Attrition Analysis

My brother works in Chennai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tamil is the dominant language there and while business is conducted in English, Tamil is the language spoken otherwise, even at the workplace. Little wonder then, that the office attendant, the boy who served coffee to everyone and did most other menial jobs in the office, spoke in Tamil.

One day, my brother noticed that boy sitting in a corner reading one of those books that claim to teach you English through your mother tongue (in this case, Tamil). My brother was surprised and asked the boy why he was trying to learn English. The boy replied (in Tamil, of course; translated here), “Sir, I have been noticing that many people have been resigning from the office in the last few months, and the new hires are mostly from outside of Tamil Nadu. Which means that I cannot speak with them in Tamil. So I am trying to learn some English so I can communicate effectively with them.”

Trendspotting? Or Adaptability?

Have similar stories? Do write in. Could provide interesting insights for Training Needs Identification.

(Geetha Krishnan heads Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems)

Comments

[Aditi Kulkarni]

Hello Geeta
This article reminded me of my dad and his friends' story. My dad n his beloved friend Anil, both were together since childhood. Unfortunately Anil was deaf and dumb since birth. In the beginning, he used to be aloof pertaining to his disability. My dad noticed this and went to him offering friendship. Soon dad started facing problems communicating with him. Dad realized that he interprets the sign language very well rather than normal trials to communicate with him. Out of the urge to get him in a normal human circle, dad learnt that sign language and was the only one in the group who could communicate with him effectively. But his pioneering helped Anil to come up and mix with people. Normally nobody seems to be concerned about disabled fellows in similar ways.
I thought this story goes well with the idea of the article here.