After bringing down the attrition rate for the quarter ended September by 60 basis points to 17 percent, the Bengaluru-based company Wipro aims to further reduce the attrition rate with several promotions planned for the next year. 

Saurabh Govil, HR head, Wipro shared, “Attrition (rate) has been a good story for us as compared to others. We have given salary hikes and now are looking at a huge number of promotions in the coming quarter. Around 5,000 people in the experience range of five to eight years will get promoted." 

As part of the promotion plan, employees at L1 level would go to L2 and L2 staff would be promoted to L3 ( IT firms categorise staffers into various levels starting from L1 - junior most level onwards). Govil added that Wipro is building up a huge cadre and preparing for the future demand through training and re-skilling their people. He claimed that these initiatives should reflect on Wipro’s revenue in the next two-three quarters. 

Controlling attrition has become a top priority as Wipro seeks to reduce its dependence on subcontractors and build up an employee pyramid on key onsite locations. Further, besides scaling up its delivery capabilities, it is also eyeing more consulting-led sales growth in coming quarters and for that would be hiring more consultants to improve its cross-selling opportunities.

In the first quarter, Wipor had paid a retention bonus of Rs 1 lakh to freshers, who were hired via campus placement and completed one year to lure junior staffers. In fact, those who had an experience of up to three years in the firm, since the time of their campus placements, were also given bonuses.

Monetary measures like salary hikes, incentives and bonuses are age old strategies to attract and retain talent which have not yet ceased to exist. But considering the latest phase of work the businesses are operating in currently, salary hikes and promotions are not enough to enhance the engagement of employees. To enhance more commitment and loyalty of the employees, mere promotion and hike would not be enough. Such measures have to be coupled with a well defined career path for employees. The talent today needs to know that the employer is interested and involved in their growth. Therefore how does the promotion strategy get executed at Wipro and whether it helps in curbing attrition or now are a few things to look forward to.