Attrition has become a big concern at Infosys Technologies. The attrition rate peaked to 15.8% during the June quarter, the highest the firm has seen in the last two years.
The attrition rate was 13.4% in March and the same was 11.1% during the same period last year. Infosys has increased its hiring projection to 36,000 from 30,000 to create the necessary human resource strength to capitalise on future demand uptick. ?With the market opening up, attrition has increased this quarter. Other than IT, people are moving to sectors such as manufacturing and financial services,? said Mohandas Pai, chief of human resources at Infosys Technologies, at an interview with FE.
During the April-June quarter, a total of 7,833 people left the organisation. Of this, 5,411 were from Infosys Technologies, while 2,422 were from the BPO business.
?Usually during the first quarter, people opt for higher education courses like M Tech and MBA. About 950 people have left us this quarter to pursue higher education while 2,215 people left to join other companies,? he added.
Of the attrition rate of 15.8%, voluntary attrition stood at 13.4%. During the fourth quarter ended March 31, Infosys had a 10.4% rate of voluntary attrition. ?We think attrition will stabilise and come down in the next few quarters. We have taken several steps to reduce attrition, including hike in compensation and are enhancing lateral hiring,? said Pai.
Infosys in April announced a salary hike of 9-20% for offshore employees, while onshore, the hike was around 2-5%.
Pai told FE that the lateral hiring target this year is about 9,000-10,000 people, which is the highest on record. ?We have already hired 2,400 people in the first quarter and will be hiring more than 3,000 in the second quarter and the balance will be hired during the third and fourth quarters,? he added.
Gross addition of employees during the quarter was 8,859 people with net addition of 1,026 employees. As on June 30, 2010, Infosys and its subsidiaries had 114,822 employees as against 103,905 a year ago.
Last month Infosys started ?green channel?, an initiative to invite its former employees who wish to re-join. ?Through the programme, about 2,000 people have applied and we have made 98 offers so far,? said Nandita Gurjar, senior vice-president and global head, HR.
?We can’t take back people who have left us for much higher salaries, because we have to maintain the parity within the organisation. However, if they were star performers and their packages are within the industry average, we are considering,? Gurjar said.