How Mastercard managed to keep attrition under control

At a time when players in the BFSI space are battling attrition, global payments technology company Mastercard has managed to keep attrition under 5 percent with a mix of steps to encourage innovation and inclusive career development.

Sukanyya Misra, Senior Vice President & Group Head - South Asia, Advisors CoE, Mastercard Advisors said the aim is to not only have more loyal employees, but the key was to keep them engaged.

They have a patent programme wherein any employee can file a patent. Mastercard has seen 100 patents being filed from India itself and assistance is provided to those filing them. “We have lawyers to assist them in the patent filing process and also provide monetary incentives and certificates once the patents are approved,” added Misra.

The key, she said, is to challenge and empower. This includes not only offering career enhancement opportunities like filing patents but also to motivate them to keep ideating.

Smart Move, a project that ranges from three to six months opens up a door for all employees to upgrade their skills. Lack of skilled talent has been an issue that companies in India have been grappling with. Misra said that through their classroom training and live projects for new joinees, they are able to get them to be productive within a year.

The company also has its Mastercard University which is a digital initiative to offer technical and soft skills education to all its employees. This, said Misra, can be done at a time convenient to the particular employee and at a pace that they are comfortable with.

Diversity and inclusion is another area of focus for the technology player. “For us, diversity is not a soft target, it is a business imperative. In summer placements, we hire only women candidates. India contributes 23 percent of total women at Mastercard globally,” said Misra.

Even at campuses, the aim is to hire 50 percent of women talent skilled in technical areas. Technical tests are held to ascertain how fit they for the organisation. Their aim is to develop and groom people into top leadership positions.

Keeping employees engaged is another initiative that the firm is involved in. Hackathons are held where staff compete on different coding ideas. Similarly, there is an Ideabox where employees can give out ideas and they will be helped to turn the idea into an actual product.

Being a global company, getting employees to be sensitive of other cultures, race and religion is an area of focus. Misra said that they have an unconscious bias training to enable employees to think as rationally as possible. They are taught to be sensitive to people of all gender, race, religion and caste.

With about 1 million students graduating out of different institutes in a year, all companies have begun brand building of the organisation at an early stage. MasterCard's Signature STEM Program under its Girls4Tech programme has girls coming in to their offices from schools to attend a workshop on STEM application in day-to-day life.  Further, they also have high school students (especially girls) come into Mastercard offices to work on projects for a couple of weeks. Mentors are attached to these students and they are taught basic skills like working on Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint.

“We have girls coming in from smaller towns and cities as well. We would want them to experience our corporate culture, understand the significance of STEM and also help them realise that it is a safe environment to work,” said Misra.