IT firms battling attrition of project managers

By siliconindia  |   Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 15:01 IST   |    46 Comments
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IT firms battling attrition of project managers
Bangalore: TCS, Infosys, Wipro and other IT firms are facing difficult situations in dealing with renewed demand for offshore outsourcing as there is a rise in the attrition rate among project managers. Mostly, these project managers are experienced between three to five years and were handling critical delivery teams for top customers, reports Devina Sengupta and Pankaj Mishra of the Economic Times.

Some companies are reeling under the pressure of dealing with higher attrition levels at a stage where technology firms are hiking salaries and incentives of software engineers. The authorities of IT companies fear that an attrition rate as high as 40 percent will disrupt ongoing engagements.

"Customers want commitment about retention of these project managers. At best, we can offer them 15 to 20 percent retention hikes, but what can you do when multinationals like Accenture and Cognizant are wooing them with around 40 percent salary hikes," said a senior executive of a mid-tier Indian outsourcing firm.

According to Nasscom, the Indian IT industry will absorb 90,000 employees this year and the total IT workforce will come to around 2.3 million. "Project managers attract junior members of their teams, and get salary hike of around 40 percent while changing jobs," said Kunal Banerji, Chief Executive of Absolute HR International, India. Some of them are also disappointed at new promotion policies at employers such as Infosys, and are quitting for better roles.

Demand for project management skills, which is still scarce in the country, is driving the attrition. "Good project management talent with significant experience of handling different types of projects and clients is hard to come by, and hence the demand for such resources," said Karthik Ananth, director at Zinnov Management Consulting. IT companies have begun with the process of hiring. Infosys launched its 'Green Channel' initiative for wooing back the talent, smaller rivals such as MphasiS have launched a programme called 'Homecoming' for hiring back the employees who left the company during past few months.

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