Hire to stay

A business process outsourcing firm in India typically sees at least one in four of its workers resign every year. When you are Genpact and employ over 40,000, that is nearly 10,000 resignations a year. And, if you count 27 per cent of your workforce under a restless 25, you try to understand what makes them tick.

A survey showed work-life balance was a priority for 78 per cent of its twentysomething employees. Most said work was indeed time-driven, not necessarily time-bound, and while money helps "buy stuff", work had to go beyond and present a meaning to them.

Genpact's global Head of Human Resources Piyush Mehta, who calls GenYers TLC (short for technology savvy, life-balance seeker and craving for attention), has institutionalised a bunch of "common minimum practices".

"This includes providing a 'buddy' to new hires, pre-hire orientation, pro-actively assessing propensity to attrite (some kind of an early warning system), among others," he says.

Case in point: Salman Rizvi, 20, who joined Genpact four months ago. He hails from Lucknow and walked into Genpact's offices a few months ago when he learnt about openings. He went through eight - yes, eight - rounds of interview under the pre-hire orientation that gives potential employees a true picture of what is expected of them - warts and all. "One out of every six potential hires drops out at this stage," says Indira Sovakar, Vice President, HR.

Rizvi says he is in for a long haul at Genpact. Barely a month into his first job, he was selected to go to the United States for onsite training. "I was shivering when I went for my visa to the US embassy in Delhi," says the commerce graduate from Lucknow University. Next, Rizvi, whose friends tease him for an American twang he acquired while in Hartford in Connecticut (United States) for four weeks, wants to join a certification programme in accounts management for which he will be eligible after working for six months in the company. He has certainly acquired ambition.