Infosys to hire 45,000 freshers in FY22 after spike in Q2 attrition numbers

Company COO Pravin Rai says the current scale of war for talent was not seen in past three decades

IT services major Infosys which reported a sudden spike in attrition for the second quarter ended September 30, 2021, said that the company has not seen such a war for talent among companies.

Pravin Rao, COO, Infosys while replying on the analyst call post results said: “Even my over three decades of work, we have not seen such a scale of war of talent, which is making every company rush to campuses to hire more freshers.”

The company which had announced that it was hiring 35,000 freshers for FY22 upped the hiring number to 45,000 on back of the demand it is seeing. The company reported attrition of 20.1 per cent in Q2, much higher than 13.9 per cent in the previous quarter.

Rao also said that the attrition levels is the highest in its junior level where the potential of people moving is the highest. The company also acknowledged that the numbers are going up despite salary hikes and promotions. “We do not break the percentage of promotion or numbers but they were higher than the past quarters,” added Rao.

With 86 per cent of its employees in India receiving at least one dose of vaccination, the company is not looking at rolling out its hybrid work model.

"We have equipped employees with the resources they need to be productive, cyber-secure, stay connected, and maintain a work-life balance. Our talent strategy also factors in expanded hiring pools that include new communities and work locations”, he added.

Rao also added that starting October they are requesting all the senior leaders to come of office at least once a week. “We are also requesting them to have several interventions for employees at least once a month so that a larger population comes to office. Based on the feedback and outcome we will fine tune the process,” said Rao.

Rao said that there is no one size fits all. “We are working on a model that gives flexibility to employees but also enables us to react with agility to what is happening around us and in the business environment,” said Rao.