It’s Friday night at a swish disc in Gurgaon. The dance floor is packed with nubile 20-somethings strutting up and down a makeshift ramp. The judges sit in a corner marking the contestants on beauty and brawn. The evening ends with a beaming Mr and Ms BPO taking a bow after being duly crowned and sashed. A little further down, another disc is throbbing to some gusty Punjabi pop as the entire team of a Fortune 500 ‘process’ bond over martinis and music.
Welcome to the young and restless world of IT enabled service (ITeS) companies. With attrition rates reaching all-time highs, even in the most respected outfits (it’s as high as 45-50% in voice-based processes says Nasscom), companies are bending backwards to offer their employees some fun and frolic.
Make no mistake, fun is serious business here. Heads of departments are busy dishing out movie tickets, throwing parties, arranging beauty contests, trips to the disc and even doling out coupons for pub crawlers, all to keep their flock tied to the company.
With must-spend annual budgets ranging between Rs 1-3 crore — working out to Rs 850 per head per month on an average — R&R (reward & recognition for the uninitiated) drives make the BPO industry a big spender in the leisure circuit. Take ITeS big daddy Wipro Spectramind, which has outlined the fun quotient in its value statement: ‘Together, we will create a fun-filled work environment, encouraging all to enjoy pursuing their individual and original roles.’
The way to do that in this 10,700-head BPO unit is through a variety of events, both planned and spur-of-the-moment, handled by ‘fun teams’ in charge of everything from pizza parties, outings and picnics to more focused events. Says S Varadarajan, V-P, talent engagement and development, Wipro Spectramind: “Fun is a serious affair. It helps reinforce the values of the organisation and that’s why we’ve included it in our value statement.” Ditto for 24/7 Customer, a 3,700-head BPO outfit based in Bangalore and Hyderabad, which has even worked fun into a company motto: FITO (Fun In The Organisation). The company actually boasts of seven rock bands and has invested in a complete range of musical equipment. Also on the social calendar are cricket competitions and Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations for a more American feel to fun. Explains COO and founder S Nagarajan: “It helps the agents connect better with western audiences.”
With a budget of Rs 1 crore per programme (outsourcing module), 24/7 ensures a rocking time for those on its roster. Top of the heap is a Rs 20 lakh annual event called ‘Hum — The Power of We’. This year 2,000 invitees (employees and customers) boogied at Bangalore’s Speed Zone from 5 pm till well past midnight. Also on offer were go karting events, cultural programmes by the employees and, of course, awards.
Says Mr Nagarajan: “It’s the medium we use to give the right message to the employee, who needs this kind of outlet after slogging for weeks and months in a stressful environment. There’s a lot of bonding that happens and they go back to work recharged, energised.”
Industry insiders say the after-work activities not only keep employees interested in the workplace but also foster bonding with the customer. At 24/7, for instance, a particular programme ‘Going Live’ was celebrated with a 30-foot long cake with the customer’s logo on it. Says an ICICI OneSource, spokesperson: “R&R helps make the transition from a fun-filled college environment to a highly-stressful one, where even breaks are by the clock.
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