Indian companies are battling higher attrition rates than their Asian counterparts. India Inc faced a 20 per cent attrition rate in 2005, against 14.5 per cent in 2004, while companies in Asia saw 16 per cent attrition in 2005, up from 14 per cent in 2004, according to Hewitt's Attrition and Retention Study Asia Pacific 2006.

Outside firms paying higher salaries is the main reason employees quit their organisations in Asia. The study says 21 per cent of Asian firms cited external inequity of compensation as a prime reason for employees changing company. Limited growth opportunities and role stagnation ranked second and third respectively.

In this count also, Corporate India faces more heat — 59 per cent of Indian firms cited bigger pay packets as a reason for their staff leaving.

Andrew Bell, head of Hewitt's talent and organisation consulting practice in Asia, said, “In high-growth markets, it’s now easier for employees to move from one company to another, and so the complexity and cost of keeping the right people in an organisation increases.”

Turnover was highest at the professional/supervisor/technical level at 39 per cent of the total attrition and lowest among senior/top management at just 0.5 per cent. Interestingly, attrition among employees identified as high performers was much lower, indicating that most organisations are successfully retaining top performers.

The study says the Asian banking and finance sector saw the greatest employee turnover at 25 per cent, which is likely brought on by stable economies, growing markets and increased retail investor confidence.

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