RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

OF TALENTS – ITES INDIA

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MSc Management
Brunel Business School

Supervisor: Professor Ruth Simpson

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 September
2007
DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my brother.

Thank you for everything.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank:

My family, especially my brother, who always takes more interest and

sponsored my study in Brunel University and my supervisor, Professor

Ruth Simpson who took special interest and gave all the necessary support

for this research. They have all guided me, given me support. All the

lecturers who have taught and inspired me over the academic years at Brunel

University and I would also like to thank Sutherland Global Services –

Chennai for their cooperation. Thank you.

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 DECLARATION

I confirm that this report is wholly my own work. The dissertation does not incorporate,
without proper acknowledgement, any material previously submitted for a degree or
diploma at any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, no material is
included that has been previously published or written by another without full and proper
citation being made in the text (Harvard method) or exceptionally as a footnote. Standard
conventions of referencing from the main text to the bibliography have been adopted.

I accept that on submission that this report becomes the property of Brunel University
who may reproduce it in whole or in part for educational and research purposes without
further consent being required from me.

SIGNED AND DATED:

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 CONTENTS

Page:

DEDICATION I
II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
III
DECLARATION IV
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT VII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 9
1.2 Aims and objectives 9
1.3 Over view of ITES 10
1.4 The Development Of HRM 13
1.5 What is “Talent Retention”? 17

CHAPTER 2: CASE CONTEXT

2.1 Introduction 20
2.2 Over view of Sutherland 20
2.3 Sutherland – Mission & Vision 21
2.4 Sutherland – Chennai 25

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Introduction 26
3.2 Recruitment & Selection Procedure 26
3.3 Retention Strategy 30

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3.4 Performance Management 31
3.5 Motivation & Rewards 35
3.6 Organization Culture 38
3.7 Work Life Balance 39
3.8 Challenges for HR in ITES Industry 40
3.9 SWOT analysis for ITES 41

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction 42
4.2 The Case Study Design 42
4.3 Deductive & Inductive Theory 42
4.4 Process of Collection 43
4.5 Data Collection Methods 44
4.6 Primary Research Methodology 44
4.7 Questionnaire 44
4.8 The Structured Interview 48
4.9 Exit-Interview 50
5.0 Hypotheses & Indicators 52

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 Questionnaire & Interview: Findings and Discussion 53

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
6.1 Introduction 57
6.2 Considerations Of The Research Findings 57
6.3 Recommendations 58
6.4 Limitations and Future Research 62

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

APPENDIX A 67

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APPENDIX B 71

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS:
ITES: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENABLED SERVICES

ABSTRACT

Retention of employees, especially in the field of Information Technology support

services like BPO, contact centers, documentation centers have become very crucial for
supporting their clients for achieve its organization goal and remain competitive in the
industry. The concepts for retention in any organization is more or less the same and
there are a wide rang of literature supporting this which are more than two decade old.
The research will aim in the retention of talents in the ITES industries, where there are
less satisfactory factors for employees to continue in the organization.

The study is a case-based and focused on Sutherland Global Services – Chennai. The
research undertaken at Sutherland was through collection of primary data via
questionnaire sent through the company mail address to the technical support engineers,
structured interview with the team leader and program manager and the exit interview.

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Questions were framed which aimed to establish a picture of the Sutherland’s retention
strategy.

Data showed the flaws in the Sutherland retention strategy, recommendations were given
to help Sutherland Global Services – Chennai to alter the existing retention strategy
which may help the organization to stay competitive. Finally, future research directions
are also given.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

The introduction gives an outline of the study. The aims and objectives of the research
question are recognized and the case study will allow a foundation for the chosen area.
Finally the formation of the study is described.

1.2 AIM & OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this section is to demonstrate the main reason for undertaking the research
and the explanation behind them. The aim will be focused on the research question that
will be addressed by the investigation and the objectives hope to provide more detail as to
how this will be achieved.

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The research is case based and concentrates on Sutherland Global Services – Chennai,
India. Having four years of work experience in the company there is an easy access of
information and gather participant data.

AIMS

1. Can the talents working in the ITES industries like Sutherland Global Services be
retained.

2. Will the ITES industry be able to sustain in the current open IT market, where the
clients are taking back their contact centers back to their country?

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the research is “to investigate how ITES industries can become
sustainable by retaining their talents”

1. To establish a retention strategy, showing ways to retain the talent in the ITES
industry.

2. To draw an action plan which will help Sutherland to sustain its competitive
advantage, mainly focusing in the quality of the service.

1.3 OVER VIEW OF ITES

The perception of outsourcing started with Ross Perot when he founded Electronic Data
Systems in 1962. EDS would tell a potential client, "You are familiar with designing,
manufacturing and selling furniture, but we're familiar with managing information
technology. We can sell you the information technology you need, and you pay us for the
service.” (www.teamframe.com – white paper)

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 Shared Offshore B2B
Time Data Entire IT Alliance Process
Business
Sharing Processing Operations Outsourcing
Services
1960S 1970S 1980S 1990S 2000S

1960S – In the earlier years, outsourcing used to be known as “time-sharing”

1970S – This decade actually saw trend of data processing which can be applied to any
process that converts data from one format to another.

1980S – 1980S saw entire IT operations like application development and maintenance,
desktop support and helpdesk support.

1990S – This decade saw era of alliance/tie-ups of different major companies.

2000S – The early 2000S heralded collaboration of IT enabled services across regional
boundaries.
[Jain, P (December 2006)]

ITES is the acronym of Information Technology Enabled Services. To enhance

organizations competitiveness, many organizations are transferring the labor intensive
activities to offshore locations at a lower cost achieving the same or better quality levels.
The one that is substantial and growing in the global market is ITES. From transaction
processing to contact centers to application development, there is a wide range of
business processes that can be outsourced to third parties offering reduced cost, greater
flexibility or improved functionality.
[Jain, P (December 2006)]

In today’s business world there cannot be any dispute that ITES has had a tremendous
impact on the performance of business. Contact centers for selling services, goods and
offering technical support for software application to many of today’s generation gadgets
(computer, ipod etc) is becoming a part of the business life of almost every person. Most

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of the outsourced workforce in Asian countries and most of the outsourcing firms are
either based in USA or in United Kingdom, some in Australia and a very small percent
from Europe.
[Jain, P (December 2006)]

A wide range of strategic business goals are provided by a very powerful and useful
approach of ITES:
• Obtaining expert support
• Boosting competitiveness by focusing on core business
• Developing centralization and standardization
• Cost cutting on business operations
• Flexible capability of expansion
• Accessing new technology easier and faster
• Improving reaction speed

[Jain, P (December 2006)]

ITES in India

In today’s scenario India is appear as the nucleus of outsourcing, with almost all of
outsourcing contracts moving to India. In Indian business market ITES is in the top place
of attraction. The IT- programming service companies are entering into ITES sector at a
fast pace due to an impressive setoff clients. The main reason behind this migration and
focus on the ITES sector in India may be due to massive skilled labor at aggressive rates
along with the availability of a large pool of young IT and engineering talents. It is also a
fact that India has the largest English-speaking population after USA. The government of
India has also recognized the prospective future behind IT-enabled services and has
repeatedly taken optimistic steps to develop the ITES sector.
(www.bpoindia.com)
India in the lead:

NASSCOM-McKinsey Report 2006 sates that following five main advantages made
India to attain leadership position in the global offshore IT and ITES industries:

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(1) Copious Talent among the 28 low cost countries, India now account for 28 per cent of
IT and ITES talents.

(2) Availability Urban Infrastructure that has promoted several IT centres in the country;

(3) Equipped excellence that has distributed cost and quality leadership in offshore
service centres;

(4) Favorable Business Environment including policy interventions such as telecom

development

(5) Continued growth in the family of ITES sector that enabled the development of
infrastructure.
(NASSCOM-McKinsey Report)

Reports by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy show that over the last four to five
years, India’s ITES industries are proven to be the economic growth engines. They have
grown approximately three times between 2000 and 2004, from US$4 billion in 2000 to
US$12.8 billion in 2004. And approximately 95 percent of growth in foreign exchange &
six percent increase in the GDP are resulted by the growth of theses ITES industries.
Today, the ITES industries directly employ nearly 700,000 people and provide indirect
employment to approximately 2.5 million workers.
(NASSCOM-McKinsey Report)

1.4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HRM:

Human Resource Management is derived from the industrial relations and personal
management. It is a process that will help the organization to accomplish its objectives by
managing their people.
The position of the HRM in related to the organization’s other actions is illustrated
below.

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 (Cushway, B 1999)

Strategic
Organization
Objective Environment
Culture
s

Hr Performance
Strategy Management

Training &
Development
Job analysis Organizational
Recruitment Structure
Reward
Management

Employee
Outputs Relations

(Cushway, B 1999)

Origins of the Human Resource Function:

Due to the rapid expansion of the business such as the General Motors (started in 1908),
Bethlehem Steel (1899), Ford Motor Company (1916) and the other industrial giants, the
requirement of the workers to increase its manufacturing capacity was very high. For
example Ford expanded its manufacturing to 9,109 cars per day by 1925 from 800 cars
per day in 1910, which resulted in the increase of its workforce from less than 200
workers to several thousand workers. The same situation existed in the other businesses
during this industrial development era. In these periods, the new workers were generally
hired by the first line man or the foreman; the office managers hired the clerks and
secretaries.

As a cause of the industrial expansion the first line managers and the office managers felt
it as a difficult task to hire new employees and it became too time consuming. For
example Ford in 1913 was paying $2.34 per nine hours shift, because of the low pay and
monotonous & tiring work the company had turnover rate of 400 percent a year. This
situation lead too replacement of average workers four times each year. The first step for

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the origination of the Human Resource management is called as the ‘Employment
Department, Ford created this specialized unit for hiring their new employees.

Human Resource Management – Today:

The way of managing the human resource changed dramatically along with the
development of technology, social and market dynamics. In recent years the popularity of
the internet has provided a huge support to the development of the human resource
management. The development and the widespread of the internet has not affected the
basic factors to how the human resource factors are managed, but it has made a big
impact on the way of human resource management is delivered.

It is been argued by Denisi / Griffin that the communication between the management
and the Human Resource Managers are made easier because of the development of the
internet technology. These new changes in the technology has not only made the
communication with the managers easier but also given a lead for tracking the
employee’s performance through remote monitoring system.

Goals of the Human Resource Management:

It is very crucial to identify and discuss exclusively the basic goals of the human resource
management in a modern organization. The four basic goals of the human resource
management are illustrated in the figure:
........................................................................
........................................................................
Facilitating Enhancing
. . . . . organizational
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . productivity
. . . . . . . . . . .and
............
competitiveness quality
........................................................................
........................................................................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The
. . . human
........................................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . resource
. . . . . . . .function
......................................
in contemporary
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . organization
............................................
........................................................................
........................................................................
Complying with legal Promoting individual
& social obligations growth & development

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Goals of the Human Resource Management

........................................................................
........................................................................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
........................................................................
........................................
. . . . . . . . (Cornelius N, 2001)

 Facilitating Organizational Competitiveness:

The common a goal for all the human resource management in the organizations that they
try to achieve, they generally tend to promote the organization’s ability to be competitive
in fulfilling its mission. The Human Resource Management functions in an contemporary
organization playing the central role in the development process, needs to employ the
candidates with high level of motivation and knowledge willing to help the organization
achieve its organization goal and remain competitive in the industry.

 Enhancing Productivity and Quality:

The efficiency of an organization, industry or an individual is summarized and reflected

by an economic measuring system called as productivity. “Quality is a total set of
features and characteristics that bears on its ability to satisfy or implied needs.” (Denisi /
Griffin, 2005). In order to stay competitive and survive in the industry it is very important
to produce qualitative goods and service all the time.
Developing the quality and the productivity takes a major step which relies heavily on the
human resource management. It is very important to alter the selection system while
recruiting from a diverse pool of talents, in order to be more focused in the productivity
and the quality. It is very important for the organization to invest more in training and
development to give the talents the necessary skill and ability to generate high quality
products and services.
Researches have proved that the Human Resource Management takes the major part in
the development of an organization helping to enhance productivity and quality through
different activities and tasks.

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 Complying with Legal & Social Obligations:

It is the third fundamental goal of the human resource management function to ensure
that the organization is complying with and meeting its legal and social obligations.
These days’ organizations have taken a step forward in the social obligation programs
which includes outreach programs to help individuals who may lack in basic skills to
perform meaningful job. As the financial management firms offer investment funds that
concentrate in socially responsible organization, and corporate social performance is now
considered to be the new dimension for the organizations.

 Promoting Individual Growth & Development:

The important and the final goal for the human resource management are to help promote
the personal growth and development of its employee. This goal basically involves
training and development activates. But as the development of the information
technology it is going far beyond basic skills training. Organization is also focusing in the
individual’s growth and development in the area that do not relate directly to job
responsibility. For example some organization proves stress management programs in
which individuals cope with anxieties and tension mode of life.
(Garrick J, 1998)

1.5 TALENT RETENTION:

Kaufman, 1998 stated that: It is not astonishing that there is a substantial current and
estimate scarcity in qualified IT specialists. Computerworld (1998), for example, in the
USA there were 350,000 vacant IT jobs in 1998, with a forecast of 1.3 million more IT
worker needed in the next decade. Added to the skills shortage, is an average annual
turnover rate of 13 percent or higher (Computerworld, 1997/1998). Since the cost of
turnover in term of recruiting dollars and lost project continuity are high, those
companies that manage to not only recruit but also retain scare IT talent have a
competitive advantage.

Studies using focus group relived some of the valuable information on how to recruit the
best and retain those talents in the ITES industries. But before trying to identify the best

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way to recruit and retain the talents, we must know what the current ITES employees are
expecting from an employer. Research carried by Diane Lockwood of Seattle University,
Seattle, Washington, USA, explained the key difference in old and new recruits.
Following factors were identified as important for the old recruits in the past (1990):
1. Money (base salary);
2. Job security (based on longevity of the organization);
3. Interesting/challenging work;
4. Training
5. Benefits package (retirement plan, health insurance including dependent
coverage).
And for the current generation of the ITES recruits, they found the following factors
important for them:
1. Money (base salary plus bonuses and stock options);
2. Chance to learn new skills (i.e. those that the market values);
3. Reputation of the company in technology innovations;
4. Flexible work environment (e.g. flexi-time, shortened ``4/10'' workweek,
telecommuting);
5. Working conditions (e.g. physical, overtime, colleagues and boss, casual dress)

Research carried by Diane Lockwood, 1999 - Seattle University, using the methodology
of focus group is been identified as the best way gain in-depth insights into various
recruiting and retention strategies, as well as specific examples of successful practices.
Below is a list of criteria’s which have been developed as a result of the research.

Money
The base salary offered to an employee is termed as money, is still identified by the
experts as being the single most important factor in a decision to join an organization.
This are now including stock options in most of the MNC companies, stock option in a
short run seldom return sizable gains. Above all investments in leading edge technologies
and offering the opportunity to learn new knowledge is also give more important.

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Training
Survey carried by Diane Lockwood proved that training and the opportunity to learn new
skills are much valued. Lifelong training is a part of the implanted technology culture and
work challenges, it is considered as a way of making oneself more marketable for a
higher salary in the market. Today’s talents have recognized that real job security comes
with the acquisition of new, market-valued skills and not just able to stay in a company
for a long time.

Benefits
It is been indicated by the research that traditional benefit plans (retirement plans and
health insurance) are taken as givens by the employees these days, but their importance
varies with the age of recruits. It is also pointed by one of the participant “It's hard to sell
a 25-year old recruit on a retirement plan”. . Childcare demands play an increasingly
important role in the employment decisions of today's dual-career family recruits.

(Lockwood D, 1999)

Flexible work schedules

Finally, flexible work schedules were identified by the participants as one of the major
important factor. Flexible work schedules could take many different forms including
flextime, shorted workweeks, job sharing and telecommuting.

(Lockwood D, 1999)

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 CHAPTER 2: CASE CONTEXT

2.1 INTRODUCTION:

Firstly, this chapter will give an over view of Sutherland Global Services; describe its
functional areas in the outsourcing, mission and vision. Secondly Sutherland Global
Services – Chennai operations will be explored; supported process and organizational
structure are considered with reference to organizational charts.

2.2 OVER VIEW OF SUTHERLAND:

Sutherland Global Services is a leading Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES)

company with over twenty years of experience in the customer management space. In

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order to manage various aspects of their customer operations, some of the world’s most
respected companies have depended on Sutherland.
Sutherland’s domain knowledge, quality process and global deliver options pilot clients
to remain focused on their core competencies, while improving their sales marketing and
customer support.

Having no fixed contracts Sutherland provides tailored end to end set of contact center
and back office outsourcing processes. Sutherland is a privately held company with
headquarters in United States. It owns and operates across United States, Canada, India
and the Philippines.
(www.suth.com)

2.3 SUTHERLAND – MISSION & VISION

Rochester, NY (PRWEB) July 16, 2007 - Sutherland Global Services is a multinational

Information Technology Enabled Service, specializing in Customer Management and
Back-office services for Global 1000 clients. Sutherland is now employing over 17,500
professionals offering an excellent service from its 18 delivery centers in India, the
United States, Philippines, Canada and Mexico. Sutherland collaborates with clients to
help them excel in their industry and maximize their customer lifetime value by
integrating highly trained people with state of art and technology and verified business
technology.

Mission

“To help our clients maximize their customer lifetime value and increase their
competitive advantage by helping drive productivity and efficiency while delivering
measurable results.”

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Vision
“To be the premier and preferred provider of IT Enabled and Business Process
Outsourcing Services in our chosen markets.”

Sutherland Global Services core value is further defined

People

We esteem our workers and value their contributions. We believe in team work, and we
make sure all the time our team work is delivering exceptional results to our clients and
their customers. Professional development of each employee of in the Sutherland family
as they progress through their profession is our main commitment.

Integrity

We believe that there is only one way to do business: We persist on open, sincere and fair
associations with each other, our customers and our business partners.
(www.suth.com)
Entrepreneurial Spirit

To improve our service offerings we promote innovation and will take personal risks. In
order to sustain our leadership position as the premier provider of outsourced information
technology enabled services we will continuously endeavor to be the best.

Leadership

With the support of our clients, fellow employees and all of our stakeholders, we will
continuously strive to “do the right thing”. We will pilot by example and set our values
elevated for others to follow.

Clients

We treat our client’s goals and objectives as our own, dedicated to providing the highest
quality of service to them. By consistently exceeding expectations we will increase
client’s competitive advantage.

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Sutherland’s customers range from small businesses to the largest and most prestigious
companies and institutions on the planet from Software giant, health care, government
and business. It operates in six product and service ranges:

• Business Transformation

Sutherland’s Global Business Transformation Group (GBTG) has developed a pioneering

and objective revolution approach that is focused on collaborating with clients to
methodically extend and accomplish a transformation vision which distributes
measurable step-change in value to their stakeholders.

o Process consulting: comprises the discovery of process effectiveness and

outsourcing opportunities via readiness assessment, mapping and gap analysis.
Business solutions design: we aim globally meshed, multi-geography delivery
models to align with the client’s preferred business result. By using our industry
expertise to organize new business models, create new revenue streams and share
business risk with our clients. (www.suth.com)
o Platform development: To reduce clients risk and improve productivity
and develop smart technology components to run our clients business process on a
shared environment we innovate new platform strategies.
o Global transition encompasses the planning and execution of the
transition of all functions including project management and service delivery from
contract initialization through steady state implementation.

• Enterprise Back-Office

With Sutherland operating centers in high opportunity offshore labor markets along
with onshore and global process management locations, enables companies to achieve
their competitive advantage by lowering their cost of operations while improving the
quality, productivity and revenues.

Functional Services include:

 Finance & Accounting

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  Order Management
 Supply Chain Management
 Research and Analytics

Industry Vertical Services include:

 Mortgage
 Insurance
 Healthcare
 E-commerce

• Technical Support

Worlds leading technology companies obtain technical support from Sutherland Global
Services. By consistently delivering on our commitments and achieving high customer
satisfaction we have recognized a reputation in the high-technology industry as one of the
most credible accomplished and creative providers.
(www.suth.com)
Our technical support experience spans a wide variety of products:
 Hardware – Desktop, notebook, server
 Software – Operating system, applications, productivity, utilities and
security, web publishing
 Broadband Internet services
 Networking/telecommunications equipment
 Computer peripherals
 Consumer electronics
 Online software and services

• Digital Consumer

With Digital Consumer, the calls are not only resolved, but are done so in a way that
drives brand similarity, builds an incremental revenue stream, increases customer
satisfaction.

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• Customer Care
Sutherland builds a customized contact center operation that meets all of client’s
requirements to handle customer inquiries and provide the level of service they demand.
• Enterprise Help Desk
Sutherland presents venture help desk solution for companies looking to delegate the
burden of managing an internal help desk. We provide complete support services for the
most common end user problems.
• Account Management
Sutherland helps companies increase sales productivity and marketing. Our Account
Management offering includes the following:

 Sales
 Lead Generation
 Cross-Sales/Up-Sales
 Service Contract Renewals

(www.suth.com)
2.4 SUTHERLAND – CHENNAI

Sutherland – Chennai is situated in TamilNadu – India:

Sutherland Global Services
Tidel Park
#4, Canal Bank Road
Taramani
Chennai - 600 113
INDIA

The Sutherland – Chennai is a 100,000-square-foot facility that is accommodating 2,500

persons and it came to operate in December 2003. Sutherland – Chennai is supporting the
needs of the existing US-based clients who require offshore support along with new
clients recently acquired by the company. Sutherland Chennai was awarded ISO27001
Certification by British Standards Institute (BSI) in May, 2006 and ISO 9001:2000 by
SGS S&SC for processes and quality management across its BPO locations in India.

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The branch serves mainly the US based customers and its core business lies in the:
1. Technical support
2. Enterprise helpdesk
3. Customer care.

Sutherland Chennai has a current total number of 2000 employees from different process
under different branch. And it operates 24/7/365. It is been explained with a help of an
organization chart how the organization is structured and organized.

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

(www.suth.com)

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The relevant literature for this study is been reviewed in this chapter. Firstly a brief
introduction on recruitment, retention and the strategies for them will be discussed.
Secondly the various aspects like performance management, rewards, recognition,
organization culture and work life balance will be explained. This chapter will also focus
on the human resource department of the ITES company and the challenges faced by
them in order to retain the talents performing mostly repeated task. Finally the research
question will be revisited.

3.2 Recruitment & Selection Procedure

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Recruiting and selecting the right people is paramount to the success of an organization
and its ability to retain a workforce of the highest quality. The process recruitment and
selection involves mutual decision making. It is been decided by the organization
whether or not to make a job offer and how attractive the offer should be. In turn it is
been decided by the candidate whether the organization and the job offer will fulfill his
goals. It is very crucial for any organization to develop an employee selection system to
avoid hiring the wrong candidate.
The recruitment and selection procedures will set out how to ensure as far as possible,
that the best talents are recruited on merit. Further more the procedure will make sure that
the process of recruitment is free from bias and discrimination.
(Price A, 2005)
a) Legal requirements
The recruitment and selection procedure must comply with the countries
recruitment polices. These procedures will compliance with the following
legislation:

 The Sex Discrimination Act 1975

 The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
 The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) regulations 2003
 The employment equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
 The Race Relations Act 1976
 The Data Protection Act 1998

b) Recruitment & Selection Framework: - Overview of Process

Measure, review, evaluate

8
7 Induct the new starter
6 Select the ‘right’ person
5 Advertise the vacancy
4 Determine the reward
3 Define the selection criteria
2 Analyze the requirements
1 Identifying the need to recruit

Source: (Cornelius N, 1999)

26 0625046
Managers may hold the responsibility for ensuring this framework is followed. HR is
available for advice and will assist in general administration of the recruitment process.

Steps in selection process:

i) Job Analysis:

Job analysis is the process of developing a detailed description of a job. The primary step
in a successful selection procedure is to obtain precise description of the jobs we wish to
fill. Before the selection process there must be a clear view about the skills and
knowledge required by the applicants.

Methods & Sources – Collecting information data about a particular jobs and the kind of
things that people do in order to be successful in those jobs. A number of information can
be used in order to gather such information. One generally used strategy is simply to
observe one or more employees while they are performing their jobs. Another method is
conducting interviews, training manuals, reports, records and other printed sources might
also be consulted.
(Cornelius N, 1999)

ii) Recruiting:

This is the phase at which a number of candidates are attracted to a particular job
opening. It is very vital that the group to be large enough to select the best talents from it.
Many sources of applicants can be tapped, and these sources may vary in quality, cost
and the ease of use.

They include:

Referrals from current employees: The least costly and often the best way for recruiting
are by the referrals from current staffs. Employees will have a better knowledge on the

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company’s needs and practices and are expected to recommend applicants who will be to
satisfactory co-worker.

Newspaper advertisement: This is the most simple and commonly used method. The
main disadvantage is that it provides little or no screening of the applicants: There may
be a very few numbers of talents in the large pool of applicants.

Private employment agencies: Employment agencies often know how to find good
candidates with special skills matching the client’s requirements, they provide screening.
The upper level management and the professional candidates who are in short supply can
also be recruited by the executive search.

Public employment agencies: Most states uphold this service, particularly for jobs
requiring basic skills. There are no charges for this service, and training may be imparted
under certain circumstances.
Educational Institutions (campus recruitment): universities, colleges, vocational schools
and high schools are also good source of young talents. Many firms often send recruiters
to colleges, for example, to recruit applicants for professional and entry level
management positions.

(Russo G, Rietveld P, Nijkamp P and Gorter C, 1995)

iii) Candidate Assessment

Launching the system that will generate the information about job candidates needed to
make personal decisions. Job applicant presents some of the information through the use
of interviews, psychological test, work stimulation, and other procedures. These steps
will make sure whether a particular candidate fit the job specification or not.

iv) The Reference Checks

One of the tricky tasks in the process of recruiting is the reference check, it is very vital
to see that this step is performed perfectly. This will ensure that the information given by
the applicant is free from bias.

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 (Roberts G, 1999)

v) Job Previews

The other important pre-selection strategy that can help in getting the right person in to
the right job is job preview. This involves presentation of information about the job to the
candidate. Printed materials, video tapes and stimulations can be used.

This strategy may cause some of the applicants who were undecided in the first place to
drop out. This step will also make sure, candidate who decide to join after the job
preview are more likely to stay in the job.

(Yei- Fang Lin & Brian H. Kleiner, 1999)

3.3 Retention Strategy

One of the most important human resource functions in an organization is staffing

positions. Recruitment and selection is the main focus on matching the potential and
inclinations of prospective applicant against the market demands and rewards
fundamental in a given job (Herriot, 1989; Montgomery, 1996; Plumbley, 1985).
It has been argued that profitability and the sustainability of a business usually depend
upon the caliber of workforce recruited. It is also been proved that ineffective recruitment
and selection methods can lead to costs of ineffectual commercial viability.

Plumbley (1985) suggests that the profitability and even the survival of an enterprise
usually depends upon the caliber of the workforce and it has been argued that the costs of
ineffectual commercial viability can often be attributed to decades of ineffective
recruitment and selection methods.

The changing perspective of recruitment and selection verdict:

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The recent literature on personnel management has put emphasis on the specification for
the recruitment and selection of employees, who are important for achieving
organizations goal. Increasingly, many organizations structure are being altered from
structures that are built on functions and jobs to self directed work teams comprising of
empowered individuals from diverse backgrounds, are replacing traditional specialized
workers. (O'Reilly, C. and Chatman, J (1991))

It is been argued by Terpstra (1996) that the current trend of recruitment is shapely
focused on identifying the recruiting sources that most likely to yield high quality
employees and the selection techniques that best predict future performance. As
companies downsize, trying to increase the productivity and company’s profitability with
fewer employees loaded with more task, roles and responsibility.

3.4 Performance Management:

Performance management is a broad term describing a process in which employees

participate with their managers in setting their own performance targets. These objectives
will be directly allied with the organizational goals.
(Cornelius N, 2001)

o Well developed performance management system will usually integrate the

following:
o A statement outlining the organizations values;
o A statement of organizations objective;
o Individual goals which are linked to the organizations goals;
o Yearly performance review;
o Performance related pay;
o Training and counseling.

There are four main stages in the introduction of a comprehensive performance

management process.

i. Planning performance

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 ii. Managing performance
iii. Reviewing performance
iv. Rewarding performance

Planning performance:

The first step in performance management is that there should be clarity about the
primary reason for introducing performance management and the expected results. There
should be a strong commitment from the higher management in the process of
introduction, without this commitment the lower level may not perform well and
insufficient resources may be allocated to achieve the desired results.
(Cornelius N, 2001)
Setting the objective is the next logical step in designing a performance management. The
objectives are derived from the organizations goals. To ensure that the organizations
perform well and grow where ever possible, the objectives have to be stretchable.
Priorities should be made clear as some objective will be more important than others.
Objectives which have the significant impact on the organization and give the greatest
competitive advantage should be given the greatest priority.

Managing Performance:

Once the objectives are set and the action plans agreed, the next stage of the performance
management process is to check whether the required results are produced by acting on
those action plans. It is very important for the management to provide employees the
adequate support and creating the proper conditions for them to be able to deliver the
results.

Taking responsibility of once own performance is an important part of managing

performance. This requirement equally applies to managers and subordinates; in
particular it is very important for managers to lead by example. The aim of the effectively
managing performance should be to adopt a style which gives coaching and support in
employee’s development.

Reviewing performance:

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Performance review is a part of the process of managing performance. The performance
review is based on an interview conducted once or twice a year, between the team
members and the managers. IN some cases the outcome of this interview can have a
direct impact on the pay and promotion, whereas in other cases the emphasis is on
training and development.
The process that will give advice that can help the individual improve and develop is
ideally required in this step. To achieve constructive criticism there are certain principles
that are needed to be followed:

 There should not be any surprise in the appraisal interview. On the basis of the
manager’s regular feedback, the appraise should be well aware of his or her level of
performance before the interview.
 It is a duty on the part of management to let the employees know how well he or she
is doing. And the process should be applied to every employee.
(Cornelius N, 2001)
 The managers should encourage the employees to review their own performance and
give their opinion about their progress.
 There should be a clear focus on the target that have been set and the achievements
against those targets.

Performance Rating:

It is been argued that the crucial part of the performance appraisal is judging how well an
individual has identified the targets and performed against it. The judgment should be
done on the overall objective. Being objective about the individual while the performance
rating is the greatest difficulties for the managers. Taking in to account of the individual
performance, importance should be placed on the objectives that have more priorities.

Rewarding Performance:

It is a very crucial element of the performance management process which seeks to give
employees some kind of return for achieving their target. Researches have proved that

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there is a greater opportunities for training, development and promotion; which is wider
than financial recompense. Often the most essential element which is required by an
employee is reorganization, that a employee is doing a good job, for example, this is
expressed in terms of a bonus, it is the reorganization and not the cash that matters.

It is widely seen in many organization that the performance management is considered as

performance related pay. To improve performance when there is a business pressure the
managers will commonly pay for the result even though the organization may not have a
Establish job
comprehensive systemduties
of performance management.
Establish & communicate (Armstrong & Michael 1998)
performance standards
Inspect/observe
performance The performance
Document/record appraisal process
observed performance
Rate performance
Process of performance management in a typical Organization:
Set up meeting with
employee
Set up meeting with
employee
Provide feedback &
coaching or counseling
as needed

Is performance
N
improving?
O

Recognize/reward Foster further Implement performance

performance development improvement plans

Has performance
Performance managed improved?
(repeat performance cycle)
N
Y
O
Transfer/demote/terminate
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 (Denisi & Griffin, 2005)
3.5 Motivation & Rewards:

Reward management aims to improve the performance of employees, which requires

positive steps to ensure high level of motivation. Alan Cowling, 1998 argues that
financial rewards alone are generally not sufficient to create sustained level of
motivation. It has been a common practice that the organizations are trying to motivate
employees by offering financial rewards for their skills, time and effort.

Evidence points that there is a major change in the employee’s satisfaction and the
organization growth when the employees are paid a satisfactory pay, job security,
satisfying work, good working conditions, opportunity to maintain and improve skill
levels, status and good social relationship in the work place.
Motivation: Motivation is a psychological perception linked to strength and direction of
human behavior. Mitchell, 1998 explains motivation as “the degree to which an
individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behavior. There are three
theories of motivation which are directly relevant to motivating employees at work. They
are: Two-factor theory, expectancy theory and the goal setting theory.

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 Two-Factor Theory:

The two-factor theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg, he found that job
satisfaction and job dissatisfaction acted independently of each other. Two Factor Theory
states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a
separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. (Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman 1959.
Herzberg's two factor theory was based on the results obtained by investigating 203
American accountants & engineers. The 203 professionals were asked to relate times
when they felt exceptionally good or bad about their previous job or present job, and to
provide reasons, and to provide the description of the events causing the positive and
negative feelings.

Typically the former list included the job enrichment factor: wisdom of accomplishment,
promotion, reorganization by supervisors, responsibility inbuilt in the job, job
satisfaction. The negative factors which lead the employees to dissatisfaction in the job:
the administration and the company policy, physical working environment and the
relationship with the supervisor and the peers these are termed as the hygiene factors.

 Expectancy Theory:
As the name implies, this theory is based on the expectations which employees have
when they are at work, and the situation and the manner in which these expectations are
satisfied. This theory may not assume a static range of expectations common to all the
employees, but each with a different set of expectations. The basic model is illustrated
below.

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 Expectancy theory of motivation – Applied model

Perception that effort will

Knowledge individual
result in performance
characteristics

Perception of what
rewards will result from Effort Performance Rewards
that performance

FEEDBACK

SATISFACTION
PERSONAL
Perception that good Role perception
rewards are available

(Daly D, Brian H. Kleiner 1995)

This model stress that high levels of performance require precision about the work roles,
the range of employees possessing the appropriate aptitudes and abilities, and successive
training and job knowledge. Expectancy theory challenges management to illustrate to
employees that extra effort will obtain appropriate rewards.

Goal setting theory:

There is strong evidence proving that setting goals for employees leads to higher
performance, provided the goals are acceptable and relevant to the participants. The goal
setting theory enforces to be clear about their individual and group goals, contribute in
the setting of these goals.
Goal choice is a purpose of:

a) What the individual anticipates can be accomplished

b) What the individual would preferably like to complete
c) What the individual considers is the minimum that should be achieved

It is been argued that difficult goals lead to high performance only when individual is
committed to them. If the employees participate in the goal setting process, there will be
an improvement in the committed goals. Certainly, research point out that the goal set

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and pass on by the other serves as a disincentive. If the goals are to be fully effective,
feedbacks must be provided on the performance of the employees.
(Daly D, Brian H. Kleiner 1995)
Rewards:

The challenging job for the line managers is always been raising the productivity
performance. Rewarding for performance is concerned with rewarding the talents who
have taken some initiatives to take the business forward. Rewards are a critical element
for improving a qualitative productivity where an employee can see a direct relationship
between the reward and effort; this is managing performance through reward. Therefore
reward is disturbed with total remuneration which includes basic pay rates, performance
related pay and fringe benefits.
(Armstrong & Michael 1998)
The expectations of the employees in respect of the way in which an organization treats
them and the way organization reward them have changed because of the changing social
values, increased education and increased diversity in the workforce. These changes in
the individual needs and changes in organization have corresponded with increased
involvement in reward management for the managers. It is solely the line manager’s
liability to manage the team’s performance in achieving their objectives. Reward is no
longer a tool which is used by the Personal Manager or the Human Resource manager; it
is absolutely a line manager’s tool. Line managers can use this tool to increase motivation
and commitment and reward employees who have contributed to the achievement of
objectives. (Armstrong & Michael 1998)
3.6 Organization Culture:

The main reason for considering organizational culture as an element for this research is
Organizational Culture
because it has proven results for the success of change in the organization. By the
research on organization culture we should be able to decide the impact of the
Industry
Economic
organization culture
Forces on the ITES industries, Forces
Leadership and conclude what type of organization
culture Sutherland is following. Strategy

Legal Vision Values People

Forces

Work Process

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Societal
Forces
 (Marilyn M. Helms, 2002)
Each person in this earth is features with diverse uniqueness and behavioral style. The
same pattern applies to the organizations too, business organizations also developed with
their inherit culture to impact the organizational operations. It is been argued by Schein
(1990), that organizational culture is a combination of two layers of concept which are
named as visible and invisible characteristics. The external buildings of the organization,
behavior modes, dress code, regulation’s of the organization, myths, stories, languages
and rites are the ingredients of the visible layer. The invisible layer consists of common
values, norms, faith and assumptions of business organization members. More over the
organization culture has a strong ability to incorporate daily activities of employees to
achieve their planned goals and helps the organization to adapt well to the external
environment (Daft, 2001).

Most research has interestingly shown that organization culture is nearly universally
communal within organizations. It is very crucial to understand the factors that affect the
consistency of employee’s observation of organizational culture to organizational
research. It has been a thought that culture is affecting the way in which individuals
understand procedures and the way they react to these procedures; this has a strong
influence on how employees are likely to act as well as how they understand their own
and other co-workers actions.
(Pheysey D, 1993)

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3.7 Work Life Balance:

The 2007 Deloitte & Touche USA LLP Ethics & workplace survey shows: The quality of
employee’s personal life is strongly influences job satisfaction. Many of today’s
employees take part more in their children’s lives than their own fathers did. For
example, Praveen Raman, an executive with Sutherland Global Services has adjusted his
work hours to 8:30 and 9:00 AM, rather than at 8:00 AM. He gets his two daughters to
get ready for the school and drop them at their school. As a teacher, his wife has to be
there at the school at 7:00 AM. Praveen says my wife and I act as a team and plan a time
table and take care of our kids, while we still track our careers. This is a good example of
how employees want to take ownership of their life by organizing their time more
effectively but with a flexible working schedule.
Research proves that, 91% of the employees agreed during the interview that they have
ethically at work when they have good balance between their job and their personal life.
Due to the technology innovation breaking down the barriers between work and life and
increasing number of dual-career couples finding time for the family is getting tougher.
(Rannar H, 2007)A list of action plan which can change the current situation leading to
provide a work-life balance is as follows:
o Establishment and Implementation of employee’s education proposals
concentrating on the significance of the employee wellness through work life
balance programs that are frequently imitated as a part of the organization culture.
o Establishment and implementation of the employee career growth and mentoring
programs that consent supervisors responsibility to provide continuing
improvement of subordinates through he designation practices.
o Reliable evaluation, follow-up and accountability of work – life programs to
guarantee programs generate positive results. Then those results are publicized to
educate employees further and reflect corporate support.

3.8 Challenges for HR in ITES Industry:

ITES industries innate strength in India has been the vast pool of talents that is available
in the country. However with the rapid development in the ITES industries, the

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challenges coming for the Human Resource Management is increasing day by day.
Estimates suggest that supply of the skilled IT support workers will short fall of
requirement almost by 22% by the end of 2010. Main challenge for HR professionals lay
in managing a large number of people at a very short time.
(www.bpoindia.com)

Research carried by NASSCOM, 2003 has identified a number of challenges that the
human resource department may face in the ITES industries. Brand Equity: Surveys show
that it is very difficult to attract the best talents for the ITES industries as it is considered
to be the secondary when it comes under the branding. Standard Skill Set Required: Due
to the wide spread of the technology covered by the ITES industry (Technical Support,
Customer Service, Pay roll operations, Marketing), lack of the general guidelines on the
qualification and the skill set required are not clearly defined. Benchmarks: During the
research it is been found that there are hardly any benchmarks for compensation and
benefits, performance or HR policies. Each of the company charting their own track.
(NASSCOM, 2003)

3.9 SWOT analysis for ITES:

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

*Abundant manpower *A rise in the level of attrition rates

*Comparatively cheaper workforce *High cost telecom infrastructure
*Lower attrition rates than in the West. *Manpower shortage
*Lower response time *Local infrastructure
*Operational excellence *Political conflict of urban countries
*Conducive business environment

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

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*To work closely with associations like Nasscom, *Anti-outsourcing legislation
Microsoft and other computer manufacturing
giants to portray India as the most favored
*ITES destination in the world. *Competition with countries like
*$69 billion ITES business by 2010 China, Philippines and South Africa
*$97.5 billion IT market by 2010 could have an edge on cost factor
*Slowdown of demand

(NASSCOM-Report)

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY

4.1 Introduction

This section will focus on the methodology, the most appropriate ways are considered, to
gain the primary and secondary data to answer the research question. Firstly, the
methodology’s strategy and the primary and secondary research methodology are
described in this chapter.

4.2 The Case-study Design

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The research is a case based, where chapter 2 is dedicated to case contents. The case
considered in this research is a single location, because the focus is on ‘Sutherland Global
Services – Chennai’ like New opportunities for nurses and other healthcare
professionals?: A review of the potential impact of the new GMS contract on the primary
care workforce (Leese B, 2007), Affirming entrepreneurship: the best hope for
organizations (Morrisette S, Schraeder M, 2007). Also a number of the best-known
business and management research studies are from case-study designs, (Bryman and
Bell, 2003). It is also been suggested by Yin, 2003 imitation of the case study methods
can achieve greater theory (Yin, 2003).

4.3 Deductive & Inductive Theory:

The deductive and inductive theory methodologies were used to direct the research.
Inductive theory is a reason building process, starting with observations of definite
instances, and in quest of to establishing generalizations about the case under
investigation. Where as the deductive theory originate with an established theory or
generalization, and seek out if the theory concern to the specific instance. (Kenneth F.
Hyde, 2000).

Deductive Theory:

(www.sbs.utexas.edu)
The deductive theory is the reverse of inductive theory, it is the process of moving from a
set of theories to observation and this is very crucial for proving the observations. The
diagram above explains how the theory is verified by the resulted confirmation.

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Inductive theory:

(www.sbs.utexas.edu)

From the research findings the inductive theory will allow to generate new theories which
may not only help Sutherland Global Services but also the other ITES giants throughout
the world. From the literature review, the deductive process explains the research
findings. With the results from the deductive and inductive process there may be new
conclusion and recommendations made to Sutherland Global Services – Chennai.

4.4 Process of collection:

Sutherland Global Services – Chennai operations participants will be approached on a

personal level as it was the author’s previous work place, where he had 4 years of
experience as a senior technical trainer. With the help of the questionnaires, research can
be carried out on the ways to retain the best talents in the industry. The literature review
and findings from the interview of the three Team Leaders and a Program Manager will
generate new ways on how to create a branding for the ITES industry so as to attract the
best talents, the result be reinforced with the same interview questions asked to different
Team Leaders and Program Managers of another two process operating in the Sutherland
Chennai. Above all of these the author conducted an exit interview, which gave really a
very good data for this research. At the time of conducting the interview one of the
managers who are graduated from Cambridge Business School gave a good suggestion to
conduct an exit interview for the employees quitting their job. There were twelve
candidates who were resigning at that time. Two of the candidates did not co-operate for
the interview, they made it as a point they were not interested. The other ten employees
gave an amazing feedback about their experience and reason for leaving the job.

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4.5 Data collection Methods:

A note should be made as to the following contents, before beginning this section. It is
the wish of the author to make it simple to read and understand this research paper for
non-academics as it is for the scholars. The style and the literature used in this research
paper is made in such a way that even the person who may not be in the field of
management could easily understand without the need of any translation of the terms
used within. As mentioned above, two methods of data collection will be used throughout
the research.

4.6 Primary Research Methodology:

The quantitative research technique is used in the primary research method to gather the
research primary data. Survey carried by questioner through company email and
structured interview with the middle level managers such as Team Leaders and Program
Managers were used to gain the access at Sutherland.

4.7 Questionnaires:

A series of closed questions were put together and sent by email to the Technical Support
Executive, Senior Support Executive & the Customer Service Agents. They are the main
production team of the Sutherland Chennai, so it is vital to know how they would like the
organization they work for would be. This questionnaire will make sure it will answer for
one of the research question that is, retention of employees in ITES industry doing
monotonous task under a high pressure.

The ITES field you are working for is Satisfactory?

This was an attempt to get to the basic factor related with the recruitment process. The
outcome from this question will give a lead to may of our research objectives; basically
will reflect the selection process in the Sutherland Global Services – Chennai. It is been
discussed in the literature review that the Human Resource Management plays a vital role
in development and sustainability of company by selecting the right candidates with the

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needed skills and attitude to help the organization to achieve its goal and remain
competitive in the industry.

It is also important to review the other view point of this question. There is a strong
possibility that the employee did not like the branding field they work. It may be caused
due to the fact that the employees in the ITES industry are always treated secondary
when compared to the IT programmers. This may be a solid reason for creating a
negative impact in the employees mind.

The job you are performing is satisfactory?

This question will take a step forward in finding whether the employee has a job
satisfaction; the negative indication may be as a result of the job training given, product
knowledge (technicians supporting operating system- their product may be Microsoft
Windows, Linux, Unix, Macintosh – Apple; technicians providing technical support to
virus scan software, their product may be McAfee, Norton, PC-Cellin, Microsoft virus
scan), process knowledge (is the procedure how they handle a customer over the phone
and solve the issue effectively) or the other common reason is the job they are performing
is monotonous.

You are satisfied with your existing pay structure?

It is very important to discuss at this point, that the Sutherland Management did not like
this question in the questionnaire. First they strongly opposed to ask this question to their
employee. But after explaining that the main outcome of the research will be based on
this question, as this question address one of the factors for employee retention.

As discussed earlier in the literature review about the motivating factors, in which money
is considered as a crucial element. It is also proved by many scholars that pay is
considered as a cause to retain talents.

Your organization conducts training programs often?

This helps in illustrating how the employee feels about the training and the steps taken by
the organization in developing the skill sets of the employees for the betterment of their

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future. As an ex-employee of Sutherland I would like to bring to notice that the stress
management programs in which individuals cope with anxieties and tension mode of life
was of great use as the ITES industry is known for the work pressure.

Employee participation in management is encouraged here?

In asking the following question it is hoped that an idea of how the company engage and
treat the employees view points. For instance the company is about to introduce a new
catering service, it is a good management practice to get the opinion of the employee
about the carter they wish to serve them.

Your management comes forward when you are facing with critical situation?

By asking about the following question about the company management there may be a
clear view about the management perception by the employees. It will also point out the
management’s interest on the employee welfare. A simple example would be providing a
baby-sitter when calling the technical agent for training, additional task on the weekends
or when the usual baby-sitter is not available.

Is your physical and mental health is normal working in this industry?

The aim of this question is to know about the employees health issues which relates to
both physical and mental issues. Because of over usage of high powered head phones,
odd working time, work pressure it is good to get the feed back on employees health
which is crucial for performing a good job.

You work over-time very often?

This question will help in understanding the work load given to the employees in
Sutherland. It may also give some hints on the way staffing is done in the company.
Mostly the employee’s work in the ITES industry complain that they are been called for
over time more often during their week off. It is a well known fact that the contact centers
operate night shifts, providing technical support to the US clients. It rises to a health and
safety issue when working over time often.

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Work-life balance is supported by this organization?

As discussed earlier in the chapter 3, work-life balance is one of the four factors which
are governing the talent retention. This question will provide some information on how
far the company is adjustable leading to employees work-life balance. A typical example
may be giving the employees the weekday off as they like, mostly married employees
would like to take their week off on a Saturday and Sunday. Or being flexible in the
holiday booking process.

The welfare facilities provided by this organization are satisfactory?

By asking about the welfare facilities provided by the organization, it is possible to

establish the real tendency of the management towards the employee welfare. It is off
course a good practice to provide the ITES workers more facilities as they work night
shift thought the year, the welfare facilities may include medi-claim and regular health
check-up.

Work pressure is manageable in Sutherland?

This question will get some relevant information about the pressure the technical agents
facing, it is a very common element in the contact centers as there will a huge number of
calls waiting. From the other end the Team Leaders and the Program managers will be
pushing the agents literally to finish the ongoing call and attend the new call.

You suggest a friend/relative to join this organization?

This is one among the crucial questions in this part of survey; this question will allow
how far the employee values the company. It is a fact that employees recommends their
relatives and friends to join their company when the organizations management is good,
creating an image of company of choice.

You like to plan your further career in this organization?

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This question will take a step further in understanding the relation between the technical
executives and the company management, more over it will give the depth of the
valuation of the company by the employees. If the majority of the employees answer
positively for this then we can conclude that Sutherland has a high value in the ITES
industries. It is often the most challenging task for the organization to create a branding
image with the workers to grow along with the company.

The other questions in this survey may be added in the questionnaire to reinforce the real
opinion from the employees of Sutherland.

4.8 The Structured Interview:

The most widely used research method is strongly claimed to be interview, they are of
different types used for different purpose. In order to interview the middle level managers
the structural interview style was used. All the managers interviewed were asked the
same questions in the same order in order to reinforce the result of the interview.

(Wilkinson D & Birminghan P, 2003)

Open and closed questions were used in this structural interview. The main reason for
including the open questions in this structured interview is that, the author felt it is very
important to know from the middle level managers who have a direct contact with the
technical support staff. In this research for finding the best practice for retaining
employees it is very crucial to know the sub conscious mind of the managers. It is also
another reason that the managers who were selected for the survey have more than ten
years of experience in the ITES industry; their experience may give some hint on how to
create a good branding for the ITES industry.

How long have you worked here?

This question asked to the managers can give lead to two answers; firstly this question
can find the manager’s commitment to the company. Secondly it has been a basic
psychology that if a manager has more experience, then the knowledge he possess in that
field may be stronger than the other new employees. But in our case the author has

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selected managers who possess more than five plus yeas of experience; this is to make
sure that the conclusion of the research should be realistic.

What do you think is the ‘reason for high turnover rate in Sutherland Global Services’?

In spite of providing a good working condition the information from Human Resource
department shows that there is a high turnover of employees in the company. This
question may be useful in getting the reason for the employee’s turnover in the manager’s
point of view. Since the same question will be asked to four managers, the answers which
are common in the entire interview will be given high priory as it appear to be a
predominant issue.

Do you think ‘handling complaints and problems all day’ is also issue for the turnover?

For about nine hours shift and the job is hearing problems and complaints especially in a
very odd working time ‘night shift’ is not an easy job. This question will help in our
analysis whether handling complaints and problems all day is taken as a challenge or as a
burden by the agents. During this conversation it will also be made as a point to discuss
some measures which may help the staff’s over coming from the depression & tension.
This solution will be further investigated for practical application in the real time projects
and evaluated for effectiveness, will be added under the recommendation.

Do you think employees working for Sutherland be able to manage their work life
balance, with their odd working hours thought their employment period?

As it is discussed earlier in the chapter three that ‘work life balance’ is one among the
best five ways to retain employees. The respond given for this question may give some
evidence for retaining the talents in the company.

Better opportunities elsewhere! This is true for every individual working in any industry,
but is there any ways to improve the branding of the ITES industry as a whole?

As a fact that the ITES is always been consider secondary in the IT industry. This
question may give some hints on how to develop the ITES branding on the whole, which

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is applicable for Sutherland. From the literature review it may have been clear that with a
good industry branding, the ability to attract talents will be much higher and the
employee retention will be easier.

What do you think is the ‘future of the ITES industry’?

This question may highlight what the managers think about the ITES industry and the
industry future. During this conversation the managers may be asked about the shift in
the back office; that is some of the major customer service providing call centers which
have been shifted back to their own country like UK and US. This question may give the
main reason for the shift of the call centers.

4.9 Exit Interview:

How long have you worked for Sutherland?

This question will give an idea about the candidate’s commitment with the company. It is
very vital to know about the seriousness that the employee had with the company. This
question may provide the necessary direction on whether to consider the feedback given
by the employee or not. For instance an exit interview conducted with a employee who is
leaving the company in the first few days may not be as relevant for this research as that
of the data given by an employee who has worked for more than one or two years.

What is the main reason for leaving?

This question will help the research in finding the factors which the employees find is
important to retain them but not focused by Sutherland as a main constrain. Steps will be
taken in the recommendation section of this research, based on these factors which the
employees pointed out as a reason for leaving the company.

What could have been done early on to prevent the situation developing/provide a basis
for you to stay with Sutherland?

This question may be useful in obtaining the relevant solutions for retaining the talents in
the industry. It is a best idea to ask the employees the ways to make candidates stay
longer in a company.

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How would you have preferred the situation(s) to be handled?

This question will give some support to the above question taking a step forward in
getting the relevant solution from the employees itself. Asking this question will make
the employees think about the situation whether the reason for leaving the company is
practically solvable or it is just blame.

What do you feel about the organization?

Knowing about the employee’s opinion about eh organization at the time of resignation
will quite help the research to find about eh organization culture.

What has been good/enjoyable/satisfying for you in your time with us?
This question will get information which makes the employees happy and give them a job
satisfaction. It will be taken as a step to highlight this feedback which the employees
think is important for retention.

What has been frustrating/difficult/upsetting to you in your time with us?

In the addition to the above question, a list of factors will be examined which the
employees think as a barrio to stay with a company. This list will be examined under a
team of managers; recommendations will be given on the basis of meeting with the
managers.

4.10 Hypotheses & Indicators:

A hypothesis is a detailed statement of prediction, which can be tested against the facts,
the truth and validity of the hypotheses can be tested unlike theories. In this research 4
hypotheses were deducted from the literature review, and tested to get the solution for the
research question. Following are the four hypotheses:

(Wall et al, 1996)

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Hypothesis 1: The work life balance at Sutherland Global Services is pronounced to
be impossible, due to the fact of odd working hours (night shift) and no
weekend off.

Indicators: Primary data from questions 7 and 8 from the questionnaires and
questions 4 from the structured interview.

Hypothesis 2: In-spite of having a good working environment & sophisticated tool

usage system, employees find it difficult to manage the work pressure.

Indicators: Primary data from questions 9 and 10 from the questionnaires, question
2 from the structured interview and question 2 from exit interview.

Hypothesis 3: Candidates are not really attracted by the ITES industry branding;
Sutherland has a secondary branding in the market.

Indicators: Primary data from question 1, 10, 11; question 5 from the structured
interview.

Hypothesis 4: Health issues are getting very common at Sutherland; seems no

practical solution for it.

Indicators: Primary data from question 7 and 8 from the questionnaires.

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter will analyze the research findings with the reference from the reviewed
literature review, questionnaire filled by the employees of the Sutherland, findings from
the interview conducted with the four managers and respond given by conducting the exit
interview.

5.2 Questionnaire & Interview Findings

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Based on the data collected by the research the chart is drawn which indicates the major
reasons for the employees of Sutherland to leave the company.

Poor career development:

Almost 31% of the employees felt there is poor career development in Sutherland
Research shows this factor has a major impact for employees to leave the company.
Almost all the employees are under the age group of 19 to 28, they wish to focus on their
career as main criteria rather than other opportunities in the market, peers conflict, and
this was highlighted by most of the employees during the exit interview. Findings from
the interview also show that the management does not take adequate steps to develop the
career of their employees.

Poor pay structure:

It is an interesting fact to know that the majority of the employees quit the job because
the management does not give the proper compensation for the work pressure they have
in the odd working hours. First question in the exit interview supported this fact strongly,
while discussing with the technical agents during the interview it was awful to know
about their targets and boundaries. For example the company provides quality incentives
based on several criteria’s put to gather, so an agent will be applicable for the quality
incentive only if he achieves all the given hard targets. Failing in one leads to a loss of
25% in his salary. More over the company does not provide any compensation for the

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night shift. Most of the IT companies in India provide 5% of their salary as a night shift
allowance.

Poor Management:

About 16% of the employees leave Sutherland because of the unfortunate management;
this includes the Team Leader who acts as a line manager in the company, and the Project
Manager who is responsible for taking the necessary decisions for the smooth running of
the project. Even the administrator who is responsible for providing the necessary
facilities such as providing cab on time, dealing with the work bay requirements will also
come under this factor.

Work Life Balance:

It is interesting fact proved by the research that about 13% of the employees quit the job
in Sutherland due to the imbalance between their work and life. It is been noted by the
author that most of this population are either married or engaged in love with some one.
It is very crucial for an organization to give employees flexibility for maintaining their
work life balance, as it has a direct impact over the work life of an employee. But it is not
only the case for Sutherland, almost all the ITES industry having odd working hours face
this issue of work life balance. A part of the interview conversation about the work life
balance with the Sutherland employees is given below:

Author: How long have you been working here?

Employee: umm. . . . for about two years.

Author: Do you take part in your family routine?

Employee 1: What do you mean by family routine?
Employee 2: It is hardly impossible to drop my children to school as I do night shift and
sleep all the day, in order to get ready for the next days work. And during my week off
we find it difficult to change the timing cycle to normal in one day. My wife discusses
family issues over the phone when I am at my 30 minutes break.

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Employee 3: This employee literally cries (exit interview), he is newly married and there
is always quarrel between them from the days he has re-joined from break. Now, he is
been forced to resign the job as it does not fit his life.

Author: What do you think can be done to the agents for their work life balance?

Manager 1: Laughs . . . we can not change the time zone; our clients are in U.S and U.K
it has been made very clear to candidates at he time of interview about the working hours
and the night shift. But in the case of the Employee 3 I would have suggested to him to
join the email support which has a regular working hours. And more over we should be
able to take the night shift as a challenge as a part of the work.

Manager 2: It is possible for the work life balance while working in the night shift. There
are two night shift here one start at 17:30 and end by 3:30, other starting at 3:30 to 12:30.
So, there has to be a clear plan in the family … umm may be a time table may help. A
person working in the first shift will be able to drop the kid’s school while partner should
pick them up…. In the other solid 15 hours there should be a clear schedule which may
have a 10 hours sleep and two hours of spending with the family … like talking and
discussing the family issues. So I strongly feel that work life balance is possible.

Better opportunity elsewhere:

It is been noted during the turnover of employees, specially the early leavers (3 to 6
months after joining the process) resigning Sutherland as they get better opportunity
elsewhere. As discussed above in the literature review, the ITES industries are branded as
secondary by the society (India). When considering in the aspect of carrier development
employees of Sutherland are not satisfied continuing their carrier with the organization.

Work pressure & Nature of job:

The work pressure and the nature of the job show less significant impact for employees
of Sutherland quitting their job. About 4% of the employees resign Sutherland due to
high work pressure, handling compliance and issues all the day. During the exit interview
one of the employees pointed that the organization should be a bit liberal in setting their

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targets and regulations as it is very hard task to solve an issue in the given short time with
a strict script. More over when handling compliance and issues all the day it is a basic
psychology for a person to get disappointed with himself.

Office politics:

This is another factor which is making employees quit their job. Due to an unhealthy
relation within the other employees or with the Team Managers had caused 2% of
employee turnover in Sutherland.
(www.bpoindia.com)

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

6.0 Introduction

This chapter will bring the literature discussed above and the research findings together
which may help in answering the research question. Recommendations on the study will
also be made which may be useful not only for Sutherland Global Services but also the
other ITES facing the issue of employee retention.

6.1 Considerations Of The Research Findings

The conclusion will reflect on the research question raised, the aim and objectives set at
the beginning and evaluate the hypothesis for its association with the research.

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Recommendations will be made based on the combination of the literature review,
questionnaire and interview.

“Can the talents working in the ITES industries like Sutherland Global Services
performing repeated task be retained.”

Based on the data’s collected from the questionnaire and the interview information,
the chart is drawn, expressing the weakness of Sutherland Global Services in
retaining the talented employees. With the knowledge from the literature review the
author has developed an employee retention model called as the ‘Retention Steering
Wheel’ this may be used specially for ITES industries. The retention steering wheel
model is developed as a result of the data’s collected from the survey. It has seven
factors which an organization should focus in order to retain talents and stay
competitive in the market.

In order drive Sutherland in the right direction for achieving the organization mission and
vision it is very crucial for managers to handle this retention wheel in effective manner.
The retention wheel is based on the seven retention elements’, care must be taken in order
to give a proper balance which will ensure employees perform well in the organization.
The importance of the seven elements based on Sutherland scenario will be examined
Competitive
below. Compensation
Packages

Training & Skill

Introducing: The Retention Steering Wheel
Broad Benefits Development
Package

Work-Life
Recognition / Balance
Rewards

Good
Working Opportunity
Condition for Career
Advancement

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6.3 Recommendations:

Competitive Compensation Packages:

Sutherland may provide employees a competitive compensation based on their

performance, not just through a base pay but by a variable pay plan which may include
night shift allowance, food coupons, quality incentives and other benefits:

Following is a sample of an effective compensation package which can be implemented.

 Base pay
 Variable pay plan- this may include quality incentive, Employee referral incentive
 Medical insurance
 Car scheme (for eligible individuals)
 Spot bonus: this can be awarded any time during the employment for their
extraordinary performance
 Employee share plan
((NASSCOM-Report)
Training & Skill Development:

Training and skill development can play an effective role in retaining good talents of the
Sutherland. Green (1996), Ashton et al (1999) and Mayhew (1999) there is a strong link
between companies’ product market strategy and demand for employees skills. In the
value added market companies prefer to operate much efficiently with the high level
skilled employee rather than low level skilled. Now a day’s management is focusing on
the life long learning from training and skill set development.

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Work-Life Balance:

Deloitte & Touche (2007) “It is a well known fact the quality of an employee’s personal
life strongly influence job satisfaction and related productivity”. In Sutherland it is very
important to give work life balance as the employees are already working in the night
shifts and during the day they mostly sleep, this creates imbalance in their family.
Sutherland can take the following actions in order to provide a work life balance for their
employees:
Business travel & Global exposure:
Employees can be selected on the basis of their performance and given a chance to have a
global exposure with the client place. For instance talent’s can be given training in the
U.S office, where employee gets a chance to learn new culture and skills.
Flexible working hours:
After carefully examining the Sutherland business, the author recommends that option
can be given to the agents to select the shift they want. This may be prioritized under the
guidance of the team leader, so that there is no disturbance caused to the operation.

Extra vacation/longer annual leave:

As a fact that the week off’s provided by the process is not fully utilizable by the
employees. Sutherland can plan giving their employees extra vacation or extend the
annual leave. Currently the company is providing 12 days as an annual leave, which may
be extended to 24 days or higher.

Opportunity for Career Advancement:

It is very essential for Sutherland to provide the opportunity for career advancement for
their employees. Even though it is up to the employees to take control of their own
professional future, ensuring that they are progressing wisely in the right career path, the
management should encourage them in this aspect. For example, the management may

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concentrate on the agents who are performing well and recommend them for the next
level of technician where they may benefit extra training, skills and pay hike.

Rewards and Recognition:

It has always been a challenge to the line managers (‘team Leaders’) for raising the
productivity performance. Sutherland may focus on the reward and recognition is for
achieving the organizations objectives by increasing the employee’s motivation and
commitment. As discussed above in the literature review the reward can either be
financial or non-financial rewards. The financial reward may include performance related
pay, quality incentives, profit sharing and share ownership.

The most cost effective motivator is recognition; it is amazing what level of motivation a
pizza or a movie ticket can be if it is given with a significant appreciation. Even a sincere
thanks delivered at any time and at any place can be motivationally powerful than a
bonus.

Broad Benefits Package:

Benefit programs are valuable element of the overall compensation package for the
employees, and it’s an important contributor to our ability to attract and retain the best
candidates. Sutherland should focus on its benefit plans to ensure that our benefit
program and plans are competitive within the other ITES industry.
A sample of a good benefit package may include:

o Company Private Medical Insurance

o Company Travel Cover
o Company Dental Cover
o Individual or Personal Cover
o Income Protection
o Pensions
o Life Assurance (Death in Service)
(www.bpoindia.com)

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“Will the ITES (Sutherland) industry be able to sustain in the current open IT market,
where the clients are taking back their contact centers back to their country?”

The research data from the structured interview and the literature review proves that in
order to sustain the Sutherland market, the first primary factor is to focus in the quality of
the service the company is providing. It is been found by the author that the employees of
Sutherland lack in some of the necessary soft skills which is essential to handle a
customer effectively. Secondly the accent of the agents may not be completely changed
to that of an U.K or U.S, but training can be provided to make the accent neutral so that it
is easily understandable. In order to enhance the quality provided by Sutherland a simple
action plan is drawn which may be useful.

Performance Improvement Plan:

Product Training:
This is considered to be the base for any agents working in Sutherland. Product training is
all about knowing about the product for which the agents are going to give technical
support. For example it may be a virus scan, more specifically McAfee virus scan or
Norton virus scan. The product training should be given high priority and more steps
should be taken to make the product training effective.
Process Training:
The second step to strengthen the quality standards is by focusing in the process training.
For example, the agents should be given a proper knowledge on the way to handle a call
in an effective and smooth manner. When it comes to practical situation there may be
more forces given by the management in the form of quality, finishing the call as quick as
possible, attaining customer satisfaction, effectively solving the issue. The process
training will give the employees a fair knowledge about their boundaries and tools and
the ways to perform the job effectively.

Language Training:
As discussed earlier it may not be possible for an agent to train on the U.K or U.S accent
but they can be made neutralized. There are 22 national languages in India, and agents
are commonly influenced by their mother tongue. This is called as mother tongue
influence. For instance the place where the author is carrying the research is Chennai and

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the local language is Tamil. The agents from this region may be affected by Tamil;
proper language training can neutralize their accent.

Customer Satisfaction Training:

Providing customer satisfaction is more important than the product and the process
training, Customer satisfaction is very crucial for the call center industry to sustain its
market. For example an agent who has a strong customer service skill can make a
customer happy without solving the issue where in other hand the agent can make a
customer irritated even after solving the issue because of his poor customer service skills.

By focusing on these trainings the employees can be made as an effective source for
Sutherland to sustain its market.

6.4 Limitations and Future Research:

Although this research have been really important, there are certain limitations resulted
because of the case study. The research findings are from single case study model. This
may limit the findings of this research to a great extent. Secondly the data collection
method, the result obtained from small number of employees may not be precise. For
example the structured interview and the exit interview, for the structured interview there
were only four managers available for taking up the survey, as Sutherland is a very busy
office and for the exit interview the data was collected only form ten employees which
may not be sufficient for projecting a strong result.

6.5 Further research:

Further research can be considered on how to capture and sustain the ITES market in
India, as countries like Philliphenes and China could pose the strongest threat to India.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Garrick J, (1998): Informal Learning in the Workplace – Unmasking Human Resource
Development.

Wilkinson D & Birminghan P, (2003): Using Research Instruments – A guide for

researchers.

Price A, (2005): Human Resource Management in a Business Context-

Thomson Learning

Cushway, B (1999): Human Resource Management - PriceWaterHouseCoopers

Roberts G, (1999): Recruitment and Selection – A Competency Approach

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Cornelius N, (2001): Human Resource management – A Managerial Perspective

Pheysey D, (1993): Organizational Cultures - Types and Transformations

Denisi & Griffin, (2005): Human Resource Management

Bryman and Bell, (2003): Business research methods, Oxford University Press.

Wall, N; Marcouse, I; Lines, D and Martin, B (1996) The complete A-Z economics and
business studies handbook. London, Hodder & Stoughton Educational
Journals.

Jain, P (December 2006) Offshore Outsourcing “India Vs China” An Empirical

Investigation. 6th edition. The Business Review, Cambridge.

Kaufman, J. (1998), ``US recruiter goes far afield to bring in high-tech workers'', Wall
Street Journal, Vol. 8, January, p. 1.

Computerworld (1997/1998), ``The IT workforce'', (January 26).

Computerworld (1997/1998), ``Jobs forecast '98'', (December 29, 1997/January 5, 1998)

Montgomery, C. (1996), ``Organisation fit is key to job success'', HR Magazine, January,
Vol. 41 No. 1.

Herriot, P. (1989), Recruitment in the 1990s, Institute of Personnel Management,

London.

Plumbley, P. (1985), Recruitment and Selection, Institute of Personnel Management,

London.

O'Reilly, C. and Chatman, J (1991), ``People and organizational culture: a profile

comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit'', Academy of Management
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Terpstra, D. (1996), ``The search for effective methods (employee recruitment and
selection)'', HR Focus, Vol. 17 No. 5.

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Armstrong & Michael (1998): Performance management : the new realities, Institute of
Personnel and Development,

Rannar H, (2007): In Search of true work life balance: ABI Inform Research
Daly D, Brian H. Kleiner (1995): How to motivate problem employees,
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Russo G, Rietveld P, Nijkamp P and Gorter C, (1995): Issues in recruitment strategies: an

economic perspective

Daft, R.L. (2001), Organizational Theory and Design, 7th ed., South Western College
Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.

Schein, E.H. (1990), “Organizational culture”, American Psychologist, Vol. 45, pp. 109-
19.

Smallbone T & Quinton S, 2003: Increasing business Students confidence in Questioning

the Validity and Reliability of their Research – Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Kenneth F. Hyde, 2000: Recognising deductive processes in qualitative research - An

International Journal.

(Kathleen M & Melissa E , 2007) Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities and
Challenges - The Academy of Management Journal

Web sites:

www.suth.com [June 8th 2007]

http://www.teamframe.com/web/mop.html [July 19th 2007]

www.mckinsey.com: [June 18th 2007]

www.mckinsey.com/locations/india/mckinseyonindia/pdf/NASSCOM_McKinsey_Repor
t_2005.pdf [August 2007]

www.sbs.utexas.edu: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?
imgurl=http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/jcabbott/courses/bio208web/lectures/scimethod/induct
.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/jcabbott/courses/bio208web/lectures/scimetho

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d/trail_following_of_termites.htm&h=188&w=400&sz=4&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbni
d=caEF7sh2BsS5_M:&tbnh=58&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDeductive%2B
%2526%2BInductive%2BTheory%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum
%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN [August 2007]
www.teamframe.com [June 2007]
www.bpoindia.com [June 2007]

APPENDIX A
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 QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Sir / Madam,

This questionnaire is intended to know the employee perception

towards the retention policies provided by this organization and the extent
to which these retention policies are effective here, which is a part of my
academic project.
There are two parts in this questionnaire. Part – A contains series of
statements and part – B contains personal data. While answering part – A,
you are kindly requested to express your free frank opinion. Your choice is
important.
Prabhu,
MSc management, Brunel University

PART – A

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 Indicate the extent to which each of the following statements you agree in your
organization using the five point scale by marking a tick mark [√] against that column.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
S.No Statements (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The ITES field you are
1.
working for is Satisfactory?
The job you are performing
2.
is satisfactory?
You are satisfied with your
3.
existing pay structure?
Your organization conducts
4.
training programs often?
Employee participation in
5. management is encouraged
here?
Employee participation in
6. management is encouraged
here?
Is your physical and mental
7. health is normal working in
this industry?
You work over-time very
8.
often?
Work-life balance is
9. supported by this
organization?
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree
S.No Statements (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The welfare facilities
provided by this
10.
organization are
satisfactory?
Work pressure is
11.
manageable in Sutherland?
You suggest a
12. friend/relative to join this
organization?
You like to plan your
13. further career in this
organization?
Employee work loads are
14.
distributed fairly.
15. Recreation activities are
conducted very often in this

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 organization.
You have opportunities to
16.
learn and grow.
Your training program is
17. always linked with your
career development.
Interpersonal relationships
18. are encouraging in this
organization.
Better infrastructure
amenities are available in
19.
this organization to do your
job well.
There are no barriers of
communication while you
20.
are communicating with
your supervisor.

PART - B

1. Name (optional) : __________________________________

2. Designation : ______________________________________

3. Department / Branch : _______________________________

4. Age : _____________________________________________

5. Length of service in this organization : __________________

6. Have you worked in any other organization previous to this company?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

If yes, for what reason you shifted to this company?

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__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

7. The awards / rewards you received in this organization:

8. Signature (optional):

Any Suggestions: _____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

**********THANK YOU**********

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 APPENDIX B

Exit Interview:

o How long have you worked for Sutherland?

o What is the main reason for leaving?

o What could have been done early on to prevent the situation developing/provide a
basis for you to stay with Sutherland?

o How would you have preferred the situation(s) to be handled?

o What do you feel about the organization?

o What has been good/enjoyable/satisfying for you in your time with us?

o What has been frustrating/difficult/upsetting to you in your time with us?

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The Structured Interview:

o How long have you worked here?

o What do you think is the ‘reason for high turnover rate in Sutherland Global
Services’?

o Do you think ‘handling complaints and problems all day’ is also issue for the
turnover?

o Do you think employees working for Sutherland be able to manage their work life
balance, with their odd working hours thought their employment period?

o Better opportunities elsewhere! This is true for every individual working in any
industry, but is there any ways to improve the branding of the ITES industry as a
whole?

o What do you think is the ‘future of the ITES industry’?

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