Spectramind, 11 rivals in non-poaching talks

Spectramind feels this is one of the means to counter the biggest problem of call centres - attrition.

Wipro Spectramind, a BPO subsidiary of Wipro, is in talks with 11 competitors to sign a "non-hiring agreement" which will ensure that these call centres will not hire from each other's talent pool. The talks are in place after Wipro Spectramind has successfully signed similar agreements with nine other companies.

Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of Wipro's annual results announcement, Raman Roy, chairman and managing director, Wipro Spectramind, said, "The biggest challenge is that the labour pool is not increasing. As a country we do not have a strategy to create the labour pool to feed this industry that is hungry for resources. In order to ensure that one company does not hire from the other, we have already signed a non-hiring agreement with nine of our competitors. We are in talks with 11 other players."

According to Raman Roy, attrition is "the single biggest challenge" to the BPO industry. Roy feels that the industry is only four-years-old, as a result of which it is not apt to be concluded as "fatigue".

Expressing concerns over the educational infrastructure, he said that there were not many resources available to train and equip students to offer global quality in call centres.

"As a result, most of our employees tend to get lured from by other companies as we are the best in business. This happens in many other companies too and it is resulting in the same talent pool to shift jobs. This agreement this is one of the ways to mitigate the problem of labour shortage and attrition," Roy said.

In fact, Wipro Spectramind also revealed that there has been a net decrease of 156 employees for the quarter ending 31 March 2004 as against the previous quarter.