Infosys headcount up by 1,206 in Q1, attrition a concern

IT major Infosys Technologies on Tuesday said it has increased its head-count by 1,206 in the April-June period this year even as the company witnessed higher attrition during the quarter.

The company hired 8,859 employees in the first quarter this fiscal year, but attrition played a spoilsport and nearly 7,833 employees left the organisation during the same period leaving the employee net addition at just 1,206.

"With the market opening up, attrition has increased this quarter, said Infosys Member of Board and Head (HRD and Education and Research)T V Mohandas Pai. He added, "we have taken several steps to reduce attrition, including a compensation hike and enhancing lateral hiring."

The company witnessed a 15.8 per cent increase in attrition rate in the first quarter of this fiscal from 11.1 per cent during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. On quarter-on-quarter basis, the employee attrition rate in Infosys rose by 13.4 per cent from the January-March level this year.

As on June 30, 2010, Infosys and its subsidiaries have a total of 1,14,822 employees compared to 1,13,796 at the end of the March 31, 2010, it added.

"We have increased the gross hiring for the year from 30,000 to 36,000 in the first quarter... We have hired 8,800 employees as against of our guidance of 7,000 employees.

"We invested USD 16 million in visas because when we get into a growth mode, we should not be short on visas. So, we are making all the right investments to make sure that the growth is maintained," Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan said.

Headhunting firms had already warned the IT sector that in 2010 they were likely to see higher attrition. Executives search firm GlobalHunt India had said that with the revival of the job market, Indian companies would witness a significant jump in attrition levels, especially in information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO)sector.

Notwithstanding the high attrition rates, Infosys continues to increase its new clientele. The company, which counts BT Group, BP Plc and Goldman Sachs among its clients, said it has added 38 clients during the last quarter.

"While the global economic environment remains uncertain, we continue to see greater demand for services from our clients,"Infosys CEO and Managing Director S Gopalkrishnan said.