Addressing Attrition through Cultural Connections

The pace of change in the technology sector has been unprecedented for two years and counting. Disrupted by a global pandemic, evolving IT needs and shifting consumer preferences, the industry and its focus continue to transform to meet growing global demand for next-generation and digital technologies. This booming demand for expertise in cloud, AI/ML, engineering, cybersecurity and more has created a huge skills gap. Add-in the remarkable growth of the Indian start-up ecosystem and an increased focus on India from GCCs, and the talent crunch is palpable as the industry tries to find its new normal.

Quite naturally, the industry is experiencing remarkable attrition. According to data from Team Lease, the attrition in the technology sector was ~18% in Q3’21, highest amongst various industry segments. While this may be a good indicator of macro-economic progress and an appetite for technology & innovation, it has created challenges for employers and employees alike as they strive to work toward a shared future.

Attrition is nothing new. Between the late 1980s to 1990s, the IT sector – at that point its own start-up industry – experienced a talent crunch as it pulled people from the established manufacturing sector to fill the skills gap.

Both the technology services and manufacturing industries have since thrived and created job opportunities for millions, but it took time to find that balance. We learn and apply many lessons from that past to solve the current attrition and talent-gap challenges. But at this critical inflection point, one lesson rises to the top: culture is key.

According to Gartner, nearly 25%-36% of employees in the technology sector were actively seeking jobs in Q3’21. Our own analysis also indicates that the hiring rate for candidates with 0-3 years’ experience and 4-7 years has seen a double-digit cumulative YoY growth while for employees in higher bands the YoY hiring rate is less. The inference from these figures is that employees in the lower to mid-career bands lack a cultural and emotional connection with the organization. Without a cultural connection, there’s no incentive to stay.

Employees want to feel like they’re a part of something larger than themselves. They want to feel like a valued and meaningful contributor to an enterprise that will succeed with them, not just because of them. And they want to know the company invests in and cares about them as people, not merely as resources. Companies were challenged to meet these needs even in the “old normal” times. How can they achieve it when a majority of workforce operates remotely, and when a hybrid working model seems to be the reality for our foreseeable future?

At Wipro, we believe our cultural North Star, what we call the Spirit of Wipro, plays a vital role in talent retention and employees’ feeling of belonging. For 75 years, the Spirit of Wipro has formed the core of our organizational culture and guided everything we do. It is comprised of four key tenets:

• Being passionate about our client’s success
• Being global and responsible
• Treating each person with respect
• Unyielding integrity in everything we do

During the past two years, with 220,000+ Wiproites working from home, we have gone to great lengths to reinforce these values among long-time employees and freshers alike. Wipro has enabled platforms for employees to come together and share aspects beyond work, re-creating the office interactions through digital channels. We have empowered people managers to connect with top talent more regularly, and we’ve enabled frequent connects with top leadership to share the company’s outlook/vision and build a sense of pride.

We’ve also remained mindful of the talent gap and skills shortage. According to some estimates, the demand for tech talent is almost eight times higher than the current availability. To counteract this, Wipro’s invested heavily in upskilling and re-skilling employees in next-gen technologies. This accomplishes three goals. First, it gives employees the skills they need to advance in their career and grow both professionally and personally, helping them find that feeling of personal contribution to something beyond themselves. Second, it builds within Wipro the skills required to anticipate and meet our clients’ needs. Third, it ensures that Wipro has the capabilities now and, in the future, to help our clients maintain, regain, or expand their competitive edge.

We also have an active participation in the NASSCOM’s FutureSkills initiative. Our SMEs have curated over 6,000 pieces of content published on the FutureSkills platform. We have 42,500 strong active userbase leveraging the FutureSkills platform for their day-to-day upskilling. There are 7,800 journeys, 4,300 pathways and around 5,000 smart cards taken and completed by these users in the areas of Cloud, Security, AI/ML, IoT and Big Data. Through the FutureSkills platform, efforts are being made to bridge the industry-academia skill gap and help the engineering student community to keep pace with emerging technologies, thus creating a wider talent pool for the industry.

These best practices are important for any company in the technology industry, but the Spirit of Wipro compels us to hold them particularly close. To truly be passionate about our client’s success, we must reskill and retain our employees, so we keep moving forward together. To be global and responsible, we must look beyond borders to find and nurture next-gen talent wherever it is. To treat each person with respect, we must be diligent and sincere in our employee connects and provide the training necessary to improve our employees’ long-term prospects. And amid it all, we must operate with unyielding integrity.

Hearing or reading about corporate culture is not enough. The only way an employee can internalize culture is to experience it. At this critical juncture for the IT industry, with the need for next-gen skills at an all-time high, the skills gap widening and the prospect of remote work remaining strong, companies must redouble their efforts to ensure meaningful connections with their workforce. Culture alone will not see us through the current challenges, but it can help ensure that enterprise and employee navigate their shared journey together.

Written by Harmeet Chauhan, SVP and Global Head - Engineering & R&D services, Wipro