High attrition plagues services sector, says Assocham

High attrition rate, which was till now confined to the IT and ITeS sector, has come to characterise other branches of the services like civil aviation, finance, retail and engineering, says a survey.

While attrition rate in IT and ITeS sector has decelerated by 10 per cent to 25-30 per cent in 2007 as compared to 35-40 per cent last year, employers in civil aviation, financial services and the retail space are finding it hard to retain staff, a latest survey by Assocham revealed.

The aviation sector, after the entry of numerous private players has increased the attrition to 46 per cent.

Dearth of professionals, technical nature of operations, increasing finance-KPOs and attractive salary packages have led to rising job-hopping at entry and middle-level in the financial services sector.

"Companies would have to benchmark the compensation levels and upgrade the reward structure from time to time in order to retain their employees. They also need to integrate human resource management with overall corporate growth strategy," Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot said in a statement.

Attrition level in the financial sector has edged up to 44 per cent this year from 32 per cent a year ago, with banking and trade bearing the maximum brunt, the survey said.