IT INDUSTRY THE ATTRACTION CHALLENGE

The IT industry is perceived as an ‘industry-of-choice’ by theyoung workforce in India and continues to attract talent. Attractiondrivers for this industry are – a proven and growing sector, highcompensation levels, international experience opportunities throughon-site stints and collegial and flexible work culture. The fact that India is now a globally recognised IT powerhouse with more and more high-end work being done from here has created a strong and positive brand image for the industry. The sector also provides opportunity to work with some of most reputed global and Indian organisations, an important influencer for potential employees, particularly at the entry-level.
However, the challenge for this industry is to keep pace with the constant and fast-paced changes in technologies either through training or acquisition of talent. The other challenge faced by companies in this sector is to retain employees by providing them with a fulfilling career. Employee expectations vary at different career stages. At the entry level compensation, on-site experience with an opportunity to travel to different parts of the world and working on specific technology platforms are key attraction drivers. Employees with experience aspire for a career track in their preferred domain or technology area, empowerment and leadership responsibilities, apart from competitive compensation.
The challenges for the ITES sector are similar to what the IT sector faced during its start-up stage. The demand is out-pacing the supply; NASSCOM has already predicted a shortage of 262,000 professionals for this sector. Hence, the primary focus of most organisations in this sector is attraction and retention of talent. Also this sector is still perceived as a new sector with unproven track record and the level of awareness of the different types of BPOs is comparatively low. In a recent study conducted by Watson Wyatt across colleges and business schools in India, while 96% of the graduates indicated an awareness of call centres, only 63% were aware of other types of BPOs. Even among MBA students, many indicated that they did not know the difference between voice-based and non voice-based BPOs. Though this is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, BPOs do not seem to be the first choice for many graduates and post graduates in India. Only 47% of the graduates and 20% of MBA students expressed an interest in joining this sector. The key attractions for joining this sector are ‘high salaries’ resulting in improved lifestyle, collegial work culture and an opportunity to improve accent and communication skills, particularly at the graduate level.