Exploring Causes of Attrition for Leading Private University of India

The education system in India is expanding and is r eaching new heights in all the streams. Besides var ious government initiatives, the role of the private ins titutions in the development of education industry in India cannot be denied. Thereby, a large number of faculties are re quired by these institutes for their curriculum dev lopment and academic deliverance. High rate of employee turnove r in an organization means increasing recruiting, s election and training costs. Moreover, lack of employee’s contin u ty involves high costs in the induction and train ing of new staff. Organizational productivity is also one of the chal lenges that arise as a consequence of turnover. In case of higher educational institutions, the cost of employee turn over is higher as human resources with knowledge an d competencies are the key assets and it affects the academic and research activities of the college. Quitting in the mid of the semester, the affect is very high as it is difficult for both the college to arrange the substitute and student to adjust/accept new faculty in the mid of course. From Jan’16 to Jun’20 17 attrition rate of this private university under study was 26%, which is higher than the average attrition rate of the academic system in India (18-25%). Major reason of this high attrition rate desired to pursue higher studies by faculty members, unfavourable family circumstances and better career benefits provided by other colleges or organization s. In year 2016, total attrition rate of this priva te university was 19%, which came down to 7% by Jun’17. This study aims to explore the causes of high attrition rate in a pri vate university and its faculties (schools/divisions). The study would also focus on major reasons identified by HR offici als during the exit interview, which were not being revealed by employe es in their exit interview form. The study aims to identify factors important for employee retention based on variables ading to attrition.