Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 EXPLORING THE DIMENSIONS OF ATTRITION

4.1 Introduction
The first two objectives of the research study are to identify and rank the factors of attrition in BPOs based on accumulative literature review and secondary data and to explore and analyze the dimensions of attrition in BPOs based on primary data collected from field survey. This chapter deals with these two objectives i.e. first, the factors identified through literature survey are discussed and evaluated and second, the dimensions extracted from primary data through factor analysis are described. The first objective brings out an interesting feature of the formation of a vicious circle of attrition specific to the BPO industry. The second objective intricately explores the dimensions of attrition. Analysis has been done on i) the mean and standard deviations of the dimensions; ii) correlation of the dimensions with the probability of quitting an organization by the employees; iii) determinants of employee attrition with respect to these dimensions and iv) comparison of these dimensions across the various personal characteristics.

4.2 Secondary Data Analysis

The first objective is to identify and rank the factors of attrition in BPOs based on secondary data. For this, lot of relevant literature has been examined and analyzed. Attrition of employees in a limited measure is desirable for influx of new ideas in any type of organization. It helps organizations to maintain their agility in fast changing environment. Attrition in a narrow gauge can thus bring gains to the organization. However, if attrition increases beyond a certain level, the gains are transformed into pains. Recruiters explain that high attrition rates significantly increase the investment made on employees [21]. Significant investments in time and money need to be made for recruiting employees in any organization. These can never be translated into profit when attrition is high. In BPO industry, agent level (low level employees who directly deal with the clients) recruitment costs the company approximately five thousand rupees for each employee recruited. This is just

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the direct cost paid to recruitment agencies. Over and above the direct recruitment cost, an allied cost of training and managerial service is also involved. Each agents job is non-productive or partly productive in the organization for nearly the first 2-3 months. He does not contribute anything substantial to the company in that period. Hence an employee leaving the organization within the first 6 months is a bad investment for the company. Cost of attrition in the BPO industry is 1.5 times the annual salary [21]. However, there is another perspective for attrition which is specific to the BPO industry in India. India at the moment is working on low end business processes which do not require quite high skills. The reason for India's success has primarily been providing low cost high quality labor. Compared to competitors such as Philippines, South Africa, Ireland; India is the only country where we have a balance between the cost involved and the quality provided. For Indian companies to remain successful in future they would have to keep the cost low. Tasks performed by an agent are routine and simple and do not need a sophisticated skill-set. Hence, there is not much advantage in retaining a highly experienced employee. At the floor level operation, an amateur after a nominal training could work with the same efficiency as a 2-3 year experienced employee. The industry players, therefore, consider the present attrition as positive because it helps them to operate at a lower cost level. In utopia, since everything is perfectly set in its place, we may find employees loving their jobs, liking their co-workers, working hard for their companies, getting paid well for their work, having adequate opportunities for career growth; we may find employees never leaving their jobs. In reality, however, employees often leave their organizations for more money, better career growth, improved working conditions, enhanced opportunities and so on. BPO is one such industry. No doubt BPO is the biggest employment generating industry in India. The young people get lured to big bucks and fast money. There is a lot of demand as well as supply for this job. The rate of quitting, however, is far more than the rate of joining. It is a Herculean task to bridge the widening gap between demand and supply of workers in BPO industry. The average attrition rate in the Indian BPO sector varies between 30 and 35 percent [89]. Although, it is far less than the prevailing attrition rate in the US, which is around 70%, the challenge is equally alarming [89]. Keeping the attrition levels near to the ground is a major challenge as the demand

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surpasses the supply of good agents by a big margin. The employees are disillusioned as their salary structures are not well defined. This encourages poaching by other companies which can offer a higher salary. All said and done, one thing about attrition is clear. It is big, it is loud, and it is resonant. To gain a deeper understanding about the phenomenon of high attrition, its cause and effects in BPO industry, literature on BPO, particularly what got published during 2004 and 2005 was studied in detail. Many researchers have been working in this area, identifying a number of factors responsible for employee turnover in BPO industry. Some research organizations have been working exclusively on research and statistics in BPO industry. Gartner is the worlds leading information technology research and advisory company, which generates voluminous research data on Indian BPO industry [4]. Mercer India also offers expert consultancy services related to outsourcing and other investment strategies. It conducts research on modern trends in the BPO industry in India. BPOIndia.org furnishes elaborate reports on BPO industry. Depending on their relevance, four study reports were selected for qualitative research study on identification of major causal factors for high attrition in Indian BPO industry. These are briefly described below. Study I According to Prakash and Chowdhury, attrition in the BPO industry is of two kinds [21]. The first kind of attrition is due to employees leaving the BPO industry altogether (remaining unemployed or joining non-BPO industry). The second kind of attrition is due to employees joining another firm within the BPO industry. Reasons for both types of attrition need to be identified. The primary reason for people leaving the industry is due to the fact that the BPO industry is viewed merely as a stop-gap occupation. There seems to be a flaw in the way the industry is structured. The industry is mainly dependent on youngsters who are taking time out to work therein, making money in the process, while preparing for better career alternatives. For this group, BPO can never be a long term career. BPO jobs are easily available. They are viewed as a source of easy money when other sources of funding are not available. Unfriendly working conditions, late night work shifts, high tension jobs act as a deterrent for people to stick to BPO
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industry for a long time. Further, BPO jobs are not seen in good light by the society at large. Nearly 50 per cent of those who quit a firm, leave the industry itself [21]. Regarding the attrition between firms, the chief cause is unavailability of resources in the job market, causing a great demand compared to the supply available. Presently there is no certified institute providing BPO-specific training and education. Scarce resource in the market leads to wide scale poaching and head-hunting among the competitors for a common pool. Unlike other industries, the BPO industry does not have matured HR processes. For example, workforce planning is generally not done in BPO industry. Usually new projects in BPO industry need an interim stage to be completed within a short time. Lack of preplanned recruitment leaves the firms with no option but to fulfill their immediate requirement by poaching resources working on similar projects in other firms. Study II E-Sat (Employee Satisfaction) Survey conducted in 2005 to investigate the reasons of stress in workplace concludes that stress is an integral cause of employee turnover and depleted productivity [24]. It explored a number of possible factors that lead to stress. This industry is characterized by unusual work hours (BPO mostly caters to customers in the West and the time difference could vary from 8 to 12 hours on an average); never-ending night shifts; high work targets; repetitive nature of work; pressure to work on metrics; non-negotiable metrics; irate customers and insufficient holidays. Furthermore, BPO executives are faced with the quality versus quantity conflict. Each factor individually contributes to different levels of stress; when combined, they could even be traumatic. Employee motivation soon gets depleted. This ultimately leads to very high levels of dissatisfaction with work and results in employee turnover. Study III According to research conducted by Mercer India, high rate of attrition is due to factors like higher salary expectation, work timings and other career options; adding that there is always a danger of costs increasing while billing rates are declining [8]. Mercer India also provides consultancy services. Their work includes retention strategies and bringing a paradigm shift in

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recruitment philosophy. They have recommended that BPO industry should look beyond traditional recruitment and extend it to physically challenged people and housewives. Study IV Rajat Joshi has conducted research on attrition in BPO industry and has worked on retention strategies [22]. He has identified a number of factors responsible for rapidly driving employees away from BPO industry. The factors are (a) unsatisfactory monetary rewards, (b) discomfited working hours, (c) dull and monotonous jobs. He has added that employee dissatisfaction in BPO industry is mounting due to lack of clarity about expectations, benefits and feedback. He has pointed out that organizational culture in some of the BPO companies is so bad that no employee can survive. 4.2.1 Ranking the causal agents of attrition Study reports identified as above for qualitative research study on identification of major causal factors for high attrition in Indian BPO industry were examined in detail. Weights were assigned to each study report on the basis of the following dimensions: i) Comprehensiveness of the Study: Work done by Prakash and Chaudhary, and E-Sat Survey are more exhaustive and richer in content. Their reporting is based on in-depth studies and they have furnished more detailed result. These two reports, therefore, qualify for higher weightage. ii) Meticulousness of the Results: Results are more precise and accurate in reports generated by Prakash and Chaudhary and by E-Sat Survey. They comprise better logical analysis and inferences. Once again, these two reports, therefore, qualify for higher weightage. In view of the above, thirty percent weightage (i.e., 0.3) was assigned to (a) Prakash and Choudhary, and (b) E-Sat Survey. Twenty percent weightage (i.e., 0.2) was assigned to (a) Mercer India, and (b) Rajat Joshi; they have concentrated more on the retention strategies and outlined the reasons for poor retention. Causal agents were scored by summing up the weightages assigned to studies which identified the particular causal agent. Table - 1 furnishes the scores for

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the causal agents identified in the selected study reports. Causal agents are ranked on the basis of their score (Rank I meaning the highest score). Rank I: Low Perceived Value and Monotonous Work Ranked at number one, both of these factors are most accountable for high levels of attrition. Society views a BPO employee as a non-serious, not highly qualified and unstable youth. This brings down the perceived value of working in a BPO. BPO job is believed to be a filler-job that attracts the fresh youth out of college because of big bucks and exciting life. The career paths in BPO industry, however, are not attractive enough to sustain them. Hence the employees look for better options in their own fields. Monotony at work is always a demotivator, no matter which industry one belongs to. There is no reason why it should be any different for BPO industry which is characterized by the repetitive nature of work with little scope for change in work profile. Most BPOs in reality are call centers. The daily experience, therefore, tends to be repetitive, monotonous, boring and stressful, frequently resulting in employee burnout. This is hardly surprising. Call centers are established by multinationals to create an environment in which economies of scale with consistent quality of customer service can be achieved through standardized work comprising uniform and repetitive activities. Rank - II: High Salary Expectation and Unusual Working Hours These two factors have been ranked at number two. BPO industry is well-known for its generous package. A job in BPO pays much more than any other opening for fresh college graduates. This trend will continue as the cost per transaction in India is the lowest in the world at 29 cents, compared to 52 cents in China. Inspite of receiving comparatively higher salaries (compared to other industries), BPO employees crave for higher salaries to compensate for their extraordinary hardships that are unavoidable in BPO jobs. The industry carries an image of an internet sweatshop where an employee is prepared to accept his/her fate of being in office at unusual hours for a dead-end job. Compared to not more than 10 hours of work per day on an average in non-BPO industries, call center employees work for 12 hours per day on an average. Mandatory working at night to cater for clients in different time-zones of the world disturbs the biological clock of the human body. Twelve hours of work at night with hardly any break can be extremely

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difficult and tiring. Constant fatigue as above on a continued basis can result in serious health problems. Rank III: Disillusioned Employees Those joining BPO industry are initially overwhelmed by workplace ambiance; fun at the work place; big bucks and perks like multi-cuisine complementary dining, free passes and discount coupons for shows and events, pick up and drop from and to residence. However, the employees soon get disillusioned. There are no opportunities for career or personal growth As time passes, hardships of BPO jobs surface and they start realizing that they are already in a trap; they cannot leave the job because of big bucks they get and continuing in the job is depriving them physically, psychologically and socially; their initial excitement and enthusiasm fades away as they do not have manageable alternatives. Rank IV: Stress and Burnout, Pressure to Perform on Metrics, and Lack of Motivation BPO jobs are inherently stressful due to long working hours, night shifts, irate clients, work overload and disturbed biorhythm. Overtime, continued job stress is resulting in employee burnout. BPO employees face constant pressure to ensure the quality of service by performing on metrics, i.e., shorter call times, higher call volumes, lower cost, routinizing, centralizing, conformance to standards, higher customer satisfaction, etc. They have a hard time in maintaining a balance between quality and quantity of calls handled. Further the motivation of BPO employees gets fast depleted due to monotony of work and due to absence of opportunities for personal or career growth. New employees come to BPO industry with matchless enthusiasm and vigor which fade as job stress kicks in. Rank V: Lack of Security and Social Interaction There are two aspects of the security concerning BPO employees. The first one is the physical security of the employees and their families. This need is particularly important for the females, who would like to avoid BPO jobs because of the late night timings. The other aspect is the psychological fear of job security. At the moment the industry is growing and there are abundant jobs. Also, Indian laws do not favor retrenchment. Hence the later is not an issue although

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physical security is. BPOs encourage much of social interactions among their employees. But these employees are socially disconnected with their friends and families because of long and odd hours of working on a continued basis.
Table 4.1: Causal Agents for Attrition E-Sat Shradha Prakash & Mercer India Rahul Chowdhury, 2004 2004 Weight: 0.3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Weight:0.2 Yes

RESEARCHERS/ ORGANIZATIONS Causal Agents / Factors Higher Salary Expectation Lack of Security Lack of Social Interaction Monotonous Work Unusual Working Hours Pressure to perform on Metrics Low Perceived Value Disillusioned Employees Stress and Burnout Lack of Motivation

BPO 2005

Rajat Joshi 2004 Weight: 0.2 Yes

Score (Rank)

Weight: 0.3

0.7 (Rank-II) 0.3 (Rank-V) 0.3 (Rank-V) 0.8 (Rank-I) 0.7 (Rank-II) 0.5 (Rank-IV) 0.8 (Rank-I) 0.6 (Rank-III) 0.5 (Rank-IV) 0.5 (Rank-IV)

4.2.2 Formation of a Vicious Circle in BPO Low perceived value and monotonous work stand out as the most significant factors for mounting dissatisfaction in BPO employees (Table 1). Increased dissatisfaction leads to reduced motivation, which in turn results in lowered efficiency. When the efficiency is lowered, employees are not able to deliver their expected output which results in their leaving the job. When employees quit, the perceived value is further lowered. Thus a vicious circle is formed as 79

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depicted in Figure 4.1. In fact there is a catch-22 situation wherein in one would say, I left my BPO firm because it has a low perceived value. And the other would say, BPOs have a low perceived value because employees leave the firm too soon.

Low Perceived Value

Increased Dissatisfact ion

VICIOUS CIRCLE
Employees Quitting
Figure 4.1: Vicious Circle in BPO

Reduced Motivation

Lowered Efficiency

Figure -4.1: Vicious Circle of attrition

4.2.3 The Motivation Gap BPO industry is growing at a sweltering pace but the gap between the actual and expected level of employee motivation in the industry is increasing due to the formation of a vicious circle (Figure 4.1) as explained above. New employees join the industry with excitement (because of big bucks and vibrant work culture) resulting in higher levels of motivation. However, they soon get disillusioned as the realities strike in. Employee motivation gets a beating at a fast pace (Figure 4.2). Gap between the actual and expected level of employee motivation increases as the employee spends longer time in BPO industry.

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High

Initial Level of Motivation

Expected Motivation

Low

Thus, the first objective is effectively achieved as it results in the formation of vicious circle of attrition and also gives a clear picture of the gap in motivation prevalent in the BPO industry. In order to validate the findings of the secondary data analysis and to explore factors from first hand data based on the perspective of the employees currently working in BPOs, the next objective is carried out.

Level of Motivation Time Spent in Organization

GAP

Subsequent Level of Motivation

Actual Motivation

Main Causal Agents for Depletion of Motivation: Low Perceived Value; Monotonous Work; High Salary Expectation; Unusual Working Hours; Disillusioned Employees; Stress and Burnout; Pressure to Perform on Metrics; Lack of Security and Social Interaction.

Figure 4.2: Gap between the Actual and Expected Level of Motivation

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4.3 Primary Data Analysis

The second objective was to explore the dimensions of attrition in BPOs based on primary data collected from field survey. Keeping in mind this objective of the study, a dedicated questionnaire was developed and was used as an instrument to gauge the dimensions of attrition. The questionnaire was sent to 700 respondents, of which 521 responded, thus making the response rate to be 74.4%. Of these 500 completely filled questionnaires were verified and checked manually. The questions and responses were coded and entered in the computer using Microsoft Excel Software. Data analysis in a quantitative research is essential as the interpretation and coding of responses can be very critical. Therefore, required analysis was done with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences 17.0 Version. The variables were coded in SPSS and certain statistical methods were applied on the data to get the results which were analyzed. This section discusses the findings of the second objective i.e. to identify and critically evaluate the factors of attrition in BPOs based on primary data collected for the same. Analysis of attrition was done in a systematic and methodical manner. The primary data analysis of attrition aimed at i) extracting dimensions of attrition; ii) gauging the contribution of the dimensions to employee attrition; and iii) comparing the dimensions of attrition across the personal characteristics. Firstly, reliability of the instrument was measured with the help of cronbach alpha and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Adequacy. Secondly, factor analysis was done to extract the factors responsible for attrition. Thirdly, stepwise regression analysis was done to study the contribution of each factor to the employee attrition. Finally, after regression each dimension of attrition was compared across the personal characteristics chosen for the study using t-test and Duncans Mean Test. To begin with, the personal profile of the respondents was calculated first. The findings are discussed in the following points. 4.3.1 Personal profile of respondents

The first section of the instrument gathered information about the personal profile of the respondents which included age, gender, education, tenure and marital status. Gender, marital

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status and education were dichotomous variables. Age and tenure had three groups each. The characteristics are shown in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Characteristics of respondents (N=500) Characteristics Gender Male Female Age Less than 25 26 30 More than 30 Marital Status Unmarried Married Education Graduate Post-graduate Tenure Less than 1 year 1 to 3 years More than 3 years 134 226 140 355 145 244 256 200 208 92 26.8% 45.2% 28% 71% 29% 48.8% 51.2% 40% 41.6% 18.4% 272 228 54.4% 45.6% Number Percentage

Gender: The respondents were almost equally distributed in the category of gender. Of the 500 respondents 272 were males (54.4%) and 228 were females (45.6%). The BPO industry is such which caters uniformly to both the genders, so our sample size was a homogeneous mix of both.
Gender
60.00% 54.40% 45.60%

50.00%

40.00%

30.00%

20.00%

10.00%

0.00% Male Female

Figure 4.3: Graphical representation of respondents gender distribution

Age: The frequency and percentage of the respondents are shown in the table. Of 500, 226 respondents (45.2%) fell in the middle category i.e. between 26 and 30. It was not surprising as

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the industry is characterized by the young lot as their primary workforce. Both the environment and the job description suit the young professionals who are a salient feature of the BPO industry. Then, 134 (26.8%) and 140 (28%) of the respondents fell in the age categories of less than 25 and more than 30 respectively.
Age
50.00% 45.20% 45.00% 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% Less than 25 26 30 More than 30 26.80% 28%

Figure 4.4: Graphical representation of respondents age distribution

Marital Status: Of the 500 respondents, 355 were unmarried i.e. 71% and 145 were married (29%). Although the instrument had other options like Separated, Divorced and Widow too, but none of them fell in those categories. Thus, the categories were reduced to two i.e. unmarried and married for the final analysis.
M ar ital Status 80% 71% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Unmarried Married 29%

Figure 4.5: Graphical representation of respondents marital status distribution

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Education: The instrument had 3 categories namely under graduate, graduate and post graduate. Incidentally, all the respondents were either graduate or post graduate. Since there was no one in the category of under graduate, therefore, this category was done away with. Finally, the analysis considered only two categories in education. There were 244 respondents (48.8%) in the category of graduates and 256 (51.2%) in the category of post graduates.
Education
51.50% 51.00% 50.50% 50.00% 49.50% 49.00% 48.50% 48.00% 47.50% Graduate P ost-graduate 51.20%

48.80%

Figure 4.6: Graphical representation of respondents education distribution

Tenure: Of the 500 respondents, 40% of the respondents i.e. 200 were less than 1 year old. 41.6% of the respondents were 1-3 years old in their current organization. Only 18.4% respondents i.e. 92 respondents were more than 3 years old in their current organizations. Of these 500 respondents, 66 respondents had changed more than one job prior to this, 142 had changed more than 2 jobs and 89 had changed more than 3 jobs.
Tenure
45% 40% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Less than 1 year 1 to 3 years More than 3 years 18.40% 41.60%

Figure 4.7: Graphical representation of respondents tenure distribution

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Thus, it can be seen from the demographics that the sample is a homogenous mix of gender, marital status, education, age and tenure. Further study was done on extracting the factors of attrition as rated by these respondents. 4.3.2 Identification of factors of attrition

In order to identify and evaluate the factors behind attrition based on the primary data, we began with pooling of factors that caused the shift of respondents from one organization to another; or would cause their probable shift. On the basis of exhaustive literature and the pilot study done, total of 21 factors were chosen for the study. The respondents were asked to rate these factors on a 5 point likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, 1 being least important and 5 being most important. Table 4.3 enlists all the 21 factors that were translated into items in the questionnaire and were used for factor analysis.
Table 4.3: Factors of attrition chosen for study Items 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Ineffective Supervision Achievement not recognized Dissatisfied with compensation package Personal reasons Poor Mentoring Dissatisfied with the colleagues Lack of advancement opportunities Low perceived value of working in BPO Lack of equality Irregular work hours Unsure of career growth Dissatisfied with working conditions Lack of Self Motivation Power and politics Lack of skill variety Lack of autonomy Monotonous nature of work Emphasis on quantity over quality Lack of teamwork Incompatible policies Absence of challenge in the job

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To test the validity of the instrument, cronbach alpha and KMO tests were conducted. Cronbach alpha was calculated to measure the internal consistency and reliability of the instrument. The cronbach alpha came as 0.898 as shown in table 4.4, thus the instrument was considered reliable for the study. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy is a statistic that indicates the proportion of variance in the variables that might be caused by underlying factors. High values (close to 1.0) generally indicate that a factor analysis may be useful with the data. If the value is less than 0.50, the results of the factor analysis probably will not be very useful. The KMO value for the instrument was 0.745, which is acceptable as a middling value [156]. Similarly, Bartlett's test of sphericity tests the hypothesis that the correlation matrix is an identity matrix, which would indicate that the variables are unrelated and therefore unsuitable for structure detection. Small values (less than 0.05) of the significance level indicate that a factor analysis may be useful with the data. The Bartletts test showed a significant level and hence the instrument was accepted for further study.

Table 4.4: Cronbach Alpha and KMO Test Value Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha .898 KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. ChiSquare df Sig. .745 6052.012 210.000 .000 No. of Items 21

Since the factors of attrition were large in number and were inter-related, factor analysis was done to extract and club the factors responsible for attrition. Principal component analysis was the method of extraction. Varimax was the rotation method. As per the Kaiser criterion, only factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were retained [157]. Ten factors in the initial solution have eigenvalues greater than 1. Together, they account for almost 80% of the variability in the original variables. The items falling under each of these factors were then dealt with quite judiciously. A few changes were done, to club items of the same nature together. After much of

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thoughtful permutations and combinations, 8 factors were finally extracted. Table 4.5 shows the communality and eigenvalues of the factors. It is followed by a screeplot (Fig 4.8).

Table 4.5: Table of eigenvalues of the factors Variable Ineffective Supervision Achievement not recognized Dissatisfied with compensation package Personal reasons Poor Mentoring Dissatisfied with the colleagues Lack of advancement opportunities Low perceived value of working in BPO Lack of equality Irregular work hours Unsure of career growth Dissatisfied with working conditions Lack of Self Motivation Power and politics Lack of skill variety Lack of autonomy Monotonous nature of work Emphasis on quantity over quality Lack of teamwork Incompatible policies Absence of challenge in the job Communality * .79312 * .74867 * .82360 * .79365 * .72681 * .65294 * .84319 * .86265 * .86068 * .88247 * .77515 * .81058 * .68408 * .70023 * .73953 * .78604 * .87301 * .81297 * .84417 * .65218 * .81271 * Factor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Eigenvalue 3.84818 3.35857 2.84924 2.46775 2.2391 1.84247 1.73255 1.60163 1.28253 1.05894 Percentage of Variance 13.7 12 10.2 8.8 8 6.6 6.2 5.7 4.6 3.8 Cumulative Variance 13.7 25.7 35.9 44.7 52.7 59.3 65.5 71.2 75.8 79.6

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4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Fig 4.8: Screeplot of the components extracted from factor analysis

The factors along with their loadings are mentioned in Table 4.6.
Table 4.6: Factor Pattern Matrix: Factors responsible for attrition ITEMS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ineffective Supervision Achievement not recognized Dissatisfied with compensation package Personal reasons Poor Mentoring Dissatisfied with the colleagues Lack of advancement opportunities FACTOR 1 -0.00677 0.45763 0.03368 -0.23069 -0.26036 -0.04686 -0.64938 FACTOR 2 -0.13239 0.21244 0.02298 -0.11524 -0.28425 0.37879 0.06485 FACTOR 3 -0.1906 -0.381 -0.82685 0.65948 -0.1081 0.3218 0.38311 FACTOR 4 0.23329 -0.0299 -0.05818 -0.09077 0.08698 0.08305 -0.02251 FACTOR 5 0.23645 -0.04324 0.11111 0.06847 -0.15311 -0.48099 0.1371

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8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Low perceived value of working in BPO Lack of equality Irregular work hours Unsure of career growth Dissatisfied with working conditions Lack of Self Motivation Power and politics Lack of skill variety Lack of autonomy Monotonous nature of work Emphasis on quantity over quality Lack of teamwork Incompatible policies Absence of challenge in the job

0.86223 0.82781 -0.24394 -0.11947 0.16521 0.02093 -0.05555 0.08202 0.07621 -0.07906 -0.09364 0.30894 0.50256 -0.04799

0.00416 0.22418 0.21999 -0.13037 0.76926 0.12726 0.20841 0.41796 0.0046 0.23124 0.14976 -0.08575 0.47491 -0.02496

-0.05811 -0.03916 0.0447 -0.05153 0.24926 0.68924 -0.01031 -0.34426 0.16872 0.08346 0.35162 0.19572 0.15613 -0.09258

-0.1988 0.23376 0.71973 -0.0336 0.207 0.21852 -0.04642 0.21381 0.11919 0.42372 -0.0049 0.15806 -0.1064 -0.01548

-0.02644 0.0404 -0.15029 0.02444 0.01279 0.09201 0.7974 0.02094 0.02393 -0.34168 0.34191 0.44816 0.15447 0.14701

ITEMS

FACTOR 6

FACTOR 7 -0.42217 -0.24871 -0.03335 0.12454 0.25623

FACTOR 8 0.62675 0.05264 0.22437 0.46756 -0.2225

FACTOR 9 -0.18965 -0.44706 -0.02471 0.14993 -0.0786

FACTOR 10 -0.07982 -0.27605 -0.16354 0.06873 -0.62297

1 2 3 4 5

Ineffective Supervision Achievement not recognized Dissatisfied with compensation package Personal reasons Poor Mentoring

-0.12452 -0.07413 0.20908 -0.13411 -0.16155

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6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Dissatisfied with the colleagues Lack of advancement opportunities Low perceived value of working in BPO Lack of equality Irregular work hours Unsure of career growth Dissatisfied with working conditions Lack of Self Motivation Power and politics Lack of skill variety Lack of autonomy Monotonous nature of work Emphasis on quantity over quality Lack of teamwork Incompatible policies Absence of challenge in the job

-0.26563 0.09615 0.17846 -0.00692 0.11224 -0.08643 0.21573 0.27584 0.06455 0.27404 -0.03228 0.50203 -0.17846 0.52798 -0.2264 0.85194

0.19046 0.08501 -0.01698 0.09112 0.36077 0.08981 -0.01823 -0.0481 -0.0808 0.06676 -0.05043 0.04928 0.54561 0.2087 0.12916 -0.06335

0.1929 0.39559 0.07323 0.23738 0.13127 -0.18512 -0.07104 -0.12842 -0.03706 -0.17683 -0.00831 -0.16549 -0.01164 0.16543 0.01613 -0.16861

0.06568 -0.15792 0.14704 -0.04518 0.24137 0.15884 -0.12718 0.06695 0.03206 0.51349 0.83733 -0.29789 -0.11279 -0.34302 -0.18614 0.11811

-0.13074 -0.23091 -0.12835 0.02459 0.11717 0.81514 -0.13525 -0.19184 0.05008 -0.13766 0.17941 0.37343 0.44589 0.09948 0.10804 -0.08467

The factors extracted for further study are shown in Table 4.7. These 8 factors that were ultimately extracted included factors have loadings more than 0.3 and have been referred to as dimensions of attrition in the further analysis. The table is followed by the explanation of all these eight dimensions.

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Factor

1 2 3

Table 4.7: Factors of attrition extracted from factor analysis Factor Factor Name Item Loading .8622 Low Perceived Value .8278 Lack of Equality -.6494 Dispirited Perceptual Factors Lack of Advancement Opportunities .5026 Incompatible Policies Dissatisfied with Working Conditions Power and Politics Dissatisfied with Colleagues Lack of Teamwork Dissatisfied with compensation Personal Reasons Dearth of self-motivation Lack of Skill Variety Monotonous Nature of Job Absence of Challenge Irregular Working Hours Emphasis on quantity over quality Ineffective Supervision Lack of Autonomy Achievement not recognized Poor Mentoring Unsure of career growth .7693 .7974 -.4809 .4482 -.8269 .6595 .6893 .5135 .5021 .8519 .3608 .5456 -.4222 -.4471 .8373 -.6229 .8151 Unfavorable Working Conditions Hostile Organizational Culture

Discontented Personal Factors

Substandard Nature of Job Uncongenial Organizational Support Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Mystified Career Path

6 7 8

Dispirited Perceptual Factors This name was given to Factor 1. The items included in this were: low perceived value, lack of equality, lack of advancement opportunities, and incompatible policies, all of which had factor loadings more than 0.5. All these items rated by the respondents have one thing in common and it is the association of employees perception towards it. Low perceived value means the value attached to a BPO job, and the prestige it carries in the outside world. Similarly, equality is largely a matter of individuals perception towards the management. The fact that organization lacks in advancement opportunities for the employees is also very much in concern with how much an individual employee exploits the given opportunities. Policies in an organization are same for all, but few find it incompatible with their attitudes, demands and aspirations. Thus, in a nutshell all these factors are clubbed into perceptual factors i.e. aspects that relate to an individuals perception. This finding can be supported with similar studies done by various

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researchers. Employees often perceive inequality in the treatment by their bosses and by the management. This inequality may be in the context of appraisals, feedbacks, promotions, policies etc. [8] [22]. Mehta et al. have also cited similar reasons pertaining to inequality that causes various HR issues in a BPO organization [7]. This result is also in conformity with Budhwar et al. and Prakash and Chowdhary [21] [64]. Unfavorable Working Conditions It emerged out as the second factor and has just one item in it. i.e. unfavorable working conditions with a loading of .7693. This factor is an important one as dissatisfaction with working conditions often leads to reduction in willingness to work and dispirited efficiency. It is a hygiene factor as researched by [96], i.e. absence of it will lead to dissatisfaction and demotivation to work. The employee then starts looking for change and aspires for an environment where the conditions are conducive for work. Literature states that working conditions is not just confined to the physical environment bestowed on the employees, it expands to job design, job control, task complexity and variety and even stressors [158] [159] [160]. The specific literature on work environment and working conditions of outsourcing and contracting organizations classify BPOs as a new form of work organization, which is often designed from scratch [161]. Researchers state that when new jobs are designed, working conditions and work environment do not tend to play a major role [158] and work is designed around technical solutions or existing organizational principles, which may imply unfavorable working conditions for employees [159]. Numerous studies have investigated effects of working conditions on strain also [162] [163]. Job control and task complexity and variety stressors are a possible source for chronic stress, such as impaired well-being and health e.g., irritation, psychosomatic complaints and negatively affect job-related attitudes too [162] [163]. Unfavorable working conditions reduce job satisfaction and affective commitment over time, and, in turn, enhance intentions to quit a job [163]. Thus this finding emerges as a strongly substantiated dimension of attrition which is supported by numerous previous studies and is in conformity with studies of Shah and Sharma and Misra too [1] [20].

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Hostile Organizational Culture This term is given to factor 3, which included items viz. power and politics, dissatisfaction with colleagues, and lack of teamwork. Organizational Culture is often defined as a cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, behavioral norms, and expectations shared by organization members. All these items had the commonality of certain features that are prevalent in an organization. It refers to the expectations that the employees have from the company and feel that there is lot of politics and lack of teamwork. There exist many studies that prove dissatisfaction with colleagues and lack of teamwork often lead to social stressors [161]. Many studies have further investigated the effect of such stressors at work on strain of BPO employees. Social stressors at work e.g., conflicts with supervisors and colleagues, social animosities at work, negative group climate, and unfair behavior have strong impact on well-being and health [164] [165]. Such stress and dissatisfaction at work often leads to strong intention of quitting. The finding about organizational culture is supported by numerous studies and is also in conformity with studies of Misra and Budhwar et al [20] [64]. Discontented Personal Factors This factor included dissatisfaction with compensation, personal reasons, and dearth of selfmotivation. These were all related to the personal nature or temperament of the employee. Many a time, employees leave organizations because of certain personal reasons that they dont divulge. In such situations, dearth of motivation is also quite commonly seen among the employees. This stands in conformity with other studies done. The fact that employees tend to quit due to personal reasons is well supported by previous studies [166]. Personal animosity emerged as a factor of social stressor [167]. Such social stressors lead to personal dissatisfaction and prompt the employees to quit [161]. The result is also in conformity with other studies [7] [21] [22]. Substandard Nature of Job Lack of skill variety, monotonous nature of job, and absence of challenge were all clubbed under nature of job, which emerged out as an important factor of attrition. Substandard nature of job is a very important reason for employees quitting. The routine jobs offer no variety and no challenge in the skill, which often frustrate the employees, leaving them perturbed with the job and this
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becomes a reason for their quitting. This finding can be supported by Taylor and Bains work wherein they have presented a number of reasons why BPO work may be less skilled [11] [12] [13]. Indian centers are very large and have been designed to process high volumes of standardized information. Along with other researchers, Budhwar et al., Ofreneo et al., Taylor and Bain suggest that it is the high volume, low value, routinized work associated with mass production that is most susceptible to outsourcing [12] [14] [64]. Baumgartner et al. also reports experienced monotony as one of the most frequent reasons that call agents cite for quitting their job [168]. However, few studies suggest that a BPO job requires more rather than less skill on the part of offshore call centre workers [169]. The potential for additional emotional labor in the context of BPO, linguistic and cultural dualities that workers negotiate when info-service work is sent offshore [12], location and identity masking [27] and accent neutralization add to the demands for emotional self-management and more skills in a BPO job. Despite such studies, it can be said with innumerable evidences that most of the aspects of a typical BPO job testify it as a less challenging, substandard and less skilled job. This result is also in conformity with studies of Mehta et al, Mishra, and Chakravorty [7] [20] 24]. Uncongenial Organizational Support Organizational support refers to an employees perception of how much the organization supports him or her while working for the organization. Thus, irregular working hours, emphasis on quantity over quality, and ineffective supervision has been rightly termed as uncongenial organizational support. Uncongenial organizational support includes the unfriendly attitude of the organizations in giving ungodly working hours to the employees for an extremely long period; pressurizing the employees to meet targets of quantity; and not providing an effective supervision or an amiable atmosphere wherein the employee can discus his issues with the company. Such surly behaviors irritate the employees and are responsible for their leaving the job. In a study done by Russell and Thite, it was found that customer service representatives at the Indian sites do not feel freedom of work and find their interactions being too closely scripted [169]. This leads to ineffective supervision on the part of their team leads and often causes dissatisfaction among the employees. BPO workers in India also need greater flexibility in their work than they currently have [169]. In a study done by Eisenberger, perceived organizational support emerged

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as a predictor of affective commitment [170]. Commitment is an employees intention to continue with an organization. If the support is uncongenial it will definitely lead to his intention to quit. Uncongenial organizational support as a dimension of attrition stands in conformity with many other studies too [8] [22] [24]. Low Self-fulfillment Factors Achievement not recognized and lack of autonomy were grouped as self-fulfillment factors. These are the factors that often lead to job dissatisfaction and straining of motivation at workplace. They often get converted into low self esteem and hence bring down the level of selffulfillment. When the level of self fulfillment drips down, the employee does not find any reason or motive to work. Absence of empowerment and dearth of recognition damage the working sprint of the employee, and he ultimately leaves the organization. Similar finding emerged in Russell and Thites work on a comparison between Australian and Indian BPO employees [169]. Indian BPO employees, especially customer service representatives feel not much autonomy is given to them in their work. They are closely watched and every interaction of theirs is scrutinized. Such lack of autonomy and job dissatisfaction leads to reduction in efficiency and straining of motivation [171]. As a result the employees intend to leave their jobs. This result is also in conformity with other studies [20] [21] [24]. Mystified Career Path One of the most important factors responsible for attrition in BPOs is the obscurity of career path. Poor mentoring and uncertainty of career growth is an important factor clubbed here. When the employee finds no destination of where he is going, what path he is traveling and what is his future in the organization, he ultimately finds no reason to stay back in the organization. Mystified career path means obscurity of ones growth in the organization, and due to this employees find it hard to get involved with the work and organization and decide to leave. Studies done by other researchers also claim the same fact regarding factors that lead to an employees intention to quit [16] [166]. Typically in case of a BPO, employees do not really think of spending their entire careers in such a set up because many organizations provide little or almost no support in managing careers of employees [166]. Addae in his study states that many

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employees also quit when the organizations have indifferent attitude towards career development of the employees [16]. Thus, mystified career path, which is also in conformity with studies of Misra and Budhwar et al., stands as an important dimension of attrition [20] [64]. 4.3.3 Correlates and Determinants of attrition After identifying the factors behind attrition through factor analysis, and assigning appropriate names, the next step was to find the correlates and the determinants of attrition. For this first we have to find out the means and standard deviations of the factors. This will help us to understand them better. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of each item responsible for their quitting on a scale of 5, where 5 was very important and 1 was not at all important. After the factor analysis, when eight factors emerged, the score of each of the factors was computed by taking out the mean of the items falling under each factor. For e.g. in order to calculate the mean of dispirited perceptual factors, the score of all the items i.e. low perceived value, lack of equality, lack of advancement opportunities, and incompatible policies were first added and then mean was calculated. Similarly, means and standard deviations were calculated for all the factors. These means and standard deviations are used to rank them. The ranking of the factors based on the means and standard deviations of each of the factors are shown in table 4.8. Figure 4.9 gives the graphical representation of the same.
Table 4.8: Means and Standard deviation of the factors of attrition Factor Name Mean Standard Deviation Hostile Organizational Culture Substandard Nature of Job Mystified Career Path Discontented Personal Factors Uncongenial Organizational Support Dispirited Perceptual Factors Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Unfavorable Working Conditions 3.09 3.09 2.99 2.98 2.96 2.85 2.84 2.72 .63 .98 .68 .72 .78 .82 .75 1.06

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

It is clear from table 4.8 that substandard nature of job and hostile organizational culture has the highest mean of 3.09, stating that most of the respondents consider substandard nature of job and

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the hostile organizational culture to be responsible for their quitting. Standard deviation for hostile organizational culture is 0.63; and for substandard nature of job is 0.98. The means are closely followed by mystified career path (2.99), discontented personal factors (2.98), uncongenial organizational support (2.96), dispirited perceptual factors (2.85), low selffulfillment factors (2.84), and finally unfavorable working conditions (2.72).
Means and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Attrition
3.25 3 2.75 2.5 2.25 2 1.75 1.5 1.25 1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0
Hostile Organizational Culture Substandard Nature of Job Mystif ied Career Path Discontented Personal Factors Uncongenial Organizational Support Dispirited Perceptual Factors Low Self Fulf illment Factors Unf avorable Working Conditions 0.63 0.68 0.98 0.72 0.78 0.82 0.75 1.06 3.09 3.09 2.99 2.98 2.96 2.85 2.84

2.72

Mean

Standard Deviation

Fig 4.9: Graphical representation of mean and standard deviations of the attrition dimensions

Having calculated the mean and standard deviation of the independent variables i.e. factors of attrition, next is to calculate the same for the dependent variable i.e. probability of quitting the organization. The mean and standard deviation of the dependent variable is shown in table 4.9. Although the mean of probability of quitting the organization is around 3.25, the standard deviation is relatively high (1.15).
Table 4.9: Means and Standard deviation of probability of quitting Factor Name Mean Standard Deviation Probability of quitting 3.25 1.15

The next step involved computing the correlations between the independent variables and the dependent variable in order to find out the relationship between the two. The independent

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variables included eight dimensions of attrition and five personal characteristics. The correlation coefficient of the thirteen independent variables and one dependent variable is shown in table 4.10.
Table 4.10: Relationships (Correlation coefficients) of factors of attrition and personal characteristics with probability of quitting the organization (N=500) Factors of attrition Substandard Nature of Job Dispirited Perceptual Factors Discontented Personal Factors Uncongenial Organizational Support Hostile Organizational Culture Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Mystified Career Path Unfavorable Working Conditions Gender (0=male, 1=female) Marital Status (0= unmarried, 1=married) Education (0=graduate, 1=post graduate) Age Tenure ** Significant at .01 level. Probability of quitting 0.42** 0.30** 0.23** 0.23** 0.17** 0.04NS 0.03NS 0.03NS 0.18** 0.20** 0.29** 0.06NS 0.02NS

The table clearly shows that out of thirteen independent variables, eight variables have significant correlations with the dependent variable that is probability of quitting the organization. All the correlations are positive. It should be noted here that the dependent variable in the equation is the employees probability of quitting the organization and all the independent variables are positively correlated with it. Out of eight dimensions of attrition, five are significantly correlated with probability of quitting and out of five personal characteristics, three are significantly correlated. These findings align with many previous researches done in the same domain. These five dimensions of attrition are substandard nature of job [13] [14] [169]; dispirited perceptual factors [7] [22] [64]; discontented personal factors [7] [161] [166] etc. are positively correlated with the employees probability of quitting an organization. The more the employee perceives the nature of job to be substandard, the more is his chance of quitting the organization. Similarly, the more dispirited he becomes with the perceptual factors like low perceived value, lack of equality,

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the more is he inclined towards leaving the organization. The only three variables which do not have a significant correlation are low self fulfillment factors, mystified career path and unfavorable working conditions. That means it cannot be said with statistical significance that probability of quitting increases with the increase of uncertainty of career growth or poor mentoring or even achievement not being recognized. Similarly out of the five personal characteristics, three of them had significant positive correlation with the probability of quitting. Gender (0.18**), marital status (0.20**) and education (0.29**) had significant positive correlations. All these three variables were treated as dummy variables. Thus the correlations mean, females show more probability of quitting as compared to males, similarly married employees have shown greater interest of quitting and finally in case of education, post graduates have expressed bigger probability of quitting. These results are in consistency with previous studies of [35] [172] [173]. 4.3.4 Regression Model of Attrition This section works out the regression model of the factors that contribute to attrition in a BPO organization. It considers the regression equation in the model and examines the strength of the independent variables in predicting the dependent variable. It was assumed that there is a linear relationship between the factors extracted above and their probability of quitting the organization. A regression analysis was conducted with the dependent variable as probability of quitting the organization and the independent variables as the dimensions that got extracted from the factor analysis and the five personal characteristics i.e. gender, marital status, education, age and tenure. The thirteen dimensions were then put in the model as independent variables and probability of quitting the organization was put as the dependent variable. Only five variables out of thirteen contributed significantly to the equation. The equation which emerged after the process was as follows. Table 4.11 summarizes the determinants of the equation.

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Y= 1.78 + 0.38X1 + 0.42X2 + 0.34X3 + 0.33X4 + 0.09X5 Where, Y = Stay in the organization X1 = Substandard nature of job X2 = Discontented personal factors X3 = Uncongenial organizational support X4 = Dispirited perceptual factors X5 = Hostile organizational culture
Table 4.11: Determinants of attrition in a BPO organization (N=500) Independent Variables Substandard nature of job Discontented personal factors Uncongenial organizational support Dispirited perceptual factors Hostile organizational culture Dependent variable: Stay in the organization Beta Simple r 0.38 0.4177** 0.42 0.2342** 0.34 0.2245** 0.33 0.2975** 0.09 0.1702** Multiple R = 0.60 R Square = 0.36 t-value 9.69 9.66 8.49 7.86 2.66

** Significant at 0.01 level

The value of multiple R is 0.60 and the value of R square is 0.36 in the equation. It states that 36% of the attrition in a BPO is explained by these factors. 36% is a significant value that explains the quitting by the employees. The rest 74% can be attributed to so many other factors which are scattered and individually contribute only little to the quitting by the employees. However, mainly an employee tends to leave the organization because of the substandard nature of the job, discontented personal factors, uncongenial organizational support, dispirited perceptual factors and hostile organizational culture. It should be noted here that the dependent variable in the equation is the employees probability of quitting the organization and all the independent variables are positively correlated with it. That means these pessimistic dimensions like substandard nature of job, dispirited perceptual factors, discontented personal factors etc are positively correlated and contribute positively to the employees probability of quitting an organization. The equation explains that highest contribution to attrition is made by the discontented personal factors of an individual and this includes dissatisfied with compensation,

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personal reasons, and dearth of self-motivation. Similarly substandard nature of job which includes lack of skill variety, monotonous nature of job, and absence of challenge, also contribute to the probability of quitting the organization. All these factors have been discussed as follows: Substandard nature of job With a beta value of 0.38 and a correlation coefficient of 0.4177 significant at 0.01 level, this factor contributes significantly and quite largely to the attrition of employees. It is quite evident as lack of skill variety in the job, the continuous monotonous nature of job and even absence of any kind of challenge drains out the motivation from the employees working in a BPO. This reason alone is important enough for the employees to reinforce the decision of quitting their jobs. As already stated earlier, monotony at work is always a demotivator, no matter which industry one belongs to. There is no reason why it should be any different for BPO industry which is characterized by the repetitive nature of work with little scope for change in work profile. Most BPOs in reality are call centers. The daily experience, therefore, tends to be repetitive, monotonous, boring and stressful, frequently resulting in employee burnout. This is hardly surprising. Call centers are established by multinationals to create an environment in which economies of scale with consistent quality of customer service can be achieved through standardized work comprising uniform and repetitive activities. Discontented personal factors This factor with a beta coefficient 0.42 and a correlate coefficient of 0.2342, with probability of quitting, significant at 0.05 level, also emerged as an imperative determinant of attrition. This factor is a combination of various kinds of dissatisfaction arising from meager compensation, or personal reasons and even dearth of self-motivation. BPO industry is well-known for its munificent salary package. A job in BPO pays much more than any other opening for fresh college graduates. However, inspite of receiving comparatively higher salaries (compared to other industries), BPO employees crave for higher salaries to compensate for their bizarre adversities of unusual working hours and job stress that are unavoidable in BPO jobs. The industry carries an image of an internet sweatshop where an employee is prepared to accept his doom of being in office at unusual hours for a dead-end job. Moreover, dearth of motivation sets in due to

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monotony of work and due to absence of opportunities for personal or career growth. New employees come to BPO industry with matchless enthusiasm, which fades as job stress kicks in. Uncongenial organizational support Employees tend to leave a BPO job when he perceives organizational support getting uncongenial for his sustenance in the job. This factor has the beta coefficient of 0.34 and a correlation coefficient of 0.2245 significant at 0.05 level and is an assortment of irregular working hours, emphasis on quantity over quality, and ineffective supervision and all these factors contribute to an employees possibility of quitting a job. BPO employees on an average have to work for more than 12 hours as against an average of 10 hours in a non-BPO industry. This becomes extremely difficult and tiring for the employees who work against their biological clock. Also, the employees face invariable pressure to achieve numbers pertaining to quantity rather than quality, which leads to shorter call times, higher call volumes, lower cost, routinizing, centralizing, conformance to standards, higher customer satisfaction, etc. They have a tough time in maintaining a balance between quality and quantity of calls handled. Many employees also crib when they find themselves working under incompetent bosses and ineffective supervision. With such factors on rise, employees increase their tendency to leave the organizations. Dispirited perceptual factors It is not a far fetched truth that society still views a BPO employee as a non-serious, not highly qualified and an unstable youth. Such perception brings down the perceived value of working in a BPO and often tarnishes the image of working in a BPO. The career paths in BPO industry are also not attractive enough to sustain the youths who continue working for certain reasons. Hence the employees look for better options in their own fields. Low perceived value, lack of equality and advancement opportunities, and incompatible policies together makes the employee dispirited and hence extracts the interest of continuing with the job. Thus, dispirited perceptual factors significantly contribute positively to the quitting of jobs by the BPO employees. With a beta coefficient of 0.33 and correlation of 0.2975 significant at 0.05 level, this factor positively contributes to the quitting of jobs by the employees.

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Hostile organizational culture With a paltry beta coefficient of 0.09 but a statistically significant positive correlation of 0.1702, hostile organizational culture determines the quitting of jobs by BPO employees. Dissatisfaction from power and politics in the organization, from colleagues, and lack of teamwork in the organization results in an organization culture which the employee finds hostile. Thus, he leaves the job. All these relationships have been brought about in the diagrammatic representation as in figure 4.10.

Substandard Nature of job Lack of skill variety Monotonous nature of job Absence of challenge = 0.38 Uncongenial Organizational Support Irregular working hours Emphasis on quantity over quality Ineffective supervision Discontented Personal Factors Dissatisfied with compensation Personal reasons Dearth of self-motivation

= 0.34

= 0.42

Attrition R2 = 0.36

Hostile Organizational Culture Power and politics Dissatisfied with colleagues Lack of teamwork

= 0.09

= 0.33 Dispirited Perceptual Factors Low Perceived Value Lack of Equality Lack of Advancement Opportunities Incompatible Policies

Figure 4.10: Relationship framework of the dimensions of attrition

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4.3.5

Comparison of dimensions of attrition across various personal characteristics

The dimensions of attrition so formulated after the factor analysis were then compared across the various personal characteristics of the respondents chosen for the study. These personal characteristics included gender, marital status, education and age. The comparisons are discussed as follows: Gender Significant difference was found in the mean values of a couple of dimensions of attrition as perceived by the male and female respondents. Factors like perceptual factors, working conditions, personal factors, nature of job, and self fulfillment factors were the dimensions which had significant difference in the mean values. Table below shows the mean values and standard deviation of male and female respondents, and also highlights the factors which are significant. The values were significant at 0.01 level.
Table 4.12: Comparison of dimensions of attrition between male and female respondents Male (N= 272) Female (N=228) t-value Dimensions of attrition Mean S.D Mean S.D Dispirited Perceptual Factors Substandard Nature of Job Discontented Personal Factors Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Unfavorable Working Conditions Mystified Career Path Hostile Organizational Culture Uncongenial Organizational Support ** Significant at .01 level. 3.13 2.92 3.09 2.95 2.63 2.96 3.09 2.96 .61 .90 .70 .74 .83 .63 .50 .70 2.52 3.27 2.84 2.70 2.84 3.05 3.09 2.96 .90 .99 .72 .72 1.24 .74 .75 .85 9** 4.27** 3.94** 3.88** 2.25** 1.45 NS .06 NS .00 NS

It can be seen that the t-value was highest in case of perceptual factors, and then followed by nature of job, personal factors, self-fulfillment factors, and working conditions. The result here means that male employees tend to leave the organization because of perceptual factors as compared to female employees and this result has a high level of significance too. Since these are perceptual factors, they strongly depend upon the individuals characteristics, be it a male or female. While comparing the dimensions of attrition, there was a significant difference between male and female respondents. Females ranked nature of job and working conditions, higher than males as an important dimension of attrition. Both these factors are quite critical to females as 105
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they find it difficult to cope with the dull and droning nature of job and working conditions too. Personal factors and self-fulfillment factors were ranked higher by males as compared to females. The result was significant also. Compensation packages, achievement not recognized, lack of autonomy tends to dissatisfy a male employee more than a female one. The finding is congruent to other previous studies also. Literature shows that work related attitudes vary by gender [174] [175]. Although it has been seen that the findings regarding gender differences in job satisfaction have been inconsistent [176], there are some studies which suggest that gender may affect employees' perceptions of organizational commitment [177] [178] [179] [180]. However, few studies in this area showed no significant differences between males and females in regard of organizational commitment [35]. Marital Status The dimensions of attrition were compared between unmarried and married respondents and few of the factors came out to be significantly different in their mean values and standard deviation. Significant difference was found in the mean values of factors like dispirited perceptual factors, unfavorable working conditions, discontented personal factors, organizational culture, uncongenial organizational support and self fulfillment factors. Table 4.13 shows the mean and standard deviation values of the dimensions between unmarried and married respondents. The values were significant at 0.01 level.
Table 4.13: Comparison of dimensions of attrition between unmarried and married respondents Unmarried (N= 355) Married (N=145) t-value Dimensions of attrition Mean S.D Mean S.D Uncongenial Organizational Support Hostile Organizational Culture Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Discontented Personal Factors Dispirited Perceptual Factors Unfavorable Working Conditions Mystified Career Path Substandard Nature of Job ** Significant at .01 level. 2.83 3.00 2.75 2.90 2.78 2.81 3.03 3.10 .78 .69 .71 .76 .80 1.08 .71 .98 3.26 3.30 3.05 3.17 3.03 2.53 2.92 3.3 .68 .37 .77 .55 .82 .91 .61 .91 5.75** 4.96** 4.12** 3.91** 3.06** 2.72** 1.59 NS .8 NS

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The factors uncongenial organizational support, organizational culture, low self-fulfillment factors, discontented personal factors, and dispirited perceptual factors considered for attrition were ranked higher by married employees as compared to unmarried employees. Justified as it stands, it can be rightly said married employees need more support from organization when it comes to the working hours, shift timings, commute issues etc. and when they do not receive that support, it induces bitterness and employees then tend to leave the organization. Expectations and attitudes are different for unmarried employees and married employees. Thus factors like organizational culture, low self-fulfillment factors and discontented personal factors are of more significance for married employees when considering them for leaving the organization. This finding aligns with few previous researches also. In a study done by Wickramasinghe and

Kumara on BPO employees in Sri Lanka, the finding shows that married employees show more
resentment towards working hours than unmarried employees [181]. Marital status correlates significantly with working hours. Bowen et al. also found that married workers were more committed to the organization than single workers [182]. Education Significant difference was found in the mean values of most of the dimensions of attrition as perceived by the graduate and post-graduate respondents. All the factors except for mystified career path had significant differences in mean and standard deviation values between graduate and post-graduate respondents. Table 4.14 shows the values and also the significance at 0.01 level. Factors like organizational culture, organizational support, and perceptual factors were highly significant as compared to others.
Table 4.14: Comparison of dimensions of attrition between graduate and post-graduate respondents Graduate (N= 244) Post-graduate (N=256) t-value Dimensions of attrition Mean S.D Mean S.D Hostile Organizational Culture 3.30 .59 2.89 .59 7.85** Uncongenial Organizational Support 3.14 .63 2.79 .86 5.15** Substandard Nature of Job 3.30 .85 2.87 1.01 5.12** Dispirited Perceptual Factors 2.67 .86 3.03 .73 5.00** Low Self-Fulfillment Factors 2.68 .80 2.99 .65 4.75** Discontented Personal Factors 3.10 .80 2.86 .60 3.81** Unfavorable Working Conditions 2.88 .97 2.58 1.09 3.24** Mystified Career Path 2.96 .79 3.04 .56 1.44 NS ** Significant at .01 level.

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Organizational culture, organizational support, nature of job, personal factors, and working conditions were all ranked higher by graduates as compared to post-graduates. Graduates find it difficult to cope with these factors. However, post-graduate employees have ranked perceptual factors and self-fulfillment factors as important reasons for leaving an organization. Perception and expectations change with the level of education received. Thus these factors had a higher mean in post-graduate employees. Previous researches on educational level and various dimensions of job aspects show educational level to be significant predictors of organizational commitment [183] [184]. Workers with higher educational qualifications occupy higher ranks and therefore have more responsibilities which invariably require more commitment to the organization [185]. However, contrary to this, a study by Cano and Miller on agricultural education teachers shows that education degree is not significantly related to overall job satisfaction [186]. Age Duncans Mean Test was applied to compare the dimensions of attrition among three age groups. Significant difference was found in the mean values of a couple of dimensions of attrition as perceived by respondents of the various age categories. Perceptual factors and nature of job showed highly significant differences in mean and standard deviation values. Mystified career path, working conditions and organizational culture were other significant factors. Table 4.15 shows all the values of mean and standard deviation of the dimensions of attrition across the various age groups. It can be seen that F value was highest in case of perceptual factors. This factor along with mystified career path was ranked higher by experienced employees i.e. more than 35 years of age than other less aged employees. It makes sense as such employees may have been in the industry for many years now, and because of lack of recognition or still no clarity of career path think of leaving an organization. Organizational culture, working conditions, nature of job were ranked highest by employees who are less than 25 years of age. Employees who are less than 25 years of age are new to the industry; therefore these factors are quite significant for them to decide over leaving the organization. Employees of this age bracket are quite dynamic and are characterized

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by forceful behaviors and a restless attitude; therefore these employees tend to leave the organization, the moment they find incompatibility with culture, working conditions, and nature of job.
Table 4.15: Comparisons of dimensions of attrition among three age groups (A1= less than 25, A2= 26-30, A3 = more than 30) Duncans Mean Test A1 (N=134) Dimensions of Attrition Mean Dispirited Perceptual Factors Substandard Nature of Job Mystified Career Path Unfavorable Working Conditions Hostile Organizational Culture Uncongenial Organizational Support Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Discontented Personal Factors 2.37 3.39 2.74 2.88 3.21 3.00 2.86 3.02 S.D .73 1.08 .51 1.11 .57 .46 .73 .77 Mean 3.01 3.15 3.09 2.82 3.05 2.87 2.78 2.97 S.D .74 .82 .75 .98 .68 .89 .70 .72 Mean 3.07 2.67 3.11 2.43 3.04 3.04 2.91 2.95 S.D .83 .91 .65 1.01 .57 .79 .81 .66 * A2 (N=226) A3 (N=140) A1 v/s A2 * * * A1 v/s A3 * * * * * * * A2 v/s A3 F-value 38.18** 21.33** 14.65** 8.41** 3.67* 2.39 NS 1.35 NS 0.35 NS

*Significant at .05 level. ** Significant at .01 level.

Although few past studies show age and satisfaction from various job aspects not being significantly related [187], there are few studies which show that older workers are more likely to be satisfied than younger workers [188]. A study also shows that workers who are older have more commitment to their organizations than the younger workers [189]. Tenure Duncans Mean Test was applied to compare the dimensions of attrition among three tenure groups. Significant difference was found in the mean values of a few dimensions of attrition as perceived by respondents of the various categories of tenure. Uncongenial organizational support, hostile organizational culture, low self-fulfillment factors, and discontented personal factors showed significant differences in mean and standard deviation values. Unfavorable working conditions, dispirited perceptual factors and substandard nature of job did not have any significant difference in the mean values or standard deviations. Table 4.16 shows all the values of mean and standard deviation of the dimensions of attrition across the various tenure groups.

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Table 4.16: Comparisons of dimensions of attrition among three tenure groups (T1= less than 1 year, T2= 2-3 years, T3 = more than 3 years) Duncans Mean Test T1 T2 T3 T1 T1 T2 v/s v/s v/s Dimensions of Attrition T2 T3 T3 Mean S.D Mean S.D Mean S.D Uncongenial Organizational Support Hostile Organizational Culture Mystified Career Path Low Self-Fulfillment Factors Discontented Personal Factors Unfavorable Working Conditions Dispirited Perceptual Factors Substandard Nature of Job ** Significant at .01 level. 3.97 3.19 2.18 3.43 3.48 2.98 3.67 3.18 .24 .79 1.11 1.38 1.04 .58 .92 .70 3.56 3.57 2.82 3.82 3.26 2.92 3.82 3.33 .88 .91 .98 .70 .76 .99 .59 .69 3.40 3.59 2.88 3.60 3.52 2.83 3.81 3.27 1.16 1.00 1.01 .77 .76 1.01 .59 .58 * * * * * * * * * *

F-value

16.85** 9.25** 8.41** 7.74** 4.97** 1.12NS 2.24NS 2.01NS

It can be seen that F value was highest in case of organizational support. This factor was ranked highest by respondents with less than 1 year of job. It means such respondents have high probability of quitting because they do not find the organizational support congenial. Hostile organizational culture which denotes power and politics, lack of teamwork and dissatisfaction with employees was ranked highest by respondents with more than 3 years of experience. This simply means as an employee spends more time in the organization, he gets hit by the power and politics and thus decides to leave. Such employees also have also ranked low self fulfillment factors as highest and it is because, in spite of spending a decent time in the organization when they find their achievement not being recognized they feel like discontinuing. Another interesting fact is the significant difference in case of discontented personal factors. Respondents with more than 3 years of tenure in a particular organization have ranked this factor as an important one in their quitting of job. It is quite tacit also that as one spends more time in an organization, motivation tends to drain out. There comes a time, when there is no self motivation of doing the job. This is an interesting and a noteworthy analysis because it clearly enlists why employees leave BPO jobs so early. There are many job hoppers in this industry who do not sustain in an organization for more than 2 years. It is simply because with time they do not find organizational
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culture to be friendly, their career path getting mystified, their self fulfillment being drained out, and motivation being depleted. Many research studies show a significant correlation of tenure with satisfaction from work and other aspects of work [183] [184]. Job tenure are significant predictors of organizational commitment may be because the longer the workers stay with an organization or the older they are the more time they have to evaluate their relationship with the organization [185]. Studies show that work related attitudes vary by tenure [190] [191]. In a study done by Wickramsinghe and Kumara [181], it has been found that employees with more than three years of work experience feel there are considerable opportunities for independence and freedom in doing their work than employees with less than three years of work experience.

4.4 Conclusion
This chapter concludes with the following points: i. Major causal factors for high attrition in Indian BPO industry identified in the first objective were based on qualitative research using secondary data. Factors like higher salary expectation, lack of security, lack of social interaction, monotonous work, unusual working hours, pressure to perform on metrics, low perceived value, disillusioned employees, stress and burnout and lack of motivation were identified through secondary data. Similarly factors were also identified through primary data and dimensions of attrition were defined after using factor analysis. Dimensions defined were dispirited perceptual factors, unfavorable working conditions, hostile organizational culture, discontented personal factors, substandard nature of job, uncongenial organizational support, low self-fulfillment factors, and mystified career path. There was some similarity between the two results, authenticating the qualitative research on causal agents for attrition identified in this study. ii. Further exploration revealed that employees from different bands of age, marital status, gender, tenure or education leave BPOs for different reasons. Few dimensions are significant with specific personal characteristics, whereas few are not. This all-inclusive analysis of the dimensions of attrition gives us a clear coherent picture of the pattern of attrition in BPOs.

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Regression analysis was also done in order to find out the contribution of these factors to the stay of an employee. 36% of the attrition in a BPO is explained by the factors viz., substandard nature of job, discontented personal factors, uncongenial organizational support, dispirited perceptual factors, and hostile organizational culture. Having explored the factors of attrition holistically and comprehensively, the next objective of exploring the dimensions of retention is carried out. The next chapter deals with the identification of dimensions of retention, comparison of the dimensions across the personal characteristics, regression analysis and model validation.

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