Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship 1

ISSN : 2231–167X, Volume 03 No. 01, January, 2013 pp.1-14

Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur


Dr. Tapasya Julka Malhotra

The promising side of Indian automobile industry reflecting its

phenomenal growth in the recent years does not eclipse the host of challenges
the industry faces, both internal and external. The prominent one being
employee attrition. In this paper, researchers evaluate the focal aspects of
employee turnover at Bosch Ltd., Jaipur. The study is exploratory in nature
and a number of 93 employees at the organization had been taken into
purview to assess the key factors influencing the employee attrition and allied
issues, with an eventual objective to extend suggestions to combat the
problem. Contemplating upon the findings of the study, the employee
attrition at the company can be mainly attributed to unsatisfactory salary
packages, lack of sufficient opportunity, family circumstances, discontent
regarding the benefits offered and lack of recognition. Initiatives like
introducing assorted compensation plan including different types of direct
and indirect benefits in terms of pay and welfare schemes, extending
recognition through various monetary and non-monetary approaches,
providing career advancement opportunities etc. are critical for retention.
Through this, positive reactions can be made, and encouragement system can
be attuned, so that employees get more satisfaction, employee turnover is
abridged and performance can be enhanced.
Introduction
The Indian automobile industry is the sixth largest in the world after
China, the US, Germany, Japan and Brazil, with an annual production of more
than 3.7 million units in 2011-12 (an increase of 33.9%), making the country the
second fastest growing automobile market in the world1. The overall Indian
automobile sector recorded a growth of 14.25 per cent in 2011 (16.9 million


Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, S.S. Jain Subodh P.G.College,
Jaipur
2 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013

units from 14.8 million units in 2010). The Indian automotive aftermarket is
currently estimated at Rs 33,000 crores and provides direct and indirect
employment to over 13 million people. Overall automobile exports registered
a growth rate of 28.97 per cent during April-December 20112. In Indian auto
component industry, there is around 575 organized players account for the 77
percent of the value added in the sector. Unorganized players constitutes of
replacement market players or tier 3 or 4 component manufacturers. The
Indian auto component industry is well positioned to capitalize on the growth
in outsourcing to low cost countries. Exports would lead the growth in the
component industry, which is expected to be around US$ 33-40 billion by
2015, from the current size of roughly US$ 15 billion.
The Bosch Group is a leading global player of technology in
automotive, industrial technology, building technology and consumer goods.
The Bosch Group comprises some 350 subsidiary companies and regional
companies in some 60 countries worldwide3. If its sales and service partners
are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries. Founded in
1951, Bosch Limited is India’s largest auto component manufacturer and also
one of the largest Indo – German companies in India. The company earned
revenue of over Rs. 8000 crores in 2011. The Bosch Group holds 71.18% stake
in Bosch Limited. Bosch Limited has a strong nationwide service network
which spans across 1,000 towns and cities with over 5,000 authorized
representations to ensure widespread availability of both products and
services.
Problem Statement
According to the information shared by the company, it was traced
that at Bosch Limited the attrition rate has been quite substantial in the recent
years, comparatively higher than the average attrition rate for the automobile
sector which is 10.20% and close to that for the manufacturing sector, which is
20%. Some of the impact of attrition is mainly related to the various costs e.g.-
training costs, recruitment costs, new hire cost, low productivity costs, etc. It is
necessary to sense the causes responsible for attrition and to take measures on
time. Feedback from exit interviews was used for carrying out attrition
analysis in Bosch Ltd., which is based on their revelations. The organization
takes into account problems of existing employees, thereby curbing attrition.
Bosch Jaipur Plant considers manpower as its vital strength. There are
two categories of employees –Managerial and Superintendent Staff (M&SS)
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 3

and Associates. Continuous increase in attrition rate is a big problem for

Bosch. Some of the common reasons for attrition include low compensation,
family reasons, personal reasons, dissatisfied with working atmosphere,
disliking towards job duties, medical reasons, and dissatisfaction with benefits
offered by the organization, etc.
Review of Literature
Attrition is regarded as a major problem by the organizations
worldwide. Various studies and research works have been carried out by
individuals and organizations. Researchers have identified an array of factors
influencing the attrition crisis and most of them have extended notable
suggestions to combat it. Meyer and Allen (1997) suggest that the important
factors include work experiences, socialization experiences, management
practices, personal characteristics, and environmental conditions4. Fitzgerald
John, Gottschalk Peter and Moffitt Robert in their study ‘An analysis of attrition
based on socioeconomic variables’ revealed how staff attrition is related with the
unconditional distribution of several socioeconomic variables. The study
showed, that attrition is concentrated among those employees with more
unstable earnings, marriage, and migration histories. Moreover, Van Vianen,
Feij, Krausz, and Taris (2004) distinguished between two motives for
employee attrition; push and pull. Push motives are related to dissatisfaction
with one's current work situation, where as pull refer to available
opportunities to improve one's career opportunities on the external labor
market5. Other factors identified were the economy in terms of unequal or
substandard wage structures, the characteristics of the job, demographic and
biographical characteristics of workers, personal and trait-based factors
specific to the individual, mismatch between the employee's skills and the job,
working conditions, lack of opportunity for advancement or growth, feelings
of not being appreciated and inadequate or uninspiring supervision and
training5, 6, 7, However, there is no standard reason why people leave
organizations (Ongori, 2007)6.
According to ‘Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report’ (2007), a
massive 70% of the cost of running contact centres are related to the people
who work there: the agents or customer services representatives. The high
attrition costs increases the costs to the organization significantly. The rate of
attrition is proportionally increases the drain on the company’s resources like
4 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013

recruitment expenses, training and orientation resources and the time. The
report also reveals that the industry wastes close to half a million pounds
every month as a result of its average 24% staff attrition rate. Recruiters
explicate that high attrition rates significantly increase the investment made
on employees (Prakash and Chowdhury 2004). Significant investments in time
and money need to be made for acquiring employees in any organization.
These can never be converted into profit when attrition is high. The high
attrition rate also hampers the productivity of the organization. Bliss (2007)
and Sutherland (2004) put forward that organizations lose productivity, social
capital and suffer customer defection when a productive employee quits.
When an employee leaves an organization, it can have a variety of effects that
not only impact on the organization, but also the individual employee and the
society7. Therefore, it is critically imperative to control attrition not only on the
front of an individual organization but also at a macro level for the industry as
a whole.
Objectives of the Study
Following are the objectives of this study:
 To find out the major causes for attrition.
 To analyze the factors in context of the organization.
 To design suggestions to curb attrition.
Methodology
Research is exploratory in nature. Feedback of attrite from exit
interview forms -approved by the Bosch corporate office served as primary
data for carrying out this research. Secondary data was collected from
websites, magazines, books and journals. Hypothesis testing is done by using
chi square test. The sample size for study is 93.
Limitations
 Analysis was carried out of the exit interview forms of Bosch from the
year 2006, this might had lead to slight variation in the analysis.
 Sometime, attrite does not give an honest feedback.
 Due to the confidentiality problem policies are not disclosed.
EXIT INTERVIEW: Tool to track Attrition
This Exit interview is conducted in two phases.
Phase I
Tendering resignation letter: Its objective is to ascertain reasons as to
why employees leave the organization. If the employee is really worth
retaining, company is making all efforts to retain dissatisfies in the
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 5

organization. The decision has to be taken very judiciously else the employees
will use this as a tool to push their demands via tendering resignation letter.
Phase II
Conducting exit interview: Exit interview is conducted after the
employee has been separated, paid all his dues and accounts cleared. This
ensures that the separated employees provide candid and unbiased feedback
about the organization’s procedures, policies and problem areas.
Analysis of Interpretation of Data
Researcher did the analysis and interpretation of exit forms filled by
the respondents which is followed by conclusion and suggestions. The study
reveals that there had been a significant number of resignations and the
situation calls for a sound intervention. Bosch Ltd. Jaipur, is divided in two
parts: Plant Technical (PT) and Plant Commercial (PC). In every year number
of resignations were more in PT range and the trend continues. During the
process of the study the researcher conducted a comprehensive survey based
investigation and recorded the responses duly presented in the tables
appended as Annexures. The responses about the positive aspect of the
company is shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Positive Factors About the Company
S.No. Positive Factors Number of Responses
1 System driven professional approach 58
2 Good working environment 48
3 Goodwill 47
4 Good policies and practices 42
5 Ample opportunities for learning and 38
growth
6 Customer oriented 21
7 Employee welfare taken care of 15
8 Good infrastructure and resource 14
availability
9 Management easily approachable 7
10 Other factors* 17
11 No response 1
* Other factors includes job stability, employee involvement,use of superior technology,
young workforce, cultural diversity and good training and development activities.
6 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013

The five most rated positive aspects came up to be that the company
has system driven professional approach (58 responses), good working
environment (48 responses), reputed MNC (47 responses), good policies and
practices (42 responses) and providing its employees with ample
opportunities for learning and growth (38 responses). Despite of the fact, that
the company is adopting a system driven professional approach as well as
good working environment, still the attrition rate is high. The negative aspects
of the organisation noticed by the researcher on the basis of responses from
the respondents have been shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Negative aspects of the Company
S. No. Factors Responses
1 Emoluments not competitive 54
2 Lack of career planning activities 33
3 Long work hours 27
4 Delay in planning and implementation 24
5 Lack of interdepartmental coordination and 19
communication
6 Lack of employee welfare activities 19
7 Lack of transparency 15
8 Conservative structure 16
9 Grievance handling mechanism not proper 2
10 Other factors* 27
11 No response 14
Other factors includes no transport facilities avilable for M&SS, lack of social
initiatives, incentives not provide, mess facility not proper and slow growth.

Respondents response regarding negative aspects of the copmany

reveal that emoluments are not competetive (54 responses), lack of career
planning activities (33 responses), long work hours (27 responses), delay in
planning and implementation (24 responses) and lack of interdepartmental
coordination and communication (19 responses).
54 respondents pointed out that the company is not a good paymaster
in comparison to their competitors. Researcher also made the study of liking
of jobs by employees in Bosch. These responses have been highlighted in
Table 3.
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 7

Table 3
Things Liked About Job
S.No. Factors Number of Responses
1 Provides learning opportunity 55
2 Challenging work profile 49
3 Opportunity to work with people from 39
various fields
4 Responsibility with authority 30
5 Employee involvement and decision making 27
6 Team work 22
7 Clarity of goals 17
8 Support from seniors 14
9 Innovative ideas are valued 8
10 Other factors* 21
11 No response 3

* Other factors includes system implemented, prepares to work under stress,

develops technical expertise, target oriented working, etc.

The five aspects that the employees liked about their job are that it
provides learning opportunity (55 responses), challenging work profile (49
responses), provides opportunity to work with people from various fields
(39 responses), employees are given responsibility with authority (30
responses) and employee involvement and decision making (27 responses).
On the contrary, respondents were also asked about the things disliked by
them about the job. The disliking about the job is shown in Table 4.
Table 4
Things disliked about job
S.No. Factors Number of Responses
1 Work repetitive in nature 24
2 Lack of guidance and support 9
3 High work load 39
4 Lack of recognition 14
5 Lack of team spirit 5
6 Lack of interdepartmental cooperation 15
7 Rules and systems not followed 18
8 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013

8 Information lag 6
9 Too much follow up required 17
10 Other factors* 20
11 No response 22

* Other factors includes duplication of work, slow growth, lack of learning opportunity,
profile not up to the mark and job responsibilities not clearly defined.

The five prominent dislikings about the job came out to be that the
work is repetitive in nature (24 responses); lack of guidance and support (9
responses), high work load (39 responses), lack of recognition (14 responses)
and lack of team spirit (5 responses).
Researcher asked to respondents reasons to leave the job and the
responses of them are shown in Table 5.
Table 5
Reasons to Leave the Job
S. Plant Plant Total
Factors
No Technical (PT) Commercial (PC) (O)
1 Better job opportunity 29 23 52
2 Career change 2 3 5
3 Family circumstances 22 11 33
4 No growth opportunity 8 5 13
5 Conflict with supervisor 0 0 0
Leadership – manager/
6 5 6 11
supervisor
7 Salary structure 35 21 56
8 Work conditions 3 1 4
9 Commuting distance 1 1 2
10 Self Employment 0 0 0
Returning to studies
11 8 3 11
moving out of area
12 Disliked job duties 3 5 8
Conflict with other
13 0 0 0
employees
14 Lack of Recognition 5 13 18
Dissatisfied with
15 14 6 20
benefits
16 Company culture 2 0 2
17 Others 0 7 7
Total 242
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 9

Table 5 reveals about various reasons of employees exit in Bosch

Ltd. For the purpose employees of two sections of the company viz. plant
technical (PT) and plant commercial (PC) has been made. For PT range the
most prominent factors responsible for resignation came out to be salary
structure (35), better job opportunity (29), family circumstances (22),
dissatisfied with benefits (14) and delegating responsibilities not well
defined (10). For PC range the most prominent factors responsible for
resignation came out to be better job opportunity (23), salary structure (21),
lack of recognition (13), family circumstances (11) and dissatisfied with
benefits (6).
Salary structure which got 56 responses and better job opportunity
with 52 responses out of 242 responses is the most prominent factors
responsible for resignations. Other factors that came up prominently are
family circumstances (33), dissatisfied with benefits (20), lack of
recognition (18) and dissatisfied with career planning activities (14) and
responsibilities not well defined (14). Apart from these, there are many
other reasons such as leadership, less opportunities for growth and family
circumstances responsible for attrition. Chi square test is applied on
assessing various factors to leave the job.
Ho: All the factors are equally responsible for the resignations.
Ha: All the factors are not equally responsible for resignations.
Formula for calculating value of Chi Square:
X2 = ∑(O-E)2
E
O= Observed frequency
E = Expected or theoretical frequency
The Table value found to be at 5% significance level is 26.3 and at 10%
significance level is 23.5. Calculated value of chi square is 1185.452 which is
greater than both the table values 26.3 and 23.5. Hence, the null hypothesis
(H0) is rejected and alternative hypothesis (Ha) gets accepted. Result of table 6
shows that all the factors are not equally responsible for resignations. There
are certain factors like salary structure, better job opportunities and family
circumstances which are largely responsible for resignations. Certain factors
like company culture, work culture and career change which are also
responsible for resignations. While, the factors like conflict with supervisors
10 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013

and other employees and self employment do not affect the number of
resignations at all.
Job Switchover
Researcher asked the respondents about the stability of job in their
career. 69% of the total respondents did not make any comment on this
question. Only 31% of the total respondents replied about the frequent change
of job as is evident from Table 6.
Table 6
Job Switchovering
Number of job Number of Resignee in %
First Job 5 5
Second Job 12 13
Third Job 8 9
Fourth Job 2 2
Fifth Job 2 2
No Response 64 69
Total 93 100

Figure1 represents the responses of the respondent when asked that if

they are offered to come back to the organisation at some time in the future
will they like to work under the same profile, in the same department and
under the same supervisor.

Fig. 1
Parameter1-will the respondent like to work in the same profile.
Parameter2-will the respondent like to work in the same department.
Parameter 3-will the respondent likes to work under the same supervisor.
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 11

Figure 1 shows that 25% respondents are ready to join the concern
on the same profile. 23 % respondents want to work in the same
department and 22% respondents show their interest to work under the
same supervisor. Over all for all three parameters, 62% respondents don’t
give any response, which proves that employees don’t want to disclose
their opinion. It is the negativity of the company that employees are not
feeling freedom to express their views.
Table-7
Calculation of Chi Square Value
Commercial

Observed
Technical

Expected

(E-O)2 /2
Factors

(E-O)2
S. No

(E-O)
Plant

Plant

Total
(PC)
(PT)

(O)

Better job (E)

1 29 23 52 93 41 1681 18.07527
opportunity
5
2 Career change 2 3 93 88 7744 83.26882

Family
3 22 11 33 93 60 3600 38.70968
circumstances
No growth
4 8 5 13 93 80 6400 68.8172
opportunity
Conflict with
5 0 0 0 93 93 8649 93
supervisor
Leadership –
6 manager/super 5 6 11 93 82 6724 72.30108
visor
7 Salary structure 35 21 56 93 37 1369 14.72043
Work
8 3 1 4 93 89 7921 85.17204
conditions
Commuting
9 1 1 2 93 91 8281 89.04301
distance
Self
10 0 0 0 93 93 8649 93
employment
Returning to
11 studies moving 8 3 11 93 82 6724 72.30108
out of area
Disliked job
12 3 5 8 93 85 7225 77.68817
duties
Conflict with
13 other 0 0 0 93 93 8649 93
employees
Lack of
14 5 13 18 93 75 5625 60.48387
recognition
12 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013
Dissatisfied
15 14 6 20 93 73 5329 57.30108
with benefits
Company
16 2 0 2 93 91 8281 89.04301
culture
17 Others 0 7 7 93 86 7396 79.52688
Total
242 1185.452

Suggestions to Curb Attrition

 Organisation should apply the concept of 7 P’s (process, praise,
progress, pay, people, power and pride) to increase the satisfaction
level of employees.
 For new employees strong orientation and induction programmes
should be designed to give them realistic job reviews. This can be
done by direct interaction with the existing employees of the same
department and the supervisor.
 Job responsibilities should be well defined at the time of orientation
programme.
 For enhancing communications initiatives like building
communication forums, on-line communications, including
discussion boards and blogs by company personnel including senior
management should be launched.
 Financial results, achievements of the whole plant, department or
individual etc. can be announced in a formal get together.
 Rewards and recognition schemes should be made more attractive
and effective.
 To motivate employees, idea generation scheme can be launched.
 Photograph of the employee/employees who get the awards along
with their contribution can be displayed on bulletin boards and
posted on internal communication forums.
 Greeting cards or appreciation letter along with some memento can
be given to employees on completion of certain tenure with the
organization; this will enhance the belongingness towards the
organization.
 Award for punctuality can also be introduced.
 Small team recreational activities, such as bowling, skating, trips to
the cinema can be arranged occasionally.
Attrition Analysis at Bosch Ltd. Jaipur 13

 Social activities, such as family gatherings and barbeques on special

occasions such as foundation day of the organization or the date
when the plant was established or achieving a new milestone.
 For developing the employee, training sessions can be organized
from time to time to help an individual to work through issues,
maximize his potential and can reach to peak performance.
 Counseling sessions can be arranged once in a year to discuss the
employee’s future plans and the company’s future plans regarding
the candidate, so, as to make them realize that the management is
interested in retaining them and cares for them.
 Also, by showing the employees how their current job offers a path
towards their future career aspirations, the employees can be made to
stay with the organization for longer span of time.
 Training should also be followed by performance tracking,
evaluation and feedback so as to make the employee realize the
practical situation.
Conclusion
This analysis explored that the major factors responsible for
resignations during the recent years at Bosch Jaipur Plant are low salary
packages, inadequate opportunity, family circumstances, dissatisfaction of
employees in regard to benefits offered and lack of recognition of their
work. The factors like self employment,conflict with supervisor and other
employees are not at all responsible for resignations. The organisation has
to immediately formulate strategies in order to curb the attrition rate and
thus to effectively combat the problem.This will prevent the company from
incurring additional costs due to attrition and help the organisation to
retain talented employees.

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14 Inspira- Journal of Modern Management & Entrepreneurship : January, 2013
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