Top tech companies in India are finding it a challenge to fill key positions despite the country’s enormous IT talent pool of 4.5 million people.
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Skills In Demand
The tech sector is experiencing a surge in demand for new-age skills such as software development, cloud computing, data analysing, artificial intelligence, machine learning etc.
Full-stack engineers, data analysts, front-developers, SRE/DevOps, data scientists, and backend engineers collectively have a drop out rate of 42-47%.
Demand Outstrips Supply
The supply crunch of talent in these areas can be explained by the limited number of those possessing such skills in the country.
NASSCOM says that the digital talent demand is presently 8x larger than the pool size.
By 2024, the figure could balloon to 20x the available talent pool.
Joining Start-Ups More Lucrative
People specialising in such skills have no dearth of options as they are offered lucrative sums of money from new-age startups.
The startups that are flush with funds are sparing no expenses at luring talent with above-market salaries, 100% salary hikes, flexible work hours, employee stock options (ESOPs) and other perks such as holiday packages, gadgets and superbikes.
Those looking for greener pastures are quitting in large numbers, leading to a rise in attrition.
Job Hunting Made Easier
The attrition rate in major IT firms reached 21% in the September quarter with no signs of slowing down.
Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm, predicts that the IT sector will see voluntary attrition breach 1.15 million this fiscal year buoyed by demand for skilled talent.
Another factor contributing to the situation is the normalisation of work-from-home (WFH) culture which has significantly eased job hunting.
Retention Measures Insufficient
Some of the strategies employed to retain talent in these roles are salary increments, stock options, quarterly bonuses, employee-engagement initiatives to reskill and upskill.
But despite such measures, attrition remains high.
Since all employers are recruiting from the same pool, those looking for jobs find themselves with several offers.
Silver Lining
The excess of demand over supply is expected to continue till at least the next quarter.
But according to a report by brokerage Anand Rathi, attrition could begin slowing down from the fourth quarter (Q4).
This is due to companies ramping up front-loaded hiring.
They are also recording strong revenue growth which helps towards substantially increasing the workforce.
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