Infosys to slash hiring by 29 pc

Noting that the company would have liked more people to come in, HR official Nandita Gurjar said the reason for slashing hiring was not just the slowdown but other factors including infrastructure and business plans

Bangalore: Indicating a slowdown in hiring in the information technology sector, India's third largest software firm Infosys said that it plans to hire only 25,000 people in the current fiscal, nearly 29 per cent less than the recruitments in the last financial year.

The IT bellwether had recruited 35,000 people in 2007-08. "We are planning to hire 25,000 people in the current fiscal and 18,000 would be hired through campus recruitments," Infosys senior vice president & group head of human resources, Nandita Gurjar said Tuesday.

Pointing out that the firm has not made any changes in hiring plans due to the global slowdown, she said that the impact on hiring would be visible in the last two quarters of the current fiscal.

"The third and fourth quarters would be the time when the firm tends to tighten up its hiring," she added.

Noting that the company would have liked more people to come in, Nandita Gurjar said the reason for lower numbers is not just due to economic slowdown but many other factors including infrastructure and business plans.

According to statistics provided by the firm, it had 3372 trainees for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 whereas the same stood at 5,070 in the corresponding period a year ago.

On attrition rates, Nandita Gurjar said that levels have come down in recent times and is hovering a little over 13 per cent. As on the first quarter of this fiscal, the attrition was at 13.6 per cent, which is marginally lower than 13.7 per cent in the year-ago period.

Infosys, in a first of its kind initiative, would be introducing promotions for its employees twice a year. The new policy would not add to our wage pressures as the process has already been factored into our HR structure, she added.

On salary increments for employees, Nandita Gurjar noted the hike this year has been in the range of 11-13 per cent while the wage raise stood at 12-15 per cent the previous year.

Responding to a query on dismissing under performers, she said that on an average 200-300 employees are given the same. “However, we enroll such people in our performance improvement programme for about three months before taking such steps,” she added.