BENGALURU: Though top IT companies managed to beat street estimates in net profit and revenues in the seasonally weak December quarter, nearly all companies have reduced their hiring owing to evolving global macroeconomic headwinds. Also, they over-hired in previous quarters leading to reduction in hiring in the third quarter.
For the first time in 10 quarters, TCS’ net addition was reduced by 2,197 in the December quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company had hired 28,238 employees. Its LTM (last twelve months) attrition stood at 21.3%. In the previous six quarters, TCS onboarded 135,000 fresh engineers. During the earnings call, the company’s chief human resources officer (CHRO) Milind Lakkad said, “Last year, our net hiring was significantly ahead of our revenue growth. Our focus this year has been on utilising all that excess capacity and making our newest employees productive.”
Infosys hired only 1,627 people in December quarter as against 12,450 in the same quarter last year. The number of hiring is based on what companies see on the demand side. Salil Parekh, CEO and MD of Infosys, said, “We have had a very strong hiring for the full year in FY23 and also before that. And we are making sure that all of that hiring goes through our various training, and is ready for deployment.”
Wipro’s headcount fell by 435 in December quarter. The company had hired 10,306 employees in Q3FY22. HCL is the only company that has hired 2,945 employees in the quarter compared to 10,143 a year-ago. Vijay Sivaram, CEO, Quess IT Staffing, said, “As the market course-corrects from last year’s hiring surge, we have seen a moderation in hiring, attrition and subcontractor costs in IT sector. Freshers employed in last one-two years are now skilled and ready to be deployed in their roles, hence, we will see a tailwind in lateral hires this year.”
He added that candidates with four-10 years of experience will be most sought-after and those with two-four years may bear the weight of a slowdown. “Every year, third quarter is slow for hiring due to holiday season, and the impact on hiring due to geopolitical scenarios, impending recession and cost conservation by firms is expected to continue for next few months. Despite muted quarter, we expect campus hiring to continue with 15,000 – 50,000 new hires by IT majors in 2023,” said Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services.
