According to a survey conducted by bpovoice.com – a community
portal for the BPO/ outsourcing professionals - BPO Companies May Find It Tough To Retain Their Middle
Level Executives, Post Recession ! 

Below
are the six observations : 

1. The survey results pointed towards an important indicator - A high rate of
attrition may be observed among the middle level executives, in the post
recession scenario. It seems as if, the companies will have a tough time
retaining their quality talent at the middle level as they were the one most
eager to quit their present organization, as per as the survey results. Also,
the middle level executives seemed to be under more stress in comparison to
others which could have influenced their opinion regarding making a job change. 

2. One of the positive findings of the survey was the larger
acceptance among the outsourcing/BPO Professionals about the need to put a
temporary cut on the expenses or to increase work pressure, in sync with the
demand and requirement raised out of the unprecedented financial crisis. The
respondents were sharply divided over using layoffs as a part of cost cutting
strategy. Surprisingly the senior level respondents were the most vocal against
it.

3. Majority of the respondents said they will recommend
their company to their friends or relatives which indicated that, they still
view their current organization as a trusted employer and haven't lost their
faith in the management. However, the entry level respondents were not too
enthusiastic about the same.

4. The survey results also reflected upon few areas of
improvement including– The Need for consistent communication with the entry
level executives. Many front line executives felt that the industry took undue
advantage of the term recession and even those companies who remained
profitable used it to cut expenses and block annual appraisals. There seems to
be a considerable lack of communication from the higher management on various
issues leading to unnecessary confusion and a heightened sense of insecurity
among the entry level professionals.

5. Majority of the respondents believed that the current
crisis could have been handled in a better way. They almost unanimously asked
for more accountability from the top level including the CEOs. Also majority of
them, thought that their industry has performed relatively better than others.

6. There were a few surprise findings like many respondents
especially those at the middle level advocated, that the job insecurity is
directly proportional to better production, which implied that a bit of job
insecurity is desired and acceptable, in order to get increased productivity
from the employees.

“Many responses were on the expected lines barring a few
findings which gave us new areas of research for the future. Also the findings
of this survey helped us explore the probable pattern of the job related
movement of these professionals, in the post recession scenario.” Said Amit
Saxena, Founding Editor – BPOVoice.Com

A total of 552 respondents participated in the survey out of
which 27 % were from the senior level, 62% from the middle level and the rest
11% from the entry level. The survey participants were mostly from India 64%,
followed by UK and USA.

The data collected was examined by Infinit-O (A leading,
Philippine based BPO company) and Magdalena Szarafin (Chairman of IAS/IFRS
Practice Committee at German CPA Society) along with Team BPOVoice.Com

The complete survey report which has now been released is
available for free and can be downloaded from bpovoice.com