A PROJECT REPORT

ON

ATTRITION ANALYSIS
AT

BIG BAZAAR
(Future Value Retail Limited)

A Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree of MHRM from Indian Institute of Social Sciences and Business
Management, Calcutta University

Submitted By:
Amit Kumar Sinha
DECLARATION

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I, Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha, hereby declare that the Project Work titled “ATTRITION
ANALYSIS”, submitted to the Kolkata University in partial fulfillment of
requirements for the award of MHRM is a record of original work done by me
under the supervision of Mr. Shuvojeet Ghosh, Sr. Executive HR, at BIG
BAZAAR, LIC BRANCH of Future Value Retail limited. .

Enroll No: ……………………………

Date:

(Amit Kumar Sinha)

Signature:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the successful completion of the project, I take this opportunity to express my sincere
gratitude towards Mr. Kaushik Ghosh, Manager HR at Pantaloons Retail India Limited
for giving me the opportunity to complete my training at Big Bazaar, LIC Building.

I thank Mr. Shuvojeet Ghosh Sr. Executive HR under whose guidance I completed this
project. I would also like to thank all the others at Big Bazzar for being extremely co-
operative and guiding me throughout my project.

I would also like to express my thanks to Dr. U.K Haldar, whose immense involvement in
my project, regular feedbacks and suggestions helped me complete my project. He gave
the right direction to my project. Without his able guidance, I would not be able to
complete my work successfully as he provided help for correcting the project section over
and over until I finally got it accomplished efficiently.

I would also like to thank Dr. Kumkum Mukherjee, Mr. Buddhadeep Mukherjee,
Dr, Tania Shaw, Dr. Madhumita Mohanty who were always there to help me whenever I
felt a need of them.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

Sl.No. TITLE PAGE No.

1. Executive Summary 5
2. Literature review 6-12
3. Company Profile 12-28
4. Introduction 29
5. Why attrition needs to be controlled 30-31
6. Benefits of attrition 32
7. Reasons of attrition 33
8. Analyzing attrition on the basis of happiness at 34
workplace
9. Managing attrition 35
10. Calculation of attrition rate 36
11. Attrition data of the store 37-44
11.1 Attrition data analysis 45
11.2 Tenure wise analysis 45-46
11.3 Reason wise analysis 47-48
11.4 Band wise analysis 49
11.5 Department wise analysis 50-51
12 Other observations 52
13 Retaining the employees 53-54
14 Recommedations 55-59
15 Biblography 60

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PEOPLE are the most important and valuable resource. Dynamism of the people can
make an organization dynamic. People can make or mar organization. Effective
employees can help an organization to march towards excellence. Competent and
motivated people can make things happen and enable an organization to achieve its goals.

But when employees start leaving the organization at high rate, then it becomes a matter
of concern for the organization.

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Today with a lot of companies entering the retail sector in India has made it oligopolistic.
The competition has increased to such an extent that man management has become
extremely important for an organization to retain talent.

My project has been accomplished in one of such retail company – Pantaloons Retail
India Limited. This is one of the best companies in retail sector in India. The project
focuses on analysis of attrition with the help of qualitative as well as quantitative data
provided by the company. After the analysis, measures for retaining the employees have
been suggested.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT:

o To understand the reasons for attrition at Big Bazaar.

o To find solutions to the problems leading to attrition and giving my

suggestions to improve the same.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Today attrition is a major problem which organizations have to face. There are many
factors which directly or indirectly contribute to attrition.
The following research work is an attempt to analyze the reasons for attrition in the retail
sector which is today one of the fastest growing sectors in India.
A review of the literature uncovered very few studies on attrition. However, following
studies listed below provided insight and inspiration for the current research project.

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Frank and Taylor (2003) argue that there is no issue of greater importance than employee
retention and is a growing concern for many employees. To understand what encourages
retention of employees, it is relevant to understand the commitment and the motivational
factors, since motivation is a central field of managing human resource (Lindmark and
Onnevik, 2005).
Many researchers argue that high turnover rates might have negative effects on the
profitability of organizations (Hogan, 1992).Turnover results in loss of tacit knowledge
that the employees might have developed over the period of association with the
organization. Catharine (2002) argued that turnover include other costs, such as lost
productivity, lost sales, and management’s time. But there has been evidence that the
employee turnover is not always bad. Turnover means movement in the workforce. Some
may go and some may come, so it helps avoid creating status quo and helping
organization not to become psychic prison (Morgan, 1997).
Mark Parrott(2000) believes that, there is a straight line between employee satisfaction
and customer satisfaction. He believes that today’s employees pose a complete new set of
challenges, especially when businesses are forced to confront one of the tightest labor
markets in decades. Therefore, it is getting more difficult to retain employees, as the pool
of talent is becoming more and more tapped-out.
According to Eskildesen, Hammer, 2000, the best way to retain employees is by providing
them with job satisfaction and opportunities for advancement in their careers. The saying ,
good help is hard to find, is even truer these days than ever before because the job market
is becoming increasingly tight.

Dr. Paul Carr and Dr. Michael Hartsfield, both associate professors at Regent University,
USA, in their article titled “Attrition as an HR Challenge” concluded that organizations
planning for the future should be given close attention to why attrition is occurring in the
present. To ignore why people are leaving the organization is to ignore the organization’s
greatest asset, namely, its people (Carr and Hartsfield, 2008).
Abbasi and Hollman(2000) sought to determine the impact of employee turnover on
organizations and found that excessive employee turnover often engenders far-reaching

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consequences and, at the extreme, may jeopardize efforts to attain organizational
objectives.
According to Abbasi (2000) lack of recognition, absence of competitive compensation
system and toxic workplace environment are some of the organizational factors leading to
employee turnover.
Griffeth et al. (2000) noted that pay and pay-related variables have a modest effect on
turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay,
a person’s performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are
insufficiently rewarded, they quit. This brings the issue of equity/justice in pay and perks.
All the three kinds of justice-procedural, distributive and interactional are related to
retention and turnover. When justice perception is low, people tend to quit the
organization.
Paula and Rachael (2004) found that superiors support was a strong predictor of job
satisfaction and also indirect predictor of turnover intention. Lack of fit may also lead to
employee turnover. It refers to what extent there exist the compatibility or incompatibility
between individual interests and personality and organizational goals and values
(Schneider, 1987).
A recent study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM, 2003) highlighted some interesting figures regarding the attrition rates in
India Inc. The survey focused on the attrition problem in growing economy and said that
the maximum attrition is taking place in the age group of 26 to 30 years as they find
themselves to be unsettled in their jobs and companies that they have been associated. The
study also revealed that most stable segment of employees is found to be in age 39 to 45
years. Attrition trends also reveal that women employees are less prone to frequent job
changing than their male counterparts. For every 10 males changing their jobs, there were
only 2 females doing the same.
Increased attrition is a multi-faceted problem in the sense that not only does it contribute
to the brain drain from a company, but it also results in increased costs for administration,
recruitment and selection procedure, induction of new employees and costs incurred
during the vacancy period for a position. Research shows that the cost to replace a
frontline employee is 40% of the salary and that for a top management employee is 40%

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of the salary and that for a top management employee is 150 to 200%. Apart from this,
delays creep into project timelines, client relationships may be adversely affected, and
searching for best skills for the job again may demand lots of time and effort (IIM-
Calcutta, 2007).
Raychaudhuri (2003) concluded in his white paper that the main approach to preventing
attrition should be grooming leaders, rather than just treating employees the way it is
normally done. In fact, the companies with leading-edge retention programs should
address all the areas like ongoing education and training, a mix of job assignments, the
organization of small groups and teams, peer group and mentoring programs, organized
career counseling, flextime and other lifestyle benefits, including on-site day care, fitness
clubs and sponsored charity work and internal marketing and communication with
employees.
Job characteristics as the causative factors of employee’s turnover have always been in the
forefront among the researchers. The experiences of job stress (Griffeth and Hom, 2001),
lack of commitment in the organization; and job dissatisfaction make employees to quit
(Firth et al., 2004).
Evidence suggests that turnover is triggered by dissatisfaction with such factors as
relationships with supervisors, job content, working conditions, and pay(Griffeth, Hom,
and Gaertner 2000).
Career development is another issue for retention and turnover. Organizations where
career paths are well laid down, people tend to stay. Human resource managers can play
very important role in any retention strategies as at least 75% of the reasons for voluntary
turnover can be influenced by managers (Harter, 2008).

An organization culture may have direct effects on the rate of voluntary turnover within
the organization (Abelson, 1993). Kerr and Slocum (1987) proposed that the cultural
values of team work, security, and respect for individual would foster loyalty and greater
retention than the values of initiative and individual reward.
Organizational instability has been shown to have a high degree of relationship with high
turnover. Indications are that employees are more likely to stay when there is a predictable
work environment and vice versa (Zuber, 2001).

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Employees have a strong need to be informed and hence organization with stong
communication systems enjoyed lower turnover of staff (Labov, 1997).
Trevor (2001) argues that local unemployment rates interact with job satisfaction to
predict turnover in the market. A general rise in economy brings more opportunities in
employment which in turn affects stability of employees.

Excerpts on attrition from the research work on Total Quality Management in IT

industry done by Dr. Uday Kumar Haldar discussed at Indian institution of
industrial Engineering, Nimhans convention centre, Bangalore, during 48th national
convention held on 29th- 30th September 2006.

The relationship between job satisfaction and attrition as surveyed by the “Hay Group”
and used by Raychoudhuri in his paper entitled “Manpower Planning and Employee
Attrition” is reproduced.
Total percent satisfied
Employees planning to stay for
Satisfaction with GAP
More than 2 Less than 2 years
years (%) (%)
Use of my skill and abilities 83 49 34
Ability of top management 74 41 33
Company has clear sense of direction 57 27 30
Advancement opportunities 50 22 28
Opportunity to learn new skills 66 38 28
Coaching counseling from one’s own 54 26 28
supervisor
Training 54 36 18
Pay 51 25 26

Key Attrition Factors:

From the studies many industrial stalwarts and academicians and also my personal
interactions with HR and IT personnel a set of factors which can be treated as the key
attrition factors is listed.
• Inability to use one’s competencies

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• Lack of challenge
• Boss and his management style
• Lack of scope of growth in terms of salary, status and other factors
• Lack of role clarity
• Lack of sense of belongingness
• Rust out stress syndrome (ROSS)
• Burst out stress syndrome (BOSS)
• Lack of learning opportunity
• Levels of motivations
• Unfulfilled ‘Occupational values’
• Life style inventory – Unmatched with the task
• Lack of excitement and innovation of in the job

The remarkable world of Retail

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World over, the retail segment has performed exceptionally since its inception in the 20th
century.
Sample these facts:
 Retail is currently the biggest industry in the world with sales of $7.2 trillion
 Every 10th billionaire in the world is a retailer.
 25 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies are in retail.
The Indian retail story couldn't have been more different. India has approx 12 million
retail stores, more than rest of the world put together. But the per capita square feet area
under retail is just 2 sq.ft or 0.2 sq. meters with fragmented keerana stores being the
predominant players. Retailing in India has remained in the unorganized sector and largely
untouched by corporates.

However, times are changing.. With the GDP at an all time high and income levels
shooting through the roof, the average Indian consumer has never had it so good. The
propensity to consume has reached peaks that had never been scaled before. Credit cards
are flashed with disdain and shopping baskets are getting bigger all the time. Here are
some factors that indicate the potential of retail in India:

Factors driving organized retail growth

 At 271 million, one of the largest consuming base in the · world, forming 27% of the
total population.
 A high spending community below 45 years comprises
81 percent of the population.
 A young population with 54% population below 25 years.

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 Increased literacy from 44% in 1965 to 70% in 2003.
 Increase in workingwomen from 1.3 million in 1961 to
4.8 million in 1998.
 Increase in media penetration to 38-million cable household and 80-million TV
household in 2001.

 The availability of credit and the reduction in rate of interest has led to a boom in real
estate
market and several new malls are coming up, thereby increasing the area under retail.
 Credit card usage is another factor that is driving organised retail growth.
 Another factor that is driving organised retail is the car sales. With availability of credit
and
increased aspirations of the youth to have a car, car sales grew by 41% last month. Car
sales and
retail are directly linked. As people have cars, they will come to a destination to shop
and entertain
themselves. India is seeing a convergence of shopping and entertainment with multiplex
being part of
many malls now.

Inspite of all the above factors organized retail stands at 2 per cent in India compared to
85% in USA, 40% in Thailand, 55% in Malaysia and 20% in China. Consultants have
predicted that retail in India is in a take off stage and expect the share of organized retail
to jump from the current 2 per cent to 10 per cent by 2010. No wonder that consultants
have estimated that by 2005, the retail business would have absorbed 5 lakh employees
directly.

Organized retail on a fast track

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Organized retailing in India started a few years back and currently has not more than 2%
Share of the total retail market estimated at $180 to $200 billion. Over 12 million small
local
Stores referred to as mom and pop stores abroad dominate 98% share of the retail market.
In some developed countries like USA, the organized share is 85% and in even in
countries
Like Thailand and Malaysia it is around 40% and 55% respectively. In China, the share of
Organized retail is 20%. This represents growth opportunity for India. Organized retail is
on
The fast track and with retail space expected to increase, organized retail will grow faster.
Take for instance the number of new malls that are coming up. It is estimated that about
225
New malls are coming up in India and will offer between 30-40 million squares of retail
space
In 50 plus cities over the next five years. With average size of the local stores being 100-
150
Square feet, the total area under retail could be anywhere between 120-180 million square
Feet. In million and the share of organized retail (retail space wise) could be anywhere
between 40-50
Million square feet or 18-22%. It seems organized retail is set to grow fast. This is further
substantiated with the Fitch report that expects organized retail to grow to 15-20% by
2010. Five years, the total area under retail (including new malls) will be between 150-
220.

Company Profile

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited (PRIL) was incorporated on October 12, 1987 as Manz
Wear Private Limited under the stewardship of Mr. Kishore Biyani. The Company was
converted into a public limited company on September 20, 1991 and on September 25,
1992 the name was changed to Pantaloon Fashions (India) Limited and the same time it

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went public and today it has approximately 14,000 shareholders. It later changed its name
to Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited on 7th July 1999.

From a humble beginning in 1987, Pantaloon as today evolved as a leading manufacturer-

retailer in the country with 13 Pantaloon stores and 9 hypermarkets, 13 Food Bazaars and
1 central operational across the country. It has been a remarkable journey for PRIL as its
evolved from a manufacturing to a completely integrated player controlling the entire
value chain.

Pantaloon: Evolution Curve

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Vision

To emerge as the best & the most profitable retailer in India.

Corporate Mission

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 "We share the vision and belief that by improving our performance through
innovative spirit and dedication, we shall serve our customers and stakeholders
satisfactorily.”

We shall be the trendsetters in fashion and offer a fair deal to all our customers

The company shall strive to be the Indian Retailing Conglomerate, an efficient and low
cost operator with a commitment to quality.

Our positive attitude from our devotion, Sincerity and united determination shall be the
driving force to make us globally competitive.

PRIL believes that unconventional and innovative thinking will be the key ingredients to
attain leadership in the emerging retail sector where the rules of the game are still
evolving. Whereas serving the customers satisfactorily is the core focus, the company also
believes in adequately rewarding its shareholders though concerted efforts on reducing
cost and improving profitability. To implement the corporate mission, PRIL has penned a
well thought of corporate strategy and policy which will ensure rapid growth in the
coming years. This strategy can be best described in the following words

‘Rewrite Rules Retain Values’

Rewrite Rules
Seamlessly integrate businesses

By seamlessly integrating business and disintermediation PRIL has a competitive

advantage over other retailers in the company. Managing the value chain from retailing to
manufacturing of apparels, which helps it to deliver value to the customer, contain costs
and reduce time-to-market significantly. By capturing the value added at each level that
company has also been able to capture maximum value for its shareholders .

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 Substantial Value Addition

Blending Strategies

To targeting higher share in customer shopping basket the Company has adopted blending
strategies. By entering into multiple formats - departmental stores and hypermarkets –
PRIL has effectively blended the multiple strategies and thereby has been successful in
addressing a high share of the customer’s basket. Increase in this share has been primarily
on account of entering new product categories.

‘Family focus’ rather than ‘individual focus’

PRIL strategy is to target family as its customer rather than individual. With Indian
audience having social ethics and culture deeply rooted in them addressing the
family pulls more
customers into the store. Moreover, it ensures repeat purchases. This strategy of the
company is reflected in all its communications and product offerings

Paradigm shift in ‘rapid roll-out’

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The company has aggressive grow plan to achieve scale of economy and take leadership
position in this evolving industry. PRIL’s ability to evolve from smaller format into large
format retail stores is well proven. With aggressive growth plans the company has identify
many locations across the company to roll out
stores in the future. The company plans to increase the retail space under control from
2.00 Lac in
FY0102 to more than 1 million square feet over the next 3 years to emerge as a
‘GodZilla’ of the Indian retail industry.

Retain Values

INDIAN-NESS

The core value of company is INDIAN-NESS. We believe in ourselves. The

company is developing Indian model of retailing being India is unique country and the
Indian customers have unique culture and value systems that’s why company’s is
targeting family as customer rather then Individual, offers products of Indian taste,
combination of own category and shop-in-shop category to offer to customer and having
mix of big retailer partnering with small time shop keeper.

Dedication

The company is dedicated to customer satisfaction that why it have no question asked
exchange policy, offering product which customer need or demand, follows inverse
pyramid structure of organisation where Board of Directors is at bottom and customer
service executive is on the top.

Leadership

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The company wants to be leader and not a follower. The company has taken initiatives
and taken leadership position in retailing by launching multiple formats of retailing and
targeting all segments of society.

Self Development

The company is on the continuous process of self-development by sincere and hard work
towards understanding customers, markets and products. The company has
moved over times from apparel manufacturing to distribution to franchisee retailing to
departmental format retailing to hypermarket format of retailing. The company is on the
path of continuous learning and implement learning’s. The company has respect for every
individual whomsoever it may be that’s why even employees been considered as internal
customer, Suppliers/Vendors are being treated as partners in progress and company
believes in relationships to delivery value to customers rather business transactions/deals
Respect

Introspection

Introspection is the key corporate value. The company has passed through the strategic
points of inflection in the short life spun so far and came out well at all the times. The
company is a living organisation and always looks to itself first then others. The
introspection has helped the company to move over times, from smaller format to big &
multiple formats of retailing to target all sections of society.

STRENGHS

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 During its evolution the company achieved various milestone and demonstrated
innovativeness and leadership by pioneering concepts that has now become industry
standards. Some of the major milestone achieved by the company in its life span of 14
years is enumerated below

Major Milestones

Company Incorporated
1987-88

The Pantaloon Trouser – India’s first formal trouser brand launched

1987-88

BARE – Indian Jean brand launched

1989-90

John miller- Shirt inspired by America - Formal shirt in popular segment launched
1993-94

Distribution of branded garments through multi-brand retail outlets across nation and exports of garments
1993-94

The Pantaloon Shoppee – Exclusive menswear store in franchisee format launched across nation
1993-94

Pantaloons- India’s Family Store launched

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 1997-98

BIG BAZAAR - Isse se sasta aur acha kahi nahi! – Indian Hypermarket launched
2001-02

FOOD BAZAAR - Wholesale Prices - Chain of large supermarkets with a difference.

2001-02

GOLD BAZAAR - Sone pe suhaga. Shudh bhi, sasta bhi

2003

CENTRAL MALL - Shop, Eat, Celebrate!

2004

• The only listed Indian Company to successfully launch discount stores (at
Hyderbad and Calcutta branded as Big Bazaar) and plans to have chains of similar
nature, which targets the large and growing upper-middle and middle class of
Indian society. This is totally contrast to other organized retailing players, which
are targeting the HNI (High Networth Individuals) and whose market is currently
saturated.

• Pantaloon has second largest selling space amongst the retailers, after Bata. This is
backed by complete automation of the retail outlets. After completion of the
central hub at Mumbai the company’s operations would be fully integrated which
would give its operating efficiency a boost.

• Company has strong owned brand names in its portfolio. The brands include
Pantaloon, John Miller and Bare. Higher percentage of "own brand" sales
improves margins, thus reducing break-even level of sales.

• Further, the company plans to diversify from apparels to household items in its
discount stores. This will enable them to enlarge the basket of offering.

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 • Currently FDI participation in retail is not allowed, but in case this happens this is
a stock waiting to be acquired. Any upside on acquisition is an added bonanza for
investors, when it will happen is anybody's guess and we are not commenting on
it.

At the current market price of Rs.35, Pantaloon trades at 6.3x FY02 and 3.4x FY03
earnings. Stock re rating will be driven by completion of fund raising (promoters allotted
shares to themselves at SEBI price of around Rs31 in February second week) and launch
of Big Bazaar in Mumbai. We set a price target of Rs 75 over the next six months.

June Sales

Sales for the month of June from Value retailing stood at Rs. 79.39 crores, while lifestyle
retailing contributed sales of Rs. 36.86 crores. Value retail displayed a same store growth
of 36.65 per cent and lifestyle retailing of 6.99 per cent.

Jun - Jun YoY% July-Jun-05 July-Jun-04 %

05 -04 Change
Particulars Sales Sales Sales Sales
Value Retailing 79.39 37.78 110.14 669.89 346.14 93.53
Life Style Retailing 36.86 21.75 69.47 417.41 216.97 92.38

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TOTAL 116.25 59.53 95.28 1087.30 563.11 93.09

Same Store Growth

Value Retailing 50.00 36.59 36.65 457.88 341.40 34.12

Life Style Retailing 23.27 21.75 6.99 254.02 215.32 17.97

Sales are in rupees crore

Source : Investor Update June 200

Pantaloon: Fashion by Pantaloon

Pantaloon is the company's departmental store and part of life style retail format. In fact,
PRIL took its very initial steps in the retail journey by setting up the first Pantaloon store
in Kolkata in 1997. In a short time Pantaloon has been able to carve a special place for it
self in the hearts and minds of the aspirational Indian customers. The company has depth
of offering for both men and women at affordable prices. A striking characteristic of
Pantaloon has been the strength of its private label programme. John Miller, Ajile,
Scottsvile, Lombard, Annabelle, Rig & Bare are some of the successful brands created by
the company.

Big Bazaar: Is Se Sasta Aur Accha Kahin Nahin !!

Big bazaar is the company’s foray into the world of hypermarket discount stores, the first
of its kind in India. Price and the wide array of products are the USP’s in Big Bazaar.
Close to two lakh products are available under one roof at prices lower by 2 to 60 per cent
over the corresponding market prices. The high quality of service, good ambience,
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implicit guarantees and continuous discount programmes have helped in changing the face
of the Indian retailing industry..In the Big Bazaar format, average billing is Rs 500 per
customer. There is a a conversion ratio of 36-37%. They get into the stores a family size
of at least 3-4 people and that is nearly a virtual conversion.

Food Bazaar – Wholesale prices

Food Bazaar’s core concept is to create a blend of a typical Indian Bazaar and
International supermarket atmosphere with the objective of giving the customer all the
advantages of Quality, Range and Price associated with large format stores and also the
comfort to See, Touch and Feel the products. The company has recently launched an
aggressive private label programme with its own brands of tea, salt, spices, pulses, jams,
ketchups etc.

Welcome to Central, a world of pure indulgence.

Central represents the company’s foray into seamless malls formats. Central will provide
customers the opportunity of choosing from amongst the best brands in apparel, toys,
books, music, sports, lifestyle accessories and more. With more than 300 brands and
floors dedicated for women, men, youth and home, Central aims to provide customers
with an array of options never seen before. At present there are 2 Central’s, one each
located in Bangalore and Hyderabad, with the third mall opening.

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STRUCTURE

The organization has clearly demarcated departments.

These departments are as follows–

PANTALOON

1. Marketing and Sales

2. Finance
3. Customer Service
4. Information Technology
5. Human Resource
6. Logistics

The approximate employee strength is 150.

BIG BAZAAR

1. Marketing and Sales

2. Finance
3. Customer Service
4. Information Technology

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5. Human Resource
6. Logistics

The approximate employee strength is 150.

COMMERCIAL

1. Accounts
2. Marketing
3. Information Technology
4. Tax and Payroll

INTRODUCTION

Today attrition is seen commonly across organizations. Ideally, employees should love
their jobs, like their coworkers, work hard for their employers, get paid well for their
work, and should have ample chances for advancement, and flexible schedules so they
could attend to personal or family needs when necessary. And never leave. But this is not
the case in reality. In the real world, employees, do leave, either because they want more
money, hate the working conditions, hate their coworkers, want a change, or because their
spouse gets a dream job in another state.

“If employees are to be products,

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 Their shelf-lives are getting shorter”
DEFINITION
Attrition can be best defined as leaving a position in a company which mainly arises out
of dissatisfaction with the job content as well as job context.
Attrition rate can be best defined as ‘the rate of shrinkage in size or number’.

WHY ATTRITION NEEDS TO BE CONTROLLED

Globalization and high growth rate for past few years in India has resulted in high
competition. The downside of this increased competition is a rising rate of attrition.
Skilled employees are hopping from job to job and taking with them the customer
knowledge and technical expertise that any company needs.
Not only has that, Companies had to allot much time and huge expense for recruiting new
employees and making them familiar with the new business. Typically Employee attrition
costs 12 to 18 months’ salary for each leaving manager or professional, and 4 to 6 months'
pay for each leaving clerical or hourly employee.

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Cost of attrition

A. Recruitment cost
The cost to any organization when hiring new employees includes the following
factors:

• Time spent on sourcing replacement

• Time spent on recruitment and selection
• Travel expenses, if any
• Re-location costs, if any
• Background/reference screening

B. Training and development cost

The cost of training and developing new employees can be largely classified under the
following heads:

• Training materials
• Technology
• Employee benefits
• Trainers’ time.

C. Administration cost:

• Setting up communication systems

• Adding employees to the HR system
• Setting up the new hire’s workspace
• Setting up ID-cards, access cards, etc.

Considering the above costs involved, it quickly becomes apparent why companies are
investing in strategies to prevent attrition.

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 BENEFITS OF ATTRITION

Attrition is not bad always if it happens in a controlled manner. Some attrition is always desirable and
necessary for organizational growth and development. The only concern is how organizations differentiate
“good attrition” from “bad attrition”.(www.citehr.com, viewed on 10th June 2010)
Attrition rates are considered to be beneficial in some ways:

• If all employees stay in the same organization for a very long time, most of them will be at the top
of their pay scale which will result in excessive manpower costs.
• When certain employees leave, whose continuation of service would have negatively impacted
productivity and profitability of the company, the company is benefited.

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 • New employees bring new ideas, approaches, abilities & attitudes which can keep the organization
from becoming stagnant.
• There are also some people in the organization who have a negative and demoralizing influence on
the work culture and team spirit. This, in the long-term, is detrimental to organizational health.
• Desirable attrition also includes termination of employees with whom the organization does not
want to continue a relationship. It benefits the organization in the following ways:
o It removes bottleneck in the progress of the company
o It creates space for the entry of new talents
o It assists in evolving high performance teams

• There are people who are not able to balance their performance as per expectations, lack potential
for future or need disciplinary action. Furthermore, as the rewards are limited, business pressures do
not allow the management to over-reward the performers, but when undesirable employees leave
the company, the good employees can be given the share that they deserve.

REASONS FOR ATTRITION:

Employees leave the organization for reasons which can be broadly classified as organizational issues,
personal reasons. Big Bazaar has its own administrative manual of classifying and grouping the reasons
behind attrition. The most common reasons behind attrition are manifold.

Dissatisfaction with the tasks assigned to them

Organizational climate not conducive to effective contribution
Tasks assigned not challenging (in knowledge sector this is a common reason)
Success is not shared with juniors
Good works are not recognized and rewarded

30
Burn out stress syndrome
Rust out stress syndrome
Working environment
Lack of transparency in administration
Canceling of information from juniors
Passing the buck (Diverting the blame)
Salary and other benefits
Personal reasons
Better prospects
Integrity issue
Health grounds

ANALYZING ATTRITION ON THE BASIS OF HAPPINESS AT WORKPLACE

Unhappiness at work can be a major factor for attrition as unhappy staffs are most likely to leave the
organization. Unhappy staff possesses low morale, influences more staff to leave – with inevitable impact
on profits.
Common reasons responsible to make an employee unhappy at work

• Lack of communication from the top

• Noncompetitive salary
• No reward and recognition for achievements
• Incompetent boss/line manager
• No or little opportunity for personal growth and development

31
 • Ideas contributed are not judged and simply ignored
• Lack of opportunity for good performers
• Lack of suitable compensation packages
• Work not enjoyable

Ways by which employee’s happiness can be ensured at work place

• Friendly, supportive colleagues

• Enjoyable work
• Good boss or line manager
• Good work/life balance
• Varied work
• Belief that we are doing worthwhile
• Feeling that what we do makes a difference
• Being part of a successful team
• Recognition for our achievements
• Competitive salary

MANAGING ATTRITION

There are certain soft means of controlling the attrition. It is once again emphasize that only attractive
remuneration cannot hold creative talents in an organization. We have to pay relook to the
organizational practices. Some points which are likely to control and reduce attrition are enumerated
below

• Providing stimulating work environment:

• Good rewards and recognition programs
• Recreation clubs, Canteens, Entertain programs , fun activities within the work area:
• Better learning opportunities
• Regular holiday packages, gifts, outings etc.
• Making employees understand the importance of their work through following ways :-

32
 o Compliments and thanks cost little and can bring great benefits
o Letting employees know that their opinions are valuable
o Keeping employees informed - not letting them hear important news through rumors
o Updating employees with technical information
o Addressing staff by their first names
o Publicly praising what the employee has accomplished
o Criticizing privately about what the employee can do better and explaining how to do it
better
o Creating community with activities such as informal meals or events outside work
o Involving employees in organizational planning
o Titles cost little and remind employees that they are valuable

• Good pay, fringe benefits, compensation in addition to the above.

CALCULATION OF ATTRITION RATE:

Organizations calculate attrition rate based on two variables

1. Total number of employees who left in the year

2. Average number of employees in the year. This is calculated by adding the number of employing at the
beginning of the year and the number of employees at the end of the year and then divided by two.

Attrition rate =

Number of employees who left in the year / Average employees in the year x 100.

33
34
 Attrition Data Of the store (from May 2008 to May 2010)

Following data has been taken from the company data base for analysis of the reasons for
attrition. The attrition data is for the period May 2008 to May 2010 of one of the Big
Bazzar stores in Kolkata. Data has been taken at the time of the exit interviews.

Sl Em DOL (Should
- p be the same
Mo N Co with SAP Designatio Concised
nth o- de Name DOJ Date) n Department reasons
May 505 Biswanat Executive - Abandoned
23-Apr-08 Warehouse
-08 1 00 h Sarkar 4-Feb-08 Warehouse Services
521 Pintu Better
24-May-08
2 27 Hira 7-Feb-08 TTM Ladies Prospects
521 Soumya Personal
6-May-08
3 15 Sinha 4-Feb-08 TTM Cash Reasons
Dibyendu
167 16-Feb-
Roy 22-May-08 Store Operations PersonalReas
53 06
4 Manager ons
Pinaki
Nath Executive -
9-Jul-07 17-Jun-08 Administration
Jun- 400 Bhattach Administra Better
08 5 80 arya tion Prospects
557 Tanmoy 24-Mar- Better
1-May-08
6 88 Shil 08 TM Ladies Prospects
517 Anirban Better
25-Jan-08 3-Jun-08
7 63 Ghosh TM Plastics Prospects
521 Siku Abandoned
1-May-08 Cash
8 26 Barik 7-Feb-08 TTM Services
Executive-
Dibakar Safety &
Jul- 387 6-Jun-07 19-Jul-08 Safety & Better
paik facility
08 9 52 Facility Prospects
557 Pankaj 24-Mar- Team Better
1-Jul-08
10 87 Sharma 08 Leader Mobiles Prospects
11 214 Chirag 15-Jul-06 25-Jul-08 Asst. Store Operations Better

35
 70 Gandhi Manager Prospects
Aug 557 Biswaroo 17-Mar- Team Health
1-Aug-08 Footwear
-08 12 82 p Ghosh 08 Member Grounds
Trainee
635 Abhijit 18-Aug-08 Team Personal
13 87 Manna 21-Jul-08 Member Cash Reasons
Trainee
635 Arghya 24-Aug-08 Team Personal
14 85 Ghosh 21-Jul-08 Member Mens Reasons
454 Abhijit Store Better
12-Oct-07 19-Aug-08 Operations
15 37 Tapadar Manager Prospects
298 Debdulal 11-Dec- Team Better
24-Aug-08 Food Bazaar
16 28 Samanta 06 Member Prospects
Subhajit Trainee
614 Watches &
Chakrabo 1-Aug-08 Team Personal
44 Sunglasses
17 rty 26-Jun-08 Member Reasons
635 Partha Executive - Personal
1-Aug-08 Administration
18 89 Golder 24-Jul-08 Safety Reasons
Sep- 185 Balaram 17-Apr- Better
18-Sep-08 Cash
08 19 62 Thakur 06 TM Prospects
529 Sanjay 11-Feb- Integrity
25-Sep-08
20 00 Banik 08 TM Mens Issue
540 Anup 22-Feb- Integrity
25-Sep-08
21 15 Das 08 TM Mens Issue
643 Srijita Executive Better
25-Sep-08 CSD
22 84 Kar 4-Aug-08 Trainee Prospects
Oct- 540 Anup 26-Jun- Team Integrity
Mens
08 23 15 Das 08 25-Sep-08 Member Issue
529 Sanjay 22-feb- Team Health
Mens
24 00 Banik 08 25-Sep-08 Member Grounds
Soma
16-Feb-
Nov 535 Mukherje TM Ladies Abandoned
08
-08 25 50 e 17-Nov-08 Services
529 Sabirul Personal
19-Jun-08 TM Food Bazaar
26 08 Mallick 6-Nov-08 Reasons
27 583 Arunita 25-Apr- 30-Nov-08 Executive - CSD Better

36
 00 Bose 08 CSD Prospects
Dec- 311 Arnab Team
15-Jan-07 Cash
08 28 66 Maity 2-Dec-08 Member Absconding
Trainee
2E+ Maharna Team Toys Health
29 05 b Ghosh 1-Sep-08 19-Nov-08 Member Grounds
Iqbal
583 Chowdhu 28-Apr- Exective - CSD
30 01 ry 08 22-Dec-08 CSD Absconding
Jan- 464 Binoy Team
5-Nov-07 Kids
09 31 26 Ghosh 15-Jan-09 Member Abconding
Feb- 621 Tuhin Team
1-Jul-08 Food Bazaar
09 32 61 Dey 8-Mar-09 Member Absconding
450 Ashok Team
Ladies
33 81 Sharma 1-Oct-07 8-Mar-09 Member Absconding
614 Arindam Team Integrity
CSD
34 36 Das 23-Jun-08 1-Mar-09 Member Issue
Mar- 621 Tuhin Team
1-Jul-08 Food Bazaar
09 35 61 Dey 8-Mar-09 Member Absconding
450 Ashok Team
Ladies
36 81 Sharma 1-Oct-07 8-Mar-09 Member Absconding
614 Arindam Team Integrity
CSD
37 36 Das 23-Jun-08 1-Mar-09 Member Issue
532 Jayanta Departmen Personal
12-Jul-04
38 4 Roy 31-Mar-09 t Manager Food Bazaar Reasons
540 Sudipta 22-Feb- Team Integrity
39 17 Mitra 08 15-Mar-09 Member Cash Issue
535 Surajit 18-Feb- Team
40 48 Das 08 16-Mar-09 Member Cash Absconding
529 Sanjib 11-Feb- Team
41 01 Ghatak 08 16-Mar-09 Member Cash Absconding
Apr- 614 Sourav Team Personal
Home Linen
09 42 41 Kr. Das 24-Jun-08 13-Apr-09 Member Reasons
Yeasin
Team
535 Ali 16-Feb- Food Bazaar Personal
Member
43 46 Mondal 08 15-Apr-09 Reasons
44 528 Dilip 11-Feb- 19-Apr-09 Team Cash Better
37
 93 Mochi 08 Member Prospects
Tarun
May 521 Bhattach Team Personal
-09 45 17 arya 4-Feb-08 13-Apr-09 Member Toys Reasons
540 Avijit 25-Feb- Team Health
46 18 Paul 08 3-Apr-09 Member Food Bazaar Grounds
120 Kaushik Team Personal
1-Sep-05
47 31 Khutia 1-Apr-09 Member Food Bazaar Reasons
Soumya
2E+ Ghosh Team Personal
48 05 Roy 8-Sep-08 22-Apr-09 Member Ladies Reasons
535 Santu 16-Feb- Team Better
49 41 Das 08 3-May-09 Member Crockery Prospects
Jun- 540 Tapas 26-Feb- Team Personal
09 50 19 Shil 08 30-Jun-09 Member Mens Reasons
540 Subir Team
Food Bazaar
51 22 Mondal 3-Mar-08 30-Jun-09 Member Absconding
Snigdha
107
Sunder Team Health
84
52 Das 1-Jul-05 30-Jun-09 Leader CSD, Ladies Grounds
238 Nirmal 15-Sep- Team
53 76 Lahiri 06 30-Jun-09 Member Electronics Absconding
173 Shafique Team Watches & Better
54 38 Imran 1-Mar-06 17-Jun-09 Leader Sunglasses Prospects
137 Team Personal
15-Oct-05 Food Bazaar
55 79 Jyoti Das 6-Jun-09 Member Reasons
527 Amitava Personal
1-Jul-04 Food Bazaar
56 7 Basu 15-Jun-09 ADM Reasons
Jul- 309 Sakya Electronics, Better
09 57 53 Mitra 2-Jan-07 15-Jul-09 ADM Furniture Prospects
357 Debasis Personal
58 44 Nag 1-Mar-07 3-Jul-09 ADM CPU Reasons
Sk.
Aug 146 Sahabudd Team
-09 59 61 in 15-Oct-05 19-Aug-09 Member Mens Absconding
60 517 Subir 25-Jan-08 23-Aug-09 Team Mens Absconding

38
 Rudra
60 Paul Member
2E+ Tanmoy Team
61 05 Shil 1-Oct-08 19-Aug-09 Member Footwear Absconding
Sep- 590 Subhasis Team Health
09 62 99 h Mitra 16-feb-08 24-Sep-09 Member Mens Grounds
445 Paromita Team Personal
63 73 Sen 25-Oct-07 20-Sep-09 Leader Ladies Reasons
315 Dipankar Personal
15-Jan-07
64 25 Basak 7-Sep-09 ADM Kids , toys Reasons
Oct- 614 Dipankar Team
Food Bazaar
09 65 35 Saha 23-Jun-08 9-Oct-09 Member Absconding
Mahul
535 Krishna 16-Feb- Team
66 43 Roy 08 9-Oct-09 Leader Home Linen Absconding
635 Vandana Team Health
67 62 Mandal 21-Jul-08 17-Oct-09 Member Electronics Grounds
557 Avijit Team Better
68 77 Ghosh 6-Mar-08 15-Oct-09 Member Mens Prospects
535 Sukanta 16-Feb- Team
69 40 Biswas 08 9-Oct-09 Member Mens Absconding
Bikash Trainee
Nov 2E+ Swarnaka 30-Sep- Team Better
-09 70 05 r 09 6-Nov-09 Member Mens Prospects
Trainee
2E+ Faizan 30-Sep- Team Personal
71 05 Akhter 09 3-Nov-09 Member Mens Reasons
Abhijit Trainee
2E+ Mukherje Team Personal
72 05 e 7-Aug-09 13-Nov-09 Member Mens Reasons
2E+ Bikash Team Personal
73 05 Bose 1-Sep-08 5-Nov-09 Member Cash Reasons
445 Bijoy Kr. Team Personal
74 34 Ghosh 1-Oct-07 2-Nov-09 Member Mens Reasons
207 Archita Team Personal
75 11 Ganguly 27-Jun-06 2-Nov-09 Member Ladies Reasons

39
 192 Hirak Team Integrity
76 83 Dey 1-sep-08 28-Nov-09 Leader Cash Issue
Abhijit
Dec- 528 Chakrabo 11-Feb- TM
09 77 88 rty 08 24-Dec-09 Mens Absconding
564 Arindam 18-Feb-
TM
78 79 Mukherje 08 19-Jan-10 Home Linen Absconding
162 Atanu
31-Dec-09 Exec VM
79 709 Mondal 9-Nov-09 VM Absconding
583 Debasish
Exec WH
80 03 Ghosh 8-May-08 11-Dec-09 Warehouse Work Load
282 Md 20-Nov- Better
31-Dec-09 TL Food Bazaar
81 43 Wasim 06 Prospects
497 Moloy
31-Dec-09 TM
82 93 Chanda 11-Jan-08 CPU Absconding
635 Moumita
31-Dec-09 TL Food Bazaar
83 88 Seal 17-Jul-08 Absconding
528 Prodip 11-Feb-
31-Dec-09
84 93 Mirdha 08 TM Kids Absconding
Pronoy
540 Chowdhu 22-Feb- Food Bazaar
85 14 ry 08 24-Dec-09 TM Absconding
540 Ranajit 22-Feb-
31-Dec-09
86 11 dey 08 TM Cash Absconding
163 Sanjay 11-Nov-
31-Dec-09 Food Bazaar
87 029 Show 09 TL Absconding
156 Sourav
31-Dec-09 Food Bazaar
88 793 Bardhan 1-Jun-09 TTM Absconding
156 Suman
31-Dec-09
89 385 Rakshit 22-feb-08 TL Mens Work Load
540 Taslima
90 25 Khatoon 5-Mar-08 21-Nov-09 TM Ladies Work Load
Jan- 540 Anirban 22-Feb- Health
TM
10 91 13 Banerjee 08 15.01.2010 Cash Grounds
159 Dhruv Personal
15.01.2010 TM
92 959 Singh 1-Sep-09 Mens Reasons
93 614 Sitanath 24-Jun-08 15.01.2010 TM Cash Better
40
 43 Dutta Prospects
157 Suvendu Personal
TM
94 633 Dey 1-Jul-09 15.01.2010 Mens Reasons
528 Biswadip 11-Feb- Better
31.01.2010 TM Food Bazaar
95 91 Roy 08 Prospects
Feb- 313 Chandan 16.02.201 Integrity
TM Food Bazaar
10 96 55 Roy 0 16.02.2010 Issue
159 Suhasis 06.02.201 Better
06.02.2010 TM
97 957 Das 0 Mens Prospects
Mar- 603 Debabrat 05.06.200 Health
TM
10 98 06 a Mondal 8 18.03.2010 Ladies Grounds
Apr- 528 Munna 11.02.200 Integrity
TM
10 99 97 Prasad 8 04.04.2010 Cash Issue
May 10 525 Chandran 18.02.200 Watches & Personal
TM
-10 0 22 i Ghosh 8 02.05.2010 Sunglasses Reasons
10 557 Purnima 12.03.200 Health
TL
1 81 Auddy 8 02.05.2010 Kids Grounds

41
 ATTRITION DATA ANALYSIS

Tenure Wise Analysis

Table 1

Service period(in months) No. of employees

0–6 23
7 – 12 20
13 – 18 21
19 – 24 11
24 and above 24

Chart 1

Tenurewiseanalysis

25

20
No. of employees

15

10

0 24 and
0 – 6 7 – 12 13 – 18 19 – 24
Service period above

42
From chart 1 it can be analyzed that attrition rate has almost remain same throughout the
two year period. But after having discussion with store HR manager and analyzing
company’s master data on attrition, it was found that the reasons mentioned by employees
for leaving were different for different service periods. For the service period of 0-6
months, about 50% of employees mentioned personal reasons to be the reason for leaving
the jobs. After getting in touch with the ex employees it was known that the personal
reasons was, that, they were not able to adjust in the new working environment/were not
properly aligned to their new job roles.
For the service period of 24 months and above, again personal reason, was the major
reason mentioned by employees. After interrogating the ex employees who has left
recently, it was found out that after working for more than two years in the organization
they were finding the job monotonous or not finding their work any more challenging.
Their dominant occupational values must be ‘creativity and originality’ backed by
‘special abilities or aptitudes’. Added to these their dominant motive must be
‘achievement’ with very high degree of career aspirations.
The employees who left after serving for more than 6 months but less than 2 years,
expressed the reason of leaving the company even after gaining substantial job experience.
There occupational values are ‘earn a good deal of money’ as realized from their response
‘left due to better prospects’.
Again a third category of employees wanted to learn the job and develop interest in their
work; but ultimately left not developing the same as they could not derive pleasure from
the job. The significant job attitude of them must be ‘job satisfaction’. There
organizational commitment, particularly continuance commitment, was not built in.
Some of them opined that they left due to health problems thought they have joined some
other organization. Obviously these people are conservative, suppressed the exact reason
of leaving.

43
Reasons Wise Analysis

Table 2
Reasons of leaving No. of employees
Better prospects 20
Personal reasons 29
Health grounds 12
Integrity issue 08
Absconding 26

Chart 2

Reason wise analysis

40
No. of employees

Personal reasons
30 absconding
Better prospects
20
Health grounds
10
Integrity issue

0
Reasons
From Chart 2 it is very clear that personal reasons constitute major reason for employees
leaving their job. There are many employees who join retail sector with the intention to
gain few months of practical experience and after that switch to other sectors. There are
also huge number of young employees in the organization, many of whom leave their jobs

44
to pursue higher studies. The no. of female employees is also very large and therefore
marriage also is an important reason for attrition.
The number of employees who were absconding from their job is second most major
reason for attrition in the organization. After having discussion with HR manager it was
found that there are many who find their job so alien or working environment so
inconvenient that they don’t even bother to give one month notice and leave without
informing.
Leaving job for better prospects is the third most reason which is quite understood
witnessing the competitive scenario of the retail sector.
Health reason is also a big reason for attrition as retail sector demands huge physical stress
like long standing, night shifts etc. which many are not able to cope up with.
Finally many employees mentioned integrity issues related with customers as well as
management as reasons for leaving their job.

Band Wise Analysis

Table 3
Employees band No. of employees left Standard no. of

45
 employees
One 88 102
Two 10 14
Three 01 2
Four 02 1

Band wise analysis

100
80

No. of 60
employees 40
20
0 one Two Three Four
Chart 3 EmployeesBand

From Chart 3, it is very clear that the attrition rate is almost same for all the bands which
indicate that employee’s level has no direct relation with attrition. For band-four which
comprises the post of store manager, it is found that in period of just two years, two store
managers left the job. According to the HR manager, since employees of such level
continuously look for challenges in their work, after working for some time in the same
organization, they start feeling their job monotonous and therefore leave, once they get
better prospects in another organization.

Department Wise Analysis

Table 4
Departments Standard no. of employees No. of employees who left
in 2 years
Men’s 18 20
Ladies 12 10

46
Food bazaar 12 19
Cash 14 15
Administration 02 02
CPU 08 04
CSD 03 06
Electronics 07 03
Footwear 03 02
Home linen 03 03
Kids 08 04
Mobiles 01 01
Operations 03 03
Safety and Facilities 01 01
Toys 02 02
Visual Merchandiser 01 01
Warehouse 02 02
Watches and sunglasses 02 03

47
 Department wise analysis
Mens

20
Ladies

Food bazaar

Cash

Administratio

15

No. of employees
CPU

CSD

Electronics

10 Footwear

Home linen

Kids

Mobiles

5 Operations

Safety and Fa

Toys

Standard no. of employees No. of employeeswho left in 2 years

0 Visual Merch

Warehouse
Chart 4
Departments Watches and
sunglasses

From Chart 4 it can be concluded that among the various departments, the three busiest
departments of the store in terms of customer footfall- Mens, Food bazar and CSD has
highest rate of attrition. It could be said that since jobs in these departments are much
demanding in terms of physical stress, many are not able to cope up with the demand and
therefore leave their job.

48
Other Observations

From the data it is quite visible that attrition till December 2009 was too high. After that
it reduced gradually. After having discussion with HR manager it was found that till
December 2009 working hours of the employees were too high (approx 13.5 hrs/day).
Night shifts and every day roster of the employees were not well planned. Discovering the
problem, the HR department then properly planned the roster of the store which reduced
the work pressure on employees without reducing their productivity. As a result the
attrition rate slowly declined.

49
 RETAINING THE EMPLOYEES

Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have good opportunities
in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current employer or the job, they switch
over to the next job. In prominent Indian metros, there is no dearth of opportunities for the
best in the business, or even for the second or the third best.
Importance of retaining employees remains the same irrespective of the size of the
organization, its nature of business or the country of operation. The only difference lies in
realizing the fact that frequent employee attrition means there is something, which needs
immediate attention and cure.
Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the
organization for the maximum period of time. It involves being sensitive to people's needs
and demonstrating the various strategies in the five families detailed in Roger Herman's
classic book on employee retention, Keeping Good People.
• Compensation: It is said that money isn't a motivator, but it is an effective de-
motivator. The employees always have high expectations regarding their
compensation packages. So an attractive compensation package plays a critical
role in retaining the employees.

• Growth: No one joins an organization to just do the same work till the end of his
career. If an employee does not see growth in his own organization, there are high
chances that he might opt for leaving the organization. So such strategies must be
framed where an employee can see his bright future in the company.

• Relationship: The management is sometimes not able to provide an employee a

supportive work culture and environment in terms of personal or professional
relationships. The organization culture should be such that encourages healthy
relationship between all the employees.

50
 • Support: Sometimes not getting the right kind of support and co-operation also
leads an employee to be frustrated and provokes him to leave the organization.
This should be taken care of by providing healthy work relationships.

• Environmental: An organization needs to have an environment where individuals

learn and get support from colleagues and seniors along with the healthy mixture
of authority and responsibility.

Based on the above five points, a retention strategy can be framed after understanding the
reasons for attrition in a particular organization.

51
 RECOMMENDATIONS

At Big Bazzar, after analysing the reasons of attrition, it could be concluded that there are
problems related to compensation, growth, work environment and other benefits

In order to reduce the amount of attrition, the HR as well as all the business/division heads
need to join hands and come together and take actions.

The following measures can be taken:

 Designing a competitive compensation package:

Most of the employees at Big Bazzar are not satisfied with the salary that they are being
paid. High attrition due to better opportunities shows that. Thus there is a need of a
systematic comparison of the compensation paid at Big Bazzar with the market trends. An
analysis should be done keeping in mind the kind and scope of work and the salary
packages offered at Big Bazzar and other companies in the same industry. For this
purpose, external help can be taken. There are many agencies which carry out such
research work for organizations. Big Bazzar can hire one such agency for this work.

Thus it would be possible for Big Bazzar to provide a very competitive pay package
which would restrict the attrition to some extent.

 Learning Environment:

The seniors in all the departments should try to create an environment of learning in their
division/department. Knowledge gained should be shared with the others. E.g. If an
individual from the HR department has gone for a training program on Interpersonal
Skills, he should be encouraged to share the contents of the program with his colleagues
52
through a presentation on the same. The same kind of environment should be created in
the whole organization.

 Career Graphs for employees:

Analysis also shows that most of the employees do not see much personal growth in the
organization. Thus it is recommended that the superiors of employees should take the
responsibility to show his subordinate a career graph projecting his growth in the next 5
years. This would bring enough confidence in the employee to stay with the company and
motivate him to achieve the targets placed before him.

 Inculcate Team Work:

All the employees need to trained and motivated to work as teams and not individuals.
This can be done with the help of the department heads. They need to bring all the
employees in the particular division together and show them the ultimate goal for which
they all are working. When a combined vision is shown, it plays an important role in
motivating the employees to work together.

 Making employees accountable:

There should be fairness in the working of the company. If an individual has made a
mistake he should be made accountable for it irrespective if his relations with the seniors.
The HR can play a role here by bringing in rules of punishing the offenders.

 Fun at work:

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”. Employees spend almost 10 hours of the
day at their work place. It is very important that the employees are given opportunities to
have fun at work. For this, HR can organize gaming events between the various

53
departments as well as within the various departments. They can have events like chess
tournament, table tennis tournament, quiz competition, best of waste competition etc.
these can be done first at the Store level and then at the organizational level.

This will enhance their sense of belongingness for their departments/function as well as
increase the interaction between and within the departments/divisions.

 Achieving a match between individual and organisational goals:

The company needs to achieve a balance between the two. This can be done at the initial
level while recruiting the employee only if his / her personal goals can be aligned to the
organizational goals.

 Increasing organisational transparency:

There is a need for transparency in the working of the company. The employees should be
given reasons and answers to the question which arise in to their minds. If this is not done,
they give it the name of a partial environment, start having grudges against others and
spoil the organizational culture.

 Helping employees acquire new skills:

There is an increasing need for keeping the employees up dated about the new techniques
and technologies. Thus there is a need for increasing the number of training programs
which at this point of time are very less. Training signals employees that the organisation
values their contribution, and is willing to invest in upgrading their skills. These would
also mean increase in interaction between the employees which is again a requirement at
Big Bazzar.

 Celebrations and Social and cultural Networks:

In some of the surveys and audits it has been found that employees get a sense of
belongingness if the organization encourages some form of social networks, cultural
programs, team celebrations. These can be done with very little investments by

54
encouraging employees to have picnics, social gatherings, celebrations and festivals etc.
When the person feels at home with a company he would think twice before leaving the
company.
HR at Big Bazzar can encourage the formation of different clubs like the golf club, social
service club, sports club, where the employees from all divisions can register as per their
likings. These clubs can then have their own gatherings and interactions. This would
increase the interactions between employees from different departments.

 Change of Styles through 360 Degree Feedback and Internal Customer

satisfaction Surveys:

Many times the style of manager has been responsible for employees in certain
departments to leave. With supportive managers and Head of departments employees
think several times before they leave. Some managers may not realize that their coercive
style, excessive task centeredness, and the way they assign tasks including the clarity with
which they give instructions, respect etc to employees have tremendous impact on their
staying with the company. Thus a 3600 feedback system can be implemented for the senior
level managers and corrective actions can be taken to improve the problem areas.

The supervisors must be prepared to be collaborative, supportive, and nurturing of their

people. The old style of "my-way-or-the-highway" style of management is a thing of the
past. Most new supervisors need training to understand what it really takes to retain
employees.

 Periodic rewards or gifts for work done:

If an employee is appreciated for the work he does, it acts as a motivating factor for him to
perform well at his work. This ultimately benefits the organization. Thus the employees
should be motivated by appreciation form the senior level. His work can also be
acknowledged by giving him/her a small token of appreciation for the work done.

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 Measuring employee satisfaction:

Obsessed with catering to the demands of their external customers, companies ignore their
internal customers. Periodic employee satisfaction surveys can highlight the potential
flash-points, and enable the company to take corrective action.

 Stress Management:

The employees face a lot of stress in their day to day personal and professional life. If the
employees remain stressed out, their efficiency is reduced. So HR can take measures to
reduce this stress level and improve the efficiency. This can be done by organizing
seminars on stress reduction, yoga, one day camps, picnics etc.

Employees should be taught as to how they themselves can fight the stress that they are
experiencing. This would bring a dual advantage to the company. Firstly, the employees
will realise that the company is taking the responsibility of the stress that are experiencing
due to the company’s work. Secondly, their productivity will increase which will again
benefit the company.

• Today’s employees are different. They are the ones who have ample of opportunities.
So if the company wants to retain its employees it has to start taking responsibility of
its employees. HR needs to make the employees realize that they are an important part
of the company. The employees cannot be retained only by giving them high pay
packages. They need to see their own growth and have a feeling of belongingness in
the company.

Employee retention takes effort, energy, and resources. But the results are worth it.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WEB RESOURCES

Biblography

 Bhayani Sanjay J., and Bard Kishore (2009), Attrition analysis in

Pharmaceutical Industry of Gujarat, Business Review Vol. No. 1 & 2- June-
December 2009, pp. 97, 108.
 Jeswani Saket, and Sarkar Souren (2009), A Theoretical Framework On
Significant Common Factors of Job Satisfaction and Employee Turnover as
an Effective Strategy to Minimize Turnover, Management Stream, Volume 2,
2009, pp. 45-52.
 Shahnawaz M.G., and Jafri Hassan (2009), Exploring Antecedents Of
Employees Turnover In India, Abhigyan, Vol. 26 No.4, Jan-Mar, 2009, pp. 25-
37.
 Haldar, Dr. Uday Kumar (2006), Total Quality Management in IT industry
discussed at Indian institution of industrial Engineering, Nimhans convention
centre, Bangalore, during 48th national convention held on 29th- 30th
September 2006.
 Aswathappa.K,(2002) Human resource and Personnel Management.

Web Resources

 www.citehr.com accessed on 5th June, 2010.

 www.hr-guide.com accessed on 8th June, 2010.

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