Current Offshoring Challenges: Turnover

by Phil Zwieg

In a recent Cutter survey on offshoring, turnover in offshore staff was identified as a challenge by 30% of the respondents [1]. And, indeed, it is a subject that has received considerable attention in the press over the last year. According to an article in Information Age earlier this year, among the challenges that offshore service companies in India face is "staff turnover averaging at 15-20% annually in software development and at anything between 30% to 140% in business process outsourcing" [2]. In January of this year, Infosys, one of the major offshore providers in India, reported through its COO Kris Gopalakrishnan that "attrition is slightly up at 13.5% compared to 12.9% last quarter. Attrition, if I exclude involuntary separation, especially at the entry-level, comes down to 12.2%. The corresponding number last quarter is 12%" [3]. Even in a quality company like Infosys, turnover is watched closely. In a recent Computerworld UK article, the following observation was made: "Indian firms have become a lot more sensitive to the attrition issue -- and for good reason. Indian BPO business leaders feel that high staff turnover is reducing their ability to 'innovate' and add value to their clients' operations" [4].

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Current Offshoring Challenges: TurnoverWed Nov 21 08:17:02 CDT 2007