Retaining engineers a tough task for industry

PAPER TECH 2005

The Indian paper industry that is moving towards automation, is facing a unique bottleneck in the form of attracting and retaining engineers. According to paper industry representatives, multinational FMCG and IT companies are attracting the engineers with their hefty pay packages and city locations, making attrition a cause of worry for the paper industry.

Says Pradeep Dhobale, chief executive of ITC Limited (Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division), "We have around 10 instrumentation engineers, and every year we need to replace at least six of them. This is because they find greener pastures in IT companies that can afford to pay double the salaries than us."

Dhobale adds that engineers do not see good prospects for growth in the paper industry. "At our company, therefore, we are ensuring that the engineers get good management exposure that can help them chart their growth plans," he added.

According to Dhobale, some of their instrumentation engineers have also become heads of their products division.

K S Kasi Viswanathan, director (operations) at Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited, also admits that retaining engineers is a tough task for them. "Our industry usually becomes the training ground for engineers who move out to multinational FMCG and IT companies for better options," he adds.

According to Viswanathan, of the 20-odd engineers that they have, seven are always on the brink of leaving. He adds that the location of paper mills is usually in the rural or semi-urban areas and that adds to the problem of attrition.

"The young breed of engineers do not like to work in the rural areas as they would rather switch over to a city job that is considerably better paying," Viswanathan explains, adding that this is in spite of the company giving a house, free power and water to the incumbent.

While the company pays a salary of Rs 10,000-15,000 to the engineers, IT companies pay around Rs 20,000-25,000 for the same.

Some of the company's engineers have also moved to countries abroad for better pay packages, he says.

"We are, therefore, recruiting students from local engineering colleges instead of institutes like BITS Pilani, and have also increased the salaries of our engineers by 25 per cent," Viswanathan adds. With the company on an expansion drive, Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited will need 20 engineers more, he says.

R R Vederah, joint managing director, Ballarpur Industries Limited, however says that with decades of experience in the industry, their company has now managed to retain engineers.

"There is good talent available outside and we also have an orientation programme for a year for our employees. The salaries that we pay are also bench-marked to the ones that are being paid in the manufacturing sector. Besides, we also give incentives in the form of holiday packages for senior level people. The attrition that we see is, therefore, only among the entry-level engineers," he adds. The company has around 300 engineers and recruits 30 on a yearly basis.