Analysing Attrition
Attrition analysis is a common topic of discussion today. The managers sit down, brainstorm and bang their heads about why employees leave the company. They come up with various charts and figures to analyse attrition from the real data available. However inspite of all these metrices there is no way to predict or stop attrition.
Lets dig more into this.
While I agree there are several factors and constraints that may cause or stop attrition, such as salary issues, work culture, location constraints, legal constraints etc. I will discuss only on one factor. ie. a person's interest in work.
I am only going to re-visit the idea that says:
"A person's interest in his/her work holds him/her in a company, while a lack of interest in work may cause him/her to leave."
The above statement is just half true. In fact I find it almost opposite in may of the cases. The reason is that there is no proper definition of work.
Work could be termed as :
Technology / Skill / Domain (eg. 'C++ programming', 'software development', 'requirement analysis', 'web development) basically something that is not the IP of the company.
or it could be termed as :
Product / Service (eg. developing/maintaining product ABC. or providing service for XYZ ) which is basically a product/service of a comapany. Something which the person cannot find in other companies.
My theory is that, people stick to jobs either when they are interested in a specific product they are developing (although they may change teams) or when they are totally disinterested in the technology / field they work in.
They would frequently change jobs when they are interested in their domain / technology, but not in a specific product.
Here is an analogy related to cars :
Interest in specific:
If I am interested in cars and have a liking for a specific brand (say toyota), then depending on my capacity, I would change cars as frequent as I can, while sticking to the same brand. I may change to different models, or ugrade my models frequently. However I will be seen loyal to the brand. Same goes for a company. If I am interested in developing a specific product/service of the company, then I would stick to the company even though I might change groups and teams frequently. Still I will be considered loyal to the company.
Interest in generic:
If I am interested in cars in general and have no specific interest in a brand, I will keep changing my car models and car companies. Thus I may look disloyal to a brand, although my frequency of change is similar to the case of changing cars in a specific brand. I would appear to be disloyal to a brand. Similarly, if I am interest in a particular technology, I would keep changing jobs to find new avenues in the technology. In fact changing jobs is beneficial and keeps my interest. I would thus appear to be disloyal to a company.
No interest:
If I am not interested in cars at all, then I have several other things in life to worry about. I would not change the car as long as it is not giving be big trouble. If it goes without trouble (even though the maintainance is big expensive) I will go ahead with the same car. I may thus appear to be loyal to a specific car brand, although the reality is that I care less.
Similarly, if a person has other things more interesting in life and his/her job is not the most important thing in life, the person will carry on with the job.
If you think deeper the above three cases work for everything.. art, hobbies, cities you live in, houses you live in, books you read etc.
Lets dig more into this.
While I agree there are several factors and constraints that may cause or stop attrition, such as salary issues, work culture, location constraints, legal constraints etc. I will discuss only on one factor. ie. a person's interest in work.
I am only going to re-visit the idea that says:
"A person's interest in his/her work holds him/her in a company, while a lack of interest in work may cause him/her to leave."
The above statement is just half true. In fact I find it almost opposite in may of the cases. The reason is that there is no proper definition of work.
Work could be termed as :
Technology / Skill / Domain (eg. 'C++ programming', 'software development', 'requirement analysis', 'web development) basically something that is not the IP of the company.
or it could be termed as :
Product / Service (eg. developing/maintaining product ABC. or providing service for XYZ ) which is basically a product/service of a comapany. Something which the person cannot find in other companies.
My theory is that, people stick to jobs either when they are interested in a specific product they are developing (although they may change teams) or when they are totally disinterested in the technology / field they work in.
They would frequently change jobs when they are interested in their domain / technology, but not in a specific product.
Here is an analogy related to cars :
Interest in specific:
If I am interested in cars and have a liking for a specific brand (say toyota), then depending on my capacity, I would change cars as frequent as I can, while sticking to the same brand. I may change to different models, or ugrade my models frequently. However I will be seen loyal to the brand. Same goes for a company. If I am interested in developing a specific product/service of the company, then I would stick to the company even though I might change groups and teams frequently. Still I will be considered loyal to the company.
Interest in generic:
If I am interested in cars in general and have no specific interest in a brand, I will keep changing my car models and car companies. Thus I may look disloyal to a brand, although my frequency of change is similar to the case of changing cars in a specific brand. I would appear to be disloyal to a brand. Similarly, if I am interest in a particular technology, I would keep changing jobs to find new avenues in the technology. In fact changing jobs is beneficial and keeps my interest. I would thus appear to be disloyal to a company.
No interest:
If I am not interested in cars at all, then I have several other things in life to worry about. I would not change the car as long as it is not giving be big trouble. If it goes without trouble (even though the maintainance is big expensive) I will go ahead with the same car. I may thus appear to be loyal to a specific car brand, although the reality is that I care less.
Similarly, if a person has other things more interesting in life and his/her job is not the most important thing in life, the person will carry on with the job.
If you think deeper the above three cases work for everything.. art, hobbies, cities you live in, houses you live in, books you read etc.
posted by trayser at 11:19 AM
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