Bengaluru: Software majors TCS, Infosys, and Wipro recruit in large numbers again, a sign of demand and recovery after the Covid-19 shock led to a downturn in the previous quarter.
All three businesses announced a sequential rise in their total headcount for the period July-September. Headcount addition has historically been a good predictor of success for IT businesses, but it has decreased over the past few years due to automation.
| Cos | Total employee headcount | Total employee headcount |
| June 30, 2020 | September 30, 2020 | |
| TCS | 4,43,676 | 4,53,540 |
| INFOSYS | 2,39,233 | 2,40,208 |
| WIPRO | 1,81,804 | 185,243 |
“On the people front, we’ve made almost 8,000 freshers onboard, and we’ve also stepped up our hiring to support our expansion. Our investments in organic talent development have seen a surge in learning efforts over the course of this quarter. Our retention continues to be an industry benchmark and a significant competitive differentiator for us, with IT services attrition at 8.9 per cent, an all-time low,” TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said after the company’s second-quarter earnings.
At the same time, Infosys COO UB Pravin Rao said, “On the count, obviously, the headcount increase in – would be in line with the rise. This quarter, we had 5,500 additions; about 3,000 were fresher both in India and abroad; and about 2,500 laterals. Our utilisation, if you recall, was much lower in the quarter one and improved significantly, but the number of hires was lower on the lateral side this quarter. So hiring in subsequent quarter three, quarter four will obviously be dependent on the growth.”
Though Wipro does not have recruiting guidance, HR Head Saurabh Govil told ET NOW in a recent interview that they had a robust recruiting programme. “There’s a traction in the market and we’ve got to brace up for the development. We’ll have a robust recruiting strategy in the second half — whether its entry or lateral recruiting, there’ll be broad-based hiring across bands and geographies,” he said.
The three companies have since announced salary increases and promotions for workers. Their earnings for the second quarter were ahead of what analysts expected, the back of good contract wins and expanded consumer digital adoption.
