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Business Case 1: A system for preventing attrition in a company.

Business Case 1: A system for preventing attrition in a company.

Business Situation: XYZ Company is facing a high attrition. Management is not able to pinpoint on various reasons for this high attrition. They have asked you to provide a solution such that reason for high attrition can be found and the attrition can be reduced.

Questions to be asked:
1.      What is your current business, people employed visions, IT infrastructure, and turnover?
Predictably, this question is about knowing the client and assessing the situation. (Of course, in real working scenario, one must do a research about the client and ask questions related to IT infrastructure in the company).

2.      What kind of data do you capture and at what stage is the data captured?
This question is to identify what is the data being captured and how can that data be used for solving the problem.

3.      What do you do with all the data?
This question is to identify whether the data is being collected for namesake or is being used for any purpose.

4.      Is there is any HR software already present or not?
This question is to identify whether the company has put in place any efforts to include IT systems as a part of their business vision or as an additional tool.

5.      If present, what are the present features related to attrition/exit interview that the system provides?
6.      If present, which person provides what kind of data and how much data he can access?
Predictably, these questions are for knowing about the current systems in place and look for the system’s strengths and weakness to come to a balanced solution.

The questions are generic and can be improvised upon as the discussion progresses. A quick search on the HR software solutions present in market can provide a good knowledge on what kind of solution is possible. Based on this search, one of the scenarios is possible. Let us begin with an easy scenarios and move to difficult one.

Scenario 1: Company XYZ is small to medium company having 100-200 employee strength. The company does not have any specific HR related software. All data is captured over paper documents and stored in physical files. An exit form is filled during an exit interview whenever an employee leaves. However, collating and analyzing the reasons from the exit interview forms is difficult.
Predictably, the data is not organized and cannot be used for identifying reasons for which the attrition is high.

Solution: Company needs a HR software (HRS) for digitally capturing the data in an organized manner so that various statistics can be prepared to draw a meaningful analysis and reach a conclusion.
Requirements:
1.      What would HRS do?
a.       HRS will capture all data of all employees such as below through an Exit Module:
-          Date of joining
-          Employee details such as designation, department
-          Project details such as type of projects handled, number of projects handled (similar details for any other industry)
-          Date of leaving
-          Notice period served
-          Reason for leaving
-          Other details present in the exit form can also be captured

b.      HRS will then provide statistical analysis chart(s) based on above data. The charts which can be provided for an individual or a department or over a period of time.
-          No. of persons left in a period
-          Gender in which no of persons leaving is high
-          Department in which no of persons leaving is high
-          Designation at which no of persons leaving is high
-          Do new starters leave more often than longer serving employees
-          Do local leave more often than relocated employees
-          Period within which no of persons leaving is high
-          Highest reason of leaving among persons leaving

c.       HRS based on the charts (s) may provide reasons for attrition or leaving based on the analysis

2.      How would the HRS achieve the above purpose?
a.       The data will be filled by HR personnel

3.      To whom would the HRS be accessible?
HRS would be available through a web portal to HR personnel

4.      Can the HRS be expanded?
The HRS system may be expanded to provide other features as described below to provide a complete HR solution for the company to save cost, effort, energy, and resources:
a.       Employee Personal Information Module:
-          This module may be first filled by an HR personal first and then updated by an employee
-          The data about employee such as name, contact details, family details, previous and current job details including company name, designation, projects handled, job description.
b.      Leave Management Module:
-          This module will allow employees to keep track of their leaves.
-          Employee can request for a leave and a supervisor may approve or reject them through this module.
c.       Time & Attendance Module:
-          This module will keep track of time and attendance of employee.
d.      Performance Module:
-          This module will keep track employee performance and will be used during performance appraisals
-          The data can be captured like key performance indicators, goals, performance evaluation parameters, self-rating, management rating, trainings required, self-laid path for growth.

At least, the solution is good on paper. J

Scenario 2: Company has deployed HR software which captures data provided in an exit form. An employee has after receiving approval from manager regarding resignation has to log in to the web portal of the HR software and click on Exit Form button and fill in the details. The HR software has the capability of churn out reports/ charts such as:
-          No. of persons left in a period
-          Gender in which no of persons leaving is high
-          Department in which no of persons leaving is high
-          Designation at which no of persons leaving is high
-          Do new starters leave more often than longer serving employees
-          Do local leave more often than relocated employees
-          Period within which no of persons leaving is high
-          Highest reason of leaving among persons leaving

The reports or charts can be provided multi-level basis, individual basis, group basis, period basis and so on.

Problem with current solution: Only provides statistical analysis, probably providing a macro-level analysis, for identifying attrition rate but does not do a meso and micro level analysis to indentify reason for attrition.

Solution: Improve the current HR system such that reason for attrition can be identified. Sounds easier said than done!!
Requirements:
1.      What would HRS do with improvement?
a.       HRS will capture all data of an employee starting from interview till resignation.
During the time of interview, details can be captured for:
-          reasons for leaving earlier company
-          expectations from new company
During the exit interview, details should be captured for:
-          reasons for leaving this company and categories them as follows:
work-life balance
leaves
stressful work
less learning opportunities
hinders in vertical growth
hinders in horizontal growth
competitive coworkers leading to stress
-          reasons for joining new company
-          suggestions for improvements (even trivial such as providing conveyance facility)
-          probable reasons which may have made the employee to stay.

b.      HRS will analyses the data and provide correlations between the four metrics and provide a matrix indicating
-          were the reasons same as the earlier?
-          were the expectation of the new employee fulfilled?
-          was the reason was on money, designation
-          was the reason not materialistic and more related work-life balance issue such as leaves, long working hours
-          was the reason related to work such as lack of growth opportunities
c.       HRS will then provide chart(s) based on above analysis either for each individual or a group of individuals along with other statistical analysis charts. Thus, providing a meso level and micro level analysis for attrition.
d.      HRS based on the charts (s) may provide reasons for attrition or leaving based on the analysis

2.      How would the HRS achieve the above purpose?
a.       During interview, the data can be filled by HR, Recruiting Manager
b.      During exit, the data must be filled by employee

3.      To whom would the HRS be accessible?
HRS would be an inclusive web portal available to all depending upon their roles in the company.

4.      Can the HRS be expanded?
The HRS system may be expanded to provide other features as below:
1.      Integrate with or Provide portal for Training & Development or Leaning Oppurtunites
a.       portal may provide the various trainings available to employee depending upon his role
b.      employee may choose his training module or his manager may suggest a training based on his assessment
c.       after the training the employee must provide feedback regarding the training and rate.
2.      Integrate with or Provide portal for capturing annual appraisals result or quarterly/monthly assessment/one-on-one discussion with manager
3.      The above data along with the interview and exit data may refine the picture further and provide a reason for attrition.

5.      Can the HRS be integrated with older system?
The HRS should be integrated with older system to capture all the previous data.

At least, the solution is good on paper. J

The following links for present HR software solution have been used for research and providing solutions:

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