Worrisome scenario

An organisation that I served for years and that continues to be very close to my heart, saw a jump in its attrition in FY23, with the employee turnover rate rising to 34.8 per cent in FY23 from 31.6 per cent in FY22 and 19.1 per cent in FY21. 34.8% by any standards is worrisome, signifying churning of more than 1/3rd employees! I don’t think any organisation can afford such high rates of attrition.

This is not all and there’s worse. The report further says that bulk of the turnover was seen in the bank’s organic employee base. The turnover rate for female employees was 35.9 per cent and for male employees at 34.4 per cent in FY23, in spite of this organisation’s special focus on improving male female employees ratio!

It is most unfortunate that under the pretext of acquiring the best talent from market, some organisations give a short shrift to their existing employees, who then feel neglected and lost and start looking out. In fact, such employees become “market talent” for other organisations. But constant churning helps an organisation the least! New employees are generally more expensive and less productive, at least in the initial period of 3-6 months. Further, as they come with huge expectations (meteoric career rise, high in incentives, cream posting), they can soon become disenchanted, leading to their attrition, implying they may be less stable than those who had chosen to make career in that organisation by spending years.

This issue should not be swept under the carpet but given top priority to ensure that attrition comes down to an acceptable level of 10-12%.