MNCs In, Employees Out

While most people are overwhelmed with an increase in the number of
multi-national companies (MNCs) in tier-2 cities and are excited about their
presence, channel partners in these cities are facing a passive threat as some
big brands are playing a lucrative role in poaching our human resources.

In the last few years, big companies in insurance and banking sector have
started creating a foothold in towns like Jalandhar and Ludhiana. While this has
definitely opened a wide scope for growth and develop­ment, at the same time, it
has also made the problem of attrition even more acute for players like us.

The lure

Partners do not leave any stone unturned in retaining their good employees.
We give timely incentives and offer a promising future, but it is hardly
effective as they have a blind admiration for MNCs.

Rupesh Sharma

Moreover, the infiltration of these foreign companies in the upcountry region
has raised the standard of pay packages and while joining us these young people
have huge expectations. The reason being these young, enthusiastic, easily
poachable young generation compare the pay package we offer them with that of an
MNC. If an applicant has the caliber, we can offer him a good salary in
comparison to a multinational brand but we can't provide him a brand image,
which in turn affects our business. In that case, we have to rely on freshers on
whom we usually have to make considerable investments. The problem does not come
to an end here because once theses freshers are trained, and know the tricks of
the trade, they are either poached by a distributor or get lured by the big
brands.

Areas of threat

MNCs know that tier-2 cities offer enormous opportunities and potential. The
real estate sector is another big area of threat as they too poach our
employees. Sales and marketing are the two department that are mainly hit by
attrition as employees in this domain are never satisfied with their job profile
and always look for better options that promise them a better status in society.

As per the market trend, retail is the only option where channel players can
take shelter and create an ambience that satisfies the requirements of new
employees.

Seek help from vendors

Vendors can help partners to sort out the matter to an extent. A strategic
and innovative step toward this direction can play a considerable role in
bringing the condition under control. Vendors can play a dominant role in
controlling attrition by providing training to our manpower in the marketing
department. If a vendor provides them with training, they will definitely
develop a sense of contentment knowing a big brand like HP or Lenovo is attached
to their profile.

However, practically spea­king we don't see any support coming from this
front in the near future. We have tried sharing this idea with a few brands, but
they are not too impressed with this as it adds extra responsibility on their
business. It is time that we take this matter more seriously and invest
substantially in this direction.

The author is CEO of Computer Touch, Ludhiana