G.N.

-9

CAPSTONE PROJECT

“Working with Data”

On
“Employee Turnover and Retention in the IT
Industry”

Under the guidance of:

Mr. Ravindra Singh Rawat

Submitted by:
Group – 9
S.N. NAME SAP ID BATCH
1 Smriti Srivastava 500093172 MBA-HR (IV)
2 Ojasvi Mamgain 500092529 MBA-HR(IV)

School of Business,
University of Petroleum and Energy Studies,
Dehradun,
Uttarakhand.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
SR. NO. CONTENT PAGE NO.

1 Introduction 3

2 Data set & data collection 5

technique
3 Data analysis & interpretation 7

3.1 Attrition 8

3.2 Age 9

3.3 Gender 10

3.4 Marital Status 11

3.5 Department 13

3.6 Job level 14

3.7 Performance rating 15

3.8 Job satisfaction 17

3.9 Overtime 19

3.10 Stock option level 20

3.11 No. of years with manager 22

3.12 No. of Years at company 24

4 Findings 26

5 Conclusion 28

6 Bibliography 29

7 Learning takeaways from the 31

course
CHAPTER – 1

Introduction
to the
Problem
Employee turnover and retention are linked issues because a problem with retention is frequently
indicated by high turnover rates. Employee retention is a problem that many businesses encounter
because of the fast-changing workplace environment, particularly in industries that are highly
competitive, like information technology, where competent people are in great demand. Increased
recruitment and training costs, lost productivity, and lowered morale among the surviving staff are
all consequences of high turnover rates.

Due to the industry's intense competition and quick expansion, employee turnover and retention
are major problems. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)
estimates that the voluntary attrition rate in the IT sector increased from 13.5% in 2019 to 15.3%
in 2020. According to a Deloitte survey, inadequate pay, a lack of career advancement prospects,
and a lack of work-life balance are the main causes of employee turnover in the IT sector. One of
the biggest IT businesses, IBM, is the target of our attack here. We'll do some study on employee
retention in the organisation and the elements that influence it. Here are some of the most common
problems that can lead to low employee retention and high turnover rates:

1. Insufficient pay: Workers who believe they are not being paid properly or are not receiving
a competitive wage are more inclined to depart for alternative employment possibilities.
2. Limited prospects for career growth and development: Workers who believe they have few
options for professional advancement may become disengaged and look for work
elsewhere.
3. A lack of work-life balance: Employees may leave their current jobs due to burnout and
discontent brought on by long hours, rigid schedules, and a lack of work-life balance.
4. A lack of acknowledgment and gratitude: Workers want to believe that their contributions
are valued and respected. Low morale and disengagement can result from a lack of
appreciation and recognition.
5. Poor leadership: Unsuccessful management and poor leadership can create a poisonous
work atmosphere where people feel unappreciated and unsupported.
6. Ineffective communication: Misunderstandings, discontent, and disengagement can result
from poor management-employee communication.
 CHAPTER – 2

Data Set
&
Data Collection Techniques
We are using a secondary source of data which we acquired from Kaggle. We are referring this
source as it is credible and is subsidiary of Google. Kaggle has the largest community of data
scientists from all over the world.

The link to the data set is given below:

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/pavansubhasht/ibm-hr-analytics-attrition-dataset

The dataset contains the data of IBM and consists of about 35 variables and has 1471 records in
total. Out of the 35 variables, we shortlisted 12 variables against first 400 records. They are as
follow-

 Attrition
 Age
 Gender
 Marital Status
 Department
 Job level
 Performance rating
 Job satisfaction
 Overtime
 Stock option level
 No. of years with current manager
 No. of years at company

The variables age, job level, performance rating, job satisfaction, stock option level, no. of years
with current manager, and no. of years at company have numeric value.

Attrition and overtime have values in ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.

Gender, marital status, and department have values in texts.

Attrition is the main variable against which the data analysis will be carried out.

‘No’ in attrition stands for – the company retained the employee

‘Yes’ in attrition stands for – the company did not/could not retain the employee.
CHAPTER – 3

Data Analysis
&
Interpretation
 3.1 Attrition

Yes No
60 340

3.3.1

Attrition

15%

85%

Yes No

 Most of the employees in the organization have been retained.

 15% of the employees have either left the company or have been removed.
 85% have been retained by the company.
 ‘Yes’ in attrition means the employees have left the organization.
 ‘No’ in attrition means the employees continued to be in the organization, i.e., these
employees have been retained.
 Attrition will remain a constant for other 11 variables to do a comparative analysis.
 3.2 Age

3.2.1

Age range No. of employees

18-30 103
31-40 171
41-50 80
51-59 46

Age
180
160
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
18-30 31-40 41-50 51-59
AGE RANGE

 The maximum number of employees in IBM have an age between 31-40 years.
 The company has second highest population of young employees aged 18-30 years.

3.2.2 Age vs. Retention

Total Range No Yes

103 18-30 79 24
171 31-40 148 23
80 41-50 71 9
46 51-60 42 4
 Attrition vs age Chart
160 148
140
120
100
79
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

80 71
60 42
40 24 23
20 9 4
0
18-30 31-40 41-50 51-60
AGE RANGE

No Yes

 The chart shows the retention of employees as per the age groups.
 IBM retained maximum employees from the age group 31-40 years.

3.3 Gender

3.3.1

Gender Total Retained

Male 241 199
Female 159 141

Gender

Male Female

159, 40%
241, 60%

 Out of 400 entries, there are 159 Female employees, and 241 male employees.
 The male and female employees form 60% and 40% of the survey, respectively.
 3.3.2 Gender vs. Retention

Gender wise Retention

141
Female
159
GENDER

199
Male
241

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

NO. OF EMPLOYEES

Retained Total

 IBM retained 141 female employees and removed 18 of them.

 Whereas, they retained 199 male employees and removed 42 of them.
 The retention was higher in female employees than the male employees.

3.4 Marital Status

3.4.1

Marital Status

23%
34%

43%

Single Married Divorced

 The percentage of single, married, and divorced in IBM is 34%, 43%, and 23%
respectively.
3.4.2

Marital status No. of employees

Single 137
Married 171
Divorced 92

Retention by Marital status

160 150

140

120
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

102
100 88
80

60

40

20

0
Married Single Divorced
MARITAL STATUS

 The married employees retained were 150 out of 171 by the company.
 The single employees were a total of 137 among who, 102 were retained.
 Divorced employees at IMB were 92 and 88 of them were retained.
 Therefore, the highest retention ratio was of Divorced employees.
 3.5 Department

3.5.1 3.5.2

Dep. No. of employees Dep. Retention

HR 9 Human Resources 8
R&D 276 Research &
SALES 115 Development 239
Sales 93

 Table 3.4.1 shows the bifurcation of 400 employees according to their respective
departments.
 Table 3.4.2 shows the department wise retention of the employees.

3.5.3

department wise retention

3%

27%

70%

Human Resources Research & Development Sales

 Research and development department has the maximum number of employees currently
retained by IBM, standing at 70%.
 Lowest retention, i.e., maximum attrition happened in the Human Resources department,
standing at 3%.
 3.6 Job Level

3.6.1

Job level No. of employees

1 147
2 146
3 65
4 20
5 22

 Here, job level is higher to lower from 1 to 5; where 1 is the highest level and 5 is the
lowest level.
 The survey includes maximum higher level job employees having mostly level 1 or level
2 jobs.

3.6.2

Job level Retention

1 111
2 131
3 57
4 20
5 21

Retention level
140 131

120 111

100
No. of employees

80
57
60

40
20 21
20

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Job level
  The highest ratio of employee retention with respect to the job levels is of level 4
employees. There are total 20 employees at job level 4 and all of them are retained by the
company.
 The lowest employee retention is of the job level 1 as many employees at this level have
been removed or have left the organization.

3.7 Performance Rating

3.7.1

Total Employees Rating

0 1
0 2
332 3
68 4
0 5

Performance Rating

17%0%

83%

1 2 3 4 5

 Here the performance rating is lower to higher, where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest.
 Three ratings have zero employees, i.e., rating 1, 2, and 5.
 Rating 3 is of 332 employees.
 Rating 4 is of 68 employees.
3.7.2

Total Employees Rating Retained

0 1 0
0 2 0
332 3 285
68 4 55
0 5 0

Performance Rating Vs Retention

285
300

250
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

200

150

100
55
50
0 0 0
0
1 2 3 4 5
RATINGS

NO

 From the performance rating 3, only 285 employees were retained by IBM.
 55 out of 68 employees from performance rating 4 have been retained.
 The retention ratio was higher for the performance rating 4 employees.
 3.8 Job Satisfaction

3.8.1

Total Employees Satisfaction Level

68 1
81 2
115 3
136 4

JOB SATISFACTION LEVEL

68
136

81

115

1 2 3 4

 Employee job satisfaction at IBM has a rating scale where level 1 is least satisfaction and
level 4 is the most satisfaction.
 From the data, we see that the maximum employees have rated satisfaction level 4, i.e., the
most level of satisfaction.

3.8.2

Total Employees Satisfaction Level Retention

68 1 56
81 2 72
115 3 92
136 4 120
 Retention Vs Job Satisfaction
140
120
120
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

100 92

80 72
56
60

40

20

0
1 2 3 4
JOB SATISFACTION LEVEL

Retention

 The retention depends greatly on job satisfaction. If the employees do not have job
satisfaction, they tend to leave the company.
 The greatest ratio of retention with respect to job satisfaction is of the satisfaction level 2,
as the company retained 72 out of 81 employees.
 The employees having highest job satisfaction were 136 in total. And out of 136
employees, 120 got retained.
 3.9 Overtime

3.9.1

Overtime No. of Employees

YES 120
NO 280

OVERTIME
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

300

200

100

0
YES NO
OVERTIME

 Out of 400 employees, 120 employees did overtime, whereas 280 were not doing overtime.
 Overtime determines the amount of time, and energy an employee invests in the company
and the retention is the result of this investment.

3.9.2

Overtime No. of employees Retention

YES 120 84
NO 280 256
 Overtime Vs Retention

300

200

100

0
YES NO

No. of employees Retention

 Out of 120 employees who did overtime at IBM, 84 were retained by the company.
 Whereas, out of 280 employees doing overtime at the company, 256 were retained.
 The ratio of retention is higher among the employees who did not do overtime.

3.10 Stock Option Level

3.10.1

SOL No. of employees

0 181
1 160
2 39
3 20

Stock Option Level

200
No. of Employees

150

100

50

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Stock Option Level
  The stock option level determines the level of number of employees having stocks in the
company.
 Here, 0 stands for no stock option and 3 stands for maximum stock option.

3.10.2

Retention Stock Level

134 0
151 1
37 2
18 3

Retention Vs Stock Option Level

3.5

2.5
Stock Option Level

1.5

0.5

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
No. of Employees

 Maximum employees the company retained were from the category of stock option level
2 and 3, i.e, the employees having the highest stock option level.
 The higher attrition can be seen for the employees having stock option level 0, as there are
total 181 employees under this category and only 134 were retained.
 3.11 No. of Years with Current Manager

3.11.1

NO. OF YEARS WITH CURRENT MANAGER No. of Employees

0 73
1 20
2 87
3 36
4 27
5 9
6 8
7 58
8 34
9 22
10 5
11 6
12 5
13 4
15 4
17 2

No. of Employees
100
87
90
80 73
70
58
60
50
36 34
40
27
30 22
20
20
9 8
5 6 5 4 4
10 2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

 The table and chart represent the total number of years with current manager against the
total number of employees.
 The data shows that 2 employees have been consistently working with their current
manager for 17 years.
3.11.2

NO. OF YEARS WITH CURRENT MANAGER RETENTION

0 54
1 16
2 78
3 30
4 20
5 7
6 6
7 51
8 32
9 20
10 5
11 6
12 5
13 4
15 4
17 2

RETENTION VS NO. OF YEARS WITH CURRENT MANAGER

90
78
80
70
60 54 51
RETENTION

50
40 32
30
30
20 20
16
20
7 6 5 6 5
10 4 4 2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
NO. OF YEARS WITH CURRENT MANAGER

 All the employees who worked for their current manager for 10 years and above, have been
retained by IBM.
 The least retention ratio according to the years the employees worked with their current
manager were for those who have worked for 0 years with current manager.
 3.12 No. of Years at Company

3.12.1

NO. OF YEARS AT COMPANY NO. OF EMPLOYEES

0-5 213
5-10 170
10-15 31
15-20 18
20-25 16
25-30 1
30-35 2
35-40 3

NO. OF EMPLOYEES
250
213
200
170
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

150

100

50 31
18 16
1 2 3
0
0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40

 The data suggests that maximum employees belong to the bracket of 0-5 years of service
at the company.
 The least number of employees are in the year bracket 25-40, having only 3 employees at
IBM in this category from the survey data.
 This data precisely states that the year bracket above 25 might consist of the top level
management of the company.
3.12.2

NO. OF YEARS AT COMPANY RETENTION

0-5 173
5-10 99
10-15 30
15-20 18
20-25 15
25-30 1
30-35 2
35-40 2

RETENTION vs. NO. OF YEARS AT COMPANY

200
180 173

160
140
NO. OF EMPLOYEES

120
99
100
80
60
40 30
18 15
20
1 2 2
0
0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40
RETENTION

 The retention of employees based on the number of years they served at the company is
highest in 15-20, 25-30, and 30-35 years. All the employees in this year bracket have been
retained by the company.
 The least retention, i.e., the maximum attrition rate of the employees is in the year bracket
5-10. This could be due to employees wanting to switch for a better career growth after
they have gained a good amount of experience of minimum 5 years.
 CHAPTER- 4

Findings & Conclusions

Findings

 15% of employees have retired or been let go, while the remaining 85% are still employed
by the organisation.
 The age group of 31 to 40 years has the highest retention rate of IBM employees, 60% of
whom are men and 40% of whom are women.
 The survey found that female employees were more likely to be retained than male
employees.
 The most employees who had recently divorced were retained.
 Regarding departments, as of now, IBM's research & development department has the most
people retained, with a retention rate of 70%, while the human resources division has the
lowest retention, with a turnover rate of 3%.
 Performance-wise, the retention rate was greater for workers with a performance grade of
4.
 Employee work satisfaction has a significant impact on retention in a company. When
workers are unhappy, they frequently leave the company. The degree of job satisfaction
that has the highest retention rate is level 2. This ratio is once again higher among the
employees who did not work overtime than it is among those who do.
 The employees who did not participate in the company's stock option plan had a higher
degree of attrition.
 According to the number of years that employees had worked with their present
management, individuals who had worked with their current manager for 0 years had the
lowest retention rates.
 The year range from 5 to 10 has the lowest retention, or the highest attrition rate, of the
workforce. This could be due to the employee wanting to relocate for greater job
advancement after accumulating at least five years of worthwhile experience.
Conclusion

Going offshore has no value if there is a lot of turnover. Companies are left with knowledge loss,
training expenses, never-ending hiring cycles, and delayed projects as a result. For businesses,
finding and keeping employees is a top priority, so it's critical to foster an environment in which
staff members may contribute to the creation of rewards schemes. Companies claim to be aware
of all of these tactics for retaining employees who work abroad, but retention efforts take time. It
takes time to establish a rigorous hiring procedure, a career advancement programme, and to carry
out official employee satisfaction surveys. A "no pain, no gain" situation exists, which is
unfortunate. When their best employees depart to compete, businesses find these initiatives
beneficial. The returns on investment from hiring an offshore workforce can be quite good.

The importance of employee retention has been widely recognised in recent years, particularly in
the context of talent management programmes, and HR experts who are incorporating it into their
talent programmes have conducted substantial study on it. Thinking about employee retention as
something other than simply keeping workers on the job might be challenging. Retaining staff is
also crucial, primarily through boosting job satisfaction. According to the survey, employees with
performance ratings of 4 have the best rates of retention, hence IBM needs to implement
programmes for rewarding and recognising top performers.

The study, which included information from 400 IBM employees, came to the conclusion that
the company needs to increase career opportunities to keep its personnel. They should give their
staff a suitable work schedule.
CHAPTER- 5

Bibliography
Dataset –

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/pavansubhasht/ibm-hr-analytics-attrition-dataset

Website sourced –

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/nasscom-feels-attrition-problem-in-it-
sector-may-have-hit-its-peak-
122021500897_1.html#:~:text=It%20can%20be%20noted%20that,manpower%20which%20can
%20deliver%20projects.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/information-tech/as-attrition-drops-indian-it-majors-
eye-higher-margins/articleshow/96324834.cms
 Learning takeaways from the course

The course curriculum of Working with Data included handling the datasets on Excel tool. We got
to learn the basics of excel moving towards advance excel where we worked on Pivot Tables. We
mastered the basic formulas, VLookup, HLookup, Conditional Formatting, reading different
formats of files on excel, logics, data sorting and filtering, advance graphing and charting, and
some shortcuts that can help in speeding up the analysis process.

With the help of fort-nightly activities of the course, we got to check our progress at every learning
step by finally reaching to the Capstone level of assessment where all our excel learnings were
applied in the form of collecting data, analyzing the data using all the functions we learnt on excel
(from basic to advance), visualizing the data, and interpreting it.

The whole course collectively helped us master Excel and work on it to find the solutions to our
problems analytically.

Working with Data has made us proficient in data analysis and visualization, performance
reporting, scheduling, forecasting, budgeting, & project management. As management
professionals, we are now looking forward to apply this very important skill at our organizations.