India has just emerged as the country with the highest attrition rate in the Asia-Pacific region. According to a Hewitt Associates report, India has an attrition rate of 15.4 per cent, followed by Australia (15.1 per cent) and China (12.6 per cent). This, mind you, is not for the job-hop-happy business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, but across the board.

Curiously, the breast-beating this time has been limited. There have been no statements from organisations such as Nasscom that they are preparing blacklists of job-hoppers. Nor is there much effort to once again brand it the principal scourge of corporate HR departments.

The reason, believe it or not, is that it is no longer being projected as a major problem. In a new spin on things, a high attrition level is being sold as a positive. First is the broader picture. More attrition means more people are on the move. As most of them are not giving up their jobs and retiring for a spell of naval gazing, it means there are more jobs around. And that is a measure of the health of the economy. They can?t make public statements on the issue in a country with so many jobless, but mandarins and ministers alike see this as an indicator that industry is once again hiring in big numbers.

Individual companies are not so much concerned about the overall picture. But in keeping with that perception, they are singing a different tune these days. First, attrition (unless it reaches the 40-50 per cent levels of some BPOs) brings in fresh blood. It introduces new ideas and gives the stay-at-homes a kick in the pants. Second, most of the people who are leaving will be good performers.

But you can use the opportunity to get rid of some of the deadwood too. Give them a discreet hint and they will proactively jump ship. That way, you don?t have to hand out pink slips to under-performers. Third, HR departments are treating the departees as brand ambassadors for the company. People like TCS have started talking about ?our alumni? and how they have been responsible for setting up large parts of the software and services industry. Fourth, many HR departments have been looking at people leaving their organisations as future resources.

Gone are the days when a company would never take back an employee who had resigned and left. ?We tell him at the exit interview that he is always welcome back,? says a corporate HR head. ?We keep tabs on his career progression in industry. We treat the period until he returns to us as a sabbatical or an unpaid study leave.?

But what of the traditional problems associated with attrition ? the high cost of training replacements, the need to keep additional staff on the roles to cope with sudden departures, the loss of morale in the organisation?? Well, they haven?t gone away. But today, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives. Don?t be too sure it will work the same way tomorrow. Attitudes of HR professionals also suffer from high attrition levels. Besides, it is not as though attrition is being regarded as God?s gift. HR heads are instead adopting a different approach.

Let the masses take care of themselves; they will focus on the classes ? in this case the people who are considered most valuable to the organisation. Huge defences are being manned to keep the stars from deserting. It?s easier too because there are not so many of them. Attrition thus remains a bad word in the HR lexicon; it?s just that the sample size has become smaller.