Manufacturing too gets bit by attrition bug

The manufacturing industry is not losing its trained engineers to the software and information technology sector alone but some new poachers too are on the prowl and they are the players from the same sector.

Widespread revival of engineering and manufacturing activities in the country - especially the Pune belt - has added a new dimension to the attrition issue that the industry has been facing.

Interestingly, those who are on a hunt for talent in the manufacturing sector include those providing design services as well as those who need people with vast experience in the engineering space.

The 'first aid' approach to the attrition issue seems to be lead by an increase in the monetary gains offered to the employees. Companies such as Thermax or Kirloskar Oil Engines have recently hiked the salary of their engineering staff.

"We offered a mid-year salary revision to our managerial and professional staff, with a view to remain the preferred employer," says Prakash Kulkarni, managing director, Thermax.

At Kirloskar Oil Engines too, the salary bill went up by about 7 per cent, partly because the company wanted to retain and attract engineers for its ambitious capacity expansion plans.

"Besides increasing salaries, we are also adopting other methods such as employee satisfaction surveys to understand the aspirations of the staff and redesigning the work profiles where necessary," Atul Kirloskar, chairman and managing director said.

HR consultant and president, Agora Search & Selection, Ramgopal Rao, however finds higher salary a factor not binding enough.

"When a professional is being hired by another company, he is likely to get between 35 per cent to 50 per cent hike in salary. Any attempt to raise salary to retain him can't match that," he warns.

Such 'hostile bids' to attract talent is a bane of giants such as Tata Group as well. "When a competitor offered a 500-per cent increase to one of our key manager, there simply wasn't anything we could do," Tata Industries managing director Kishor Chaukar had told a CII gathering recently.

Companies such as Bharat Forge have however adopted a catch-them-young approach to create a long enough 'talent pipeline.'

Says chairman Baba Kalyani, "We have established linkages with technical institutions in India's rural areas to hire engineering students in the third year of their course itself. Then, in the fourth year, they are given projects that are suitable for Bharat Forge."

Ditto for Kirloskar Brothers, which has recently revived its graduate engineer trainee programme to hire 80 final year engineering students from Western Maharashtra.

Thermax too, has revived its practice of sending senior managers for management programmes at Harvard University in the US.

"We have so far sent one of our managers and are in the process of identifying programmes at Harvard that will suit our needs," Kulkarni said.

On the other hand, Bharat Forge, has opted for the engineer-manager programme offered by the Warwick Manufacturing Group of America's Warwick University. The programme helps shop floor managers acquire managerial skills without being away from the work place.

Rao points out that the opening up of the Indian economy has brought many new age businesses to the Indian shores.

"The opportunity to work in a completely new and exciting field attracts many a young engineer and no traditional business can match that; whatever the salary hike may be on offer," he says.

According to Rao, an interesting trend, is the time bound bonus payment. "Employers have been offering a hefty bonus, which would be paid to the employee at the end of three years or longer term of service," he says.

This may retain the employee but may act more as a golden handcuff rather than an incentive and may have a negative impact on the staff morale, he adds.