Don't just blame odd hours for BPO attrition

Rajiv (name changed) is a senior executive in a big BPO company.
After going through a stressful life, now in a rocky third marriage,
he finally decided to seek help. "There was an overlap between my
personal and professional life. I had challenges in my personal life
regarding relationships outside my marriage. I faced problems at the
workplace too.

Today's capitalist culture tries to push people beyond a point," said
Anand. Anand is just one example of the booming outsourcing industry
which has been facing the challenge of a high attrition rate which is
close to 60%. Studies have attributed this to factors like a stressful
job environment in the BPO industry, including odd working hours.
However, a study conducted at a BPO by psycho-therapist Dimple Shah,
who heads Revival Life, revealed that a majority of the problems of
these employees are not work-related . They are more related to
personal life and family.

"Work-related stress in BPOs is hugely hyped. The measures that the
companies take to reduce stress are also hyped. Measures like
out-ofcountry vacations, good canteens, etc do not go to the root of
the problem, which originates from their personal lives and requires
counselling, either individually or in a group," she said.

The Revival Life study covered the period from December 2006 to June
2007, covering nearly 100 people at one Mumbai BPO. Ms Shah said the
stress levels at this BPO were low since they did not handle inbound
calls. "We found that 50% employees were normal , 40% had anxiety, 27%
had depression and only 10 % had stress. The proportion of those
suffering simultaneously from all, that is stress, anxiety and
depression was 20 %," Ms Shah remarked , adding, "These 20% people
need therapeutic solutions, which takes a longer time."

With the high attrition rates, the human resource (HR) department is
busy fire fighting, occupied in recruitment and training, with not
much time to spare for counselling activity. "The HR department tends
to use motivational and communication programmes for solving employees
problems of the employees. However, such measures are useful for only
about 20% of the workforce. The real solution lies somewhere else,"
said Ms Shah.

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