Dear All,  
 
Ours is a software company. We deal into software products and hence  most of our development SBUs are centered around product development.  Only a few of our development BUs are catering to Offshore clients ,  so they are project based SBUs. These Project –Centric SBUs have been  the primary bread –earner for our company till recent pass. Since  last 1.5 years gradually these SBUs are losing out on business as the  clients have retracted offshoring their projects to us. 
 
These 2 SBUs were comprised of some of the brightest people in the  company and they were highly self contained, motivated and happy  bunch of employees. Since this slowdown of incoming workflow we have  seen a sharp decline in the retention level of these groups. Whereas  we have not been discriminating in the salary hike or any facility  related benefits to this lot, till there have been a big drop in  Employee morale. 
 
From the Management's part , there has been a constant strive to  regain our business and try out some new path to earn revenue and  resume the workflow. But things have not been the same so far. We  have tried our level best to engage the employees in developing some  inhouse competencies and upgrading knowledge of new technology. But  it also has stopped working as we are still unable to provide them  with some Live projects to work on. Hence inevitably there have been  a steep rise in the rate of Attrition. People are moving into the  companies which are much smaller than us and with roles &  responsibilities same if not lower. 
 
I often get to see the staffs gathering around a corner and  chitchatting or gossiping, or spending the whole day reading  newspapers or surfing the net. Practically there is no work /  assignment for them. We are losing out all our key performers and the  resignations are happening as a Chain reaction. 
 
To mention in this regard the pay package we offer is on the higher  quartile in respect to the industry , we have also tried retaining  people offering them out of turn increment or promotions , personal  counseling, but nothing seems to work. 
 
Please help .

Mayur

This is a common problem in today's unstable Industry but I can suggest a few things which might work as I also come from an Operations background:

1) Identify the rotten apples in the team and then talk to them. Because these people are so convincing even while misleading that people tend to follow them, and later realize that it was a grave mistake for leaving the organization.

2) Organize some team parties and outings so that the emplyees think something out of the office.

3) Organize leadership trainings as most of the employees do not understand what Leadership is all about, which can again change their thinking of leaving the organization.

4) Organize some team-building excercises and let people know the importance of staying with your organization during testing times.

5) Conduct some Seminars on the current and future Marketing trends of the Industry.

6) Sell some USPs of your organization and let the employees know that "You are hiring when other Companies are firing".

Hope these are of some use for you and your organization.

Regards,

srini