Firms in Chennai find it hard to attract talent

CHENNAI: Footwear and accessories brand Pavers England is looking to move from Chennai to Mumbai. The company is planning to move their marketing, merchandizing and branding divisions to their Andheri office, which houses their regional sales team. This announcement comes soon after FMCG company Cavin-Kare announced that it would be moving its sales and marketing team to Mumbai.
“We’re planning this move in the next six months or so. It is extremely difficult to attract talent, particularly in these divisions, in Chennai,” said Utsav Seth, CEOMD of Pavers England. Cavin-Kare also cited the same reason for moving to Mumbai. The FMCG company’s CMD C K Ranganathan had told TOI that the inability to attract the right talent to Chennai had begun affecting the company’s growth. “We sometimes take six to nine months to fill positions just because people aren’t willing to move here,” Ranganathan had said. “Even when advertising agencies transfer someone whom we want to work with to Chennai, the person quits the next day.”
For both these companies, the move to Mumbai would be significantly more expensive, especially since real estate costs are substantially higher when compared to Chennai. “But if you have to grow, you have to choose value over cost,” said Seth. “Even if we manage to attract talent to Chennai, attrition is much higher when compared to local population.”
Clearly, the city which has become a significant base for the auto and IT/ ITeS sector has some catching up to do when it comes to businesses in other sectors. “It takes us at least two months more than our peers in Mumbai, NCR or Bangalore to attract talent. It may not be impossible to get people to relocate to Chennai, but it certainly is a tough task,” said Charath Narsimhan, CEO of Indian Terrain.
One of the first few problems people face in the city is the language barrier. Unlike other major cities, where one can get by with English or Hindi, Tamil is still the dominant medium of communication in Chennai. “Employees who relocate complain about the autorickshaws and the public transport system at large,” says Narsimhan. School admissions, particularly those seeking international school education for their children, are also an issue. Seth says employees crib about the lack of entertainment options.
“Let’s face it, Chennai is nowhere as cosmopolitan as Bangalore or Hyderabad. So while entry level is no problem, attracting talent at mid management or senior management levels is challenging,” said Govind Singhal, COO of Polaris. “In our experience, we have seen that people usually find the first year difficult, but subsequently settle down.” Out of the 4,000 Polaris employees in Chennai, around 40% of them are from outside the city.
“People who’re relocating are often concerned about their spouse’s career prospects. Those with children find it even harder to move. Eventually, people move if their convinced of the opportunity you offer them and the brand your company attracts,” said an HR professional of a KPO in Chennai.
However, Chennai companies are increasingly using technology to combat this challenge. Singhal says that Polaris tries to accommodate employees in their local offices across the country. Narsimhan too cites the example of Indian Terrain’s head of visual merchandizing who’s based in Bangalore and comes over to the Chennai office whenever required.