How did IT firms fare in Q4 hiring?

India’s IT services sector, in which just the top companies employ more than 1.1 million people, is one of the keenly watched sectors when it comes to job creation. In the January-March quarter, the top 5 IT companies saw their headcount go down by almost 8,077 people.

All the IT services companies, except for Infosys, have seen a drop in the attrition level, indicating at the employees looking for job security than the lateral growth. On the other hand, most of the IT companies have frozen their hiring in the wake of economic uncertainty arising from lockdown imposed to battle the pandemic. Here is how the top-five IT companies fared in terms of human resources:

TCS: India’s largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services, saw its headcount go up by 1,789 employees to 4.48 lakh workers by the end of March 2020, from 4.46 lakh workers three months ago. The attrition level in the company went down by 10 basis points to 12.1% from 12.2%.

Infosys: Increased attrition, according to industry watchers, has taken the toll on the headcount of Infosys. Even though the attrition level is far lower than its peak in June 2019, yet on a sequential basis, it has surged by 110 basis points to 20.7% at the end of March 2020, from 19.6% in December 2019. The company’s headcount dipped by 1,083 workers, to 2.42 lakh tech workers from 2.43 lakh tech workers.

Wipro: Yet another Bengaluru-based IT major, Wipro, saw its headcount dip by 4,432 workers to 1.83 lakh tech workers from 1.87 lakh tech workers. The attrition level in the company went up by 10 basis points to 12.6% from 12.5%.

HCL: Noida-based tech major, HCL Technologies, has seen its headcount surge by 1,250, to 1.5 lakh tech workers from 1.49 lakh tech workers. On the other hand, the attrition level was down 50 bps to 16.3% from 16.8%.

Tech Mahindra: Tech Mahindra, saw both attrition levels down along with the biggest reduction in the workforce among the top five companies -- indicating at muted hiring in the company. The company’s headcount was down by 5,601 to 1.25 lakh tech workers in March, from 1.31 lakh tech workers in December. On the other hand, the attrition level in the company was down by 100 bps to 19% from 20%.

Analysts say that lower attrition numbers indicate that people are looking at the continuity of employment and related benefits. However, on hiring, these numbers might not reflect the true picture. “The fourth quarter would be a very high hiring quarter. Most hiring would reflect in Q1 and then Q2, based on large campus hiring, which each of them mentioned in their Q4 results,” says Lohit Bhatia, President, Workforce Management at Quess Corp.