Stung By 25% Attrition, Infosys Will Hire 55,000 Freshers; 1.7 Lakh Freshers Hired By These IT Firms

The IT industry is undergoing record levels of attrition, prompting companies to ramp up hiring.

Record Year For Fresher Hiring

Three IT companies including TCS, Infosys and Wipro hired a record 1.7 lakh employees for 2021.

This is a multi-fold increase from the 31,000 they added in 2020.

Wipro hired 17,500 freshers in FY22, which is 70 percent more than it did in FY21.

Infosys announced that it will hire over 55,000 freshers for FY22 as part of its global graduate hiring program.

TCS has recruited a record 78,000 from campuses so far.

Demand Growth

This hiring spree can be attributed to speedy adoption of digital technologies and rising attrition which will likely continue in the next year as well.

The pandemic forced offline businesses to go digital as consumers started availing tech services and virtual transactions.

This resulted in huge demand for IT talent, prompting companies to hire fast and hire a lot.

Attrition

Attrition is also another reason behind the mass recruitment.

Technology professionals with new-age digital skills are more in demand than ever before and companies are competing over the limited talent pool.

TCS, Infosys and Wipro reported 15.3 percent, 25.5 percent and 22.7 percent attrition respectively for the quarter ending December 2021.

This double-digit 15-25% attrition is expected to continue for the next 2-3 quarters since there is no tested method developed to curb near term attrition.

Increasing Hiring

Companies are responding by increasing their hiring targets. 

Wipro is planning to increase its fresher supply by hiring 30,000 freshers in FY23.

TCS almost doubled its fresher supply for the year- from 40,000 in FY21 to 78,000 thus far.

Infosys also increased its hiring program twice in the year- from 35,000 in the beginning to 45,000 in the last quarter and 55,000 in the October-December 2021 quarter.

Tackling Attrition

Companies are also focusing on upskilling and reskilling employees to make them ready for incoming opportunities.

32.3 percent of open positions in TCS are filled through up-skilling/cross-skilling.

They are also taking employee retention measures through promotions and employee engagement.

Wipro offered a second round of salary hikes for 80% of its employees during the previous quarter.

Infosys’ Strategy

Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy said that they are prioritising investments in talent acquisition and development.

It has expanded its hiring program to “support [its] growth ambitions”.

CEO and MD Salil Parekh said that its talent strategy is a key focus area.

The company is making efforts to “further strengthen employee skilling and well-being” while taking care of its existing workforce to “fulfil client requirements.”