities within the company by availing of opportunities

Job Security Security perceived by an employee 12.5 in the present job, vis-a-vis the uncertainties in the job market

Other Factors like training and 12.5 development, challenging projects, good working conditions and lucrative compensation package

Source: Authors' compilation of survey results.COPYRIGHT 2006 Indian Journal of Economics and BusinessNo portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder. Copyright 2006 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.