Attrition is the most talked about topic in the IT industry today. Some top companies have reported attrition of over 25 per cent in the last few quarters. Former Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO, S Ramadorai, says this is nothing new. Retention is more important than worrying about attrition. His advice is that retention is based on the trust that companies build on employees. Such challenges will be present wherever demand is more than supply, he told BusinessLine while in Chennai for the launch of the Tamil version of his book TCS Story and Beyond. Excerpts:

Q

Attrition is a big challenge for IT companies today. How should this situation be tackled?

This is not a new problem. But the scale of the problem has become huge. Companies are losing 25-30 per cent of their people. The key responsibility of HR managers is how to manage attrition rather than crib about it. How do you go beyond human capital to asset intensive capital, which means the knowledge that you have accumulated over the years is packaged in a form that is automated. Attrition will always be present. Retention is based on the trust we build with employees. Differentiators need to be propagated very clearly; people would then be willing to stick. If 10 people leave, there will be 30 waiting to join. 

Q

But can the industry absorb the continued pressure?

The best ones will win, and those who cannot absorb the pressure will disappear. It is the survival of the fittest.

Q

In the early days of your career, you faced the challenge of choosing between TCS — then a start-up — and joining the well-established Tata Burroughs. Youngsters today face a similar dilemma of whether to join the vibrant start-ups or established players like TCS. What is your advice to such confused youngsters?

The first advice I will give them is to follow your passion. Second, I will tell them to not be afraid of failure. Third, you can work with a start-up or start one even after working in a company for two or three years. There is so much flexibility available today. Ultimately, it is individuals who are responsible for their destiny. We are only enablers in that. You have to believe that money is an outcome of all your efforts and satisfaction comes from what you did.

Q

In the book, you said you were fascinated by kites and often used it as an analogy in decision-making. Can you tell us more about that?

When you reach a point where you have to make a decision in which direction to go, everybody typically follows the same beaten path. Why not go against the wind like a kite? Take the case of offshoring. We brought work from abroad and demonstrated that we can work from here. A lot of people said it was nothing but body shopping. But we proved them wrong. The analogy is that you must experiment and make a success of it once you are sure that you have chosen the right path.

Q

India is a services capital but we are not yet there in the knowledge economy. How do we make the jump?

This can be achieved through start-ups and MSMEs because they are nimble, fast and can accelerate quickly. That’s where the opportunity lies; that’s where we have to put our money and mind. When the smaller company invents something, the application of that can be scaled up by combining with large players.

Q

What would your advice be to budding entrepreneurs on messaging? Your ‘Top10 by 2010’ messaging worked wonders for TCS.

Before you build a brand and tom-tom about, deliver on your promises and don’t make a promise that you can’t deliver. If you believe you can deliver and if you believe there is value, keep singing the tune. People will automatically realise what you are saying and deliver on what you promise. The message is under-promise and over-deliver; not over-promise and under-deliver.

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