Knowledge Professionals and the Indian KPO Market: HR Practices in the KPO Industry in India

Like what you are reading? Buy the complete report in PDF format.

The KPO industry is people intensive. The HR concerns of the KPO industry include attracting, recruiting, training, developing, managing the performance of and retaining the workforce.

Some of the concerns are:

• As the KPO industry is in its nascent stage, professionals are apprehensive of building a career in this industry.
  This issue may be addressed in two ways
      ° On a national level – through PR campaigns by the National Level Associations
      ° On an operational level – through a close collaboration between the company and the recruiting agency, because professionals are in direct contact with the agency and usually take their advice about future career prospects.
• Recruiting concerns – unlike the BPO segment, the recruitment process in the KPO industry is complex and requires the assessment of domain-specific skills. Recruiting systems should include post recruitment plans such as ongoing training and cross training to meet requirements of the dynamic knowledge-oriented job. Additionally, other aspects of career counseling, evaluation, feedback, motivation and monitoring should be considered.

In order to address the skilled personnel issues, efforts should be made, first, by the government, to provide and promote quality education; second, by recruiting agencies, to attract, evaluate and recruit the right talent; and third, by the industry, to train, develop and retain the workforce7.

Human Resource Challenges in Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)

According to a study released by The Conference Board (a global research and business membership organization), the HR challenges in the KPO markets are as follows8:

• Will the labor supply continue to meet the growing demand?

With a growing concern about the shortage of supply of knowledge workers, companies should take initiatives to encourage employees to develop their skills internally to meet the future demand of the industry.

• Does cheaper also translate to riskier?

The trade-off between hiring low-cost workers and the quality they offer is a major concern. Especially in the KPO market, where information in most processes is critical and confidential, the quality of output should be a higher priority than the cost of the professional in the hiring process.

• Will the low cost arbitrage last?

As the demand for IT skills rises, the pay levels are increasing too. The low cost leverage is fast diminishing and companies should consider whether paying a higher salary is justified based on the efficiency of workers, security of information and quality of deliverables.

HR System in the KPO Market

An interview with Mr. Charles Amos, Head – HR, Marketics20, reveals the following aspects related to HR systems in the KPO industry:

• Recruitment process - In order to assess domain knowledge, written tests based on job requirements are usually conducted. Apart from that, Marketics also adopts a process called Behavioral Event Interview (BEI), which assesses the personality of the candidate. Additionally, to gauge problem solving, decision making and analytical skills, case study analysis is also conducted. While determining the right candidate for the job, performance in all areas is compared, to select the person with the most suitable profile of domain knowledge, personality, applicability and business sense.

• Certification - As the KPO is still in its nascent stage, and with a wide range of skill sets required, the certification of KPO workers has not yet been formulated. Certification can happen only at specific industry levels, based on the kind of process and skill sets required for that particular operation. As information in the KPO industry is critical and sensitive, certifications in the KPO industry are mainly related to data security and privacy.

• Salary Structures - Unlike the BPO industry, the KPO market is not entirely based on cost arbitrage. As there is a shortage of knowledge professionals all over the world, though salary levels are rising, foreign companies are willing to pay higher to the extent that delivery is of a high quality, accurate and reliable. A suggestion to combat this pressure is to increase the number of institutes that offer professional degrees in order to increase the number of professionals who qualify.

Click to read more