How Can We Identify and Retain Reliable Candidates in Our BPO During Interviews?

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me how to check the stability of a candidate during an interview and how to retain new employees who leave the company within 1 or 2 months? For example, we recruited a few candidates who performed well in the interview and had good experience. However, after joining the company, they worked for only 1 or 2 months before leaving. This situation has become a significant challenge for the company and the HR department as training new recruits on processes and language is time-consuming.

Please advise on the steps to take in such cases. We are an international BPO company.

Thanks & Regards,
Anu

Hi Anu,

There is no hard and fast rule for checking the stability. You can look into the CV and know how frequently he changes jobs. This is with respect to experienced people. As far as freshers are concerned, every organization will face the same scenario when selecting the cream.

Freshers come with a lot of ambition. If there is a gap between their expectations and reality, they may leave. When they join your organization, you should conduct a small exercise to understand why people are leaving. Keeping in touch with those who have left and conducting exit interviews can provide answers, provided the candidates are open and honest.

Focus on middle-class individuals with a first-class or high second-class background. For experienced candidates, analyze their job history to determine if they are frequent job hoppers. During interviews, clearly state that you are looking for longer associations; this may align with your needs.

Thanks and regards - Kameswarao

Dear Anu,

This is very difficult and highly unpredictable. The average lifespan of an employee has come down to 3-4 years from 15-20 years during the early 80s and 90s. Things have changed, and competition is amazing.

However, your best practices in the organization will help you retain employees. Most importantly, the initial days in the organization play a vital role. The induction, the orientation, and the way they are integrated into the system should be emphasized. Good HR + departmental induction helps. These are just a few points among many that can help new joiners make the right decision to stay in the organization.

All the best.

Regards

Dear Anu,

If recruited staff is leaving just after 1 or 2 months, then the following few things emerge:

a) that they were good candidates but could not tune in to the BPO culture

b) it was your perception that they were "good." Practically, they may not be so. When work pressure started building on them, they packed up. Is recruitment based on the measures of performance?

c) poor treatment by the manager to whom they were reporting. Who knows what exactly happens at the workplace?

d) non-cooperation by the peers.

Employee exit is an outcome of the organization's culture. Try to fix cultural issues first. Otherwise, staff leakage will continue to happen. Train your operations managers on the retention of manpower as well. Secondly, create a fresh exit questionnaire for those who have left before 3 months.

One prominent security agency in Bangalore had faced a similar problem. Security guards were not staying. Then, one Director took initiative. He prepared an exit questionnaire in Hindi/Kannada/Tamil and sent them by post to 1,500 security guards. He received replies from about 400 guards. The total expenditure incurred for this entire exercise was about Rs 25,000.00.

He analyzed their replies. From the analysis, it emerged that they were given inhuman treatment and abused by their security officers. Thereafter, corrective action was taken, and the exit of the security guards was considerably reduced.

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar

Dear,

Please ask them to sign the bond during the interview for either 1 or 2 years. If the candidates refuse and insist on making a decision at the same time, you may infer that they are not interested in continuing. Finally, you can inform them that there is no requirement for a bond to be signed.

Regards,
Dilip Bhele

Bond is not a solution; it is a sign that the organization is impoverished and it has nothing to offer.

There are several retention strategies in HR.

Dear Anu, it is time your organization starts thinking over it (why employees are leaving in 1 or 2 months). If you are honest, you'll surely come up with a few answers. (like you give peanuts for salary, your company culture sucks, you give a damn to the employees, the peers are horrible and the bosses are the limit, you do not give liberal perks as the BPO next door, there is no future in your company, etc.)

And then you can start working on these and devise a strategy.

Regards.

Dear Anu,

If you think your interview process is good enough to understand a candidate's stability, that means it is incorrect. You will, in fact, lose some real candidates who were actually interested in working with you and would have stayed longer. :(

The stability of a candidate in previous companies is never a good indicator of their future stability with your company. Highly unstable candidates stay longer too when they enjoy their work and the work culture. :-P

I agree with all those who suggested before except Dilip Bhele. Creating a stable culture is never achieved by enforcement like a bond. :-x

I would suggest hiring a good soft skills trainer who is not from a BPO/HR background/experience and letting him/her work for you. The situation in the insurance sector is similar. It is rare to find any behavioral trainer, and if a few claim to be, they would definitely be from a sales background, as BPOs usually have them from BPOs. In the name of soft skills training, some good consultants come and do their work. Change never takes place in 1, 2, 3, or 4 sessions annually. Improvement can be determined for several aspects only when there is someone to read, understand, and continuously work with candidates (individually, in sub-groups, and as a group). :-D

Also, create a really good work culture and employee engagements where the employee can be physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually involved (not just HR, the team, and management). :)

There are many new initiatives that can be taken; try them soon and do not forget to conduct pilot projects for smaller groups first before implementing them for the masses. This has to be done under the supervision of a highly trained and experienced soft skills trainer. :idea:

Gentleman,

You are searching for stability in candidates. However, candidates are seeking stability within the company, which is often missing. Consequently, many candidates leave the organization once they become familiar with the company culture and HR policies, and how they are treated in terms of their talent and contributions to the company.

Most companies view their employees solely as workers and do not prioritize building relationships that go beyond the employer-employee dynamic.

Regards,
Partho

Hi All,

Thank you so much for your valuable suggestions, and I will try to follow and implement them as you said. Thank you all once again, and I welcome any more ideas that can help me to resolve this issue.

Regards,
Anu

If you are having problems retaining new employees, then you need to look carefully at your recruitment process as it is flawed.

While nothing can guarantee 100% that an employee will not leave shortly after joining, you can minimize the attrition rate by developing a rigorous recruitment process that ensures that you only recruit the best employees and, more importantly, employees that want to stay, develop careers, and ensure your company grows and prospers.

You need to ensure all managers responsible for hiring are well-trained in recruitment and selection processes and that you have a fully developed and written recruitment policy manual.