The past few quarter have been trying for IT companies. With IT chieftains like Wipro CEO Azim Premji terming financial year 2008-09 worst-ever.
The year seems to be worst for IT companies on hiring front too. Other than pinkslips, previous quarters also saw a plunge in hiring at all IT companies. In fact, the last quarter ended March 2009 saw most tech companies either reporting a decline in total number of employees or retaining the same number. Not even five IT companies reported a marginal increase in their total headcount during the quarter.
Here's taking a stock of the total employee numbers at the leading IT companies in the past quarter: where the headcount remained same, where headcount declined and where headcount saw a marginal hike.
Wipro (headcount decline in IT services)
The company had 96,965 employees as of December 31, 2008. Pratik Kumar, head of human resources, said that the company won?t increase salaries in the current fiscal year." On deferring the pay hike, Premji said this was being done to minimize expenses. During the third quarter of fiscal 2008-09, Wipro's employee headcount in the IT services business went down by about 1,100 as compared to the earlier quarter.
Patni (headcount went down)
The Pune-based Patni Computer Systems saw its employee strength at 14,540 as on March 2009, down 354 from the previous quarter. As of December 2008, the company had 14,894 employees.
Jaya Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, said, "The demand environment continues to be challenging in the short run, however, we are investing for portfolio expansion in all areas. Long-term growth prospects of the global delivery model are robust. We will see the benefits of our financial health in further enhancing sustainable differentiation of our strategy."
Tech Mahindra (headcount went down)
The new owner of scam-hit Satyam Computers employee strength stood at 24,972 as of March 2009 compared to 25,429 in December 2008.
The company ended the quarter with 457 fewer people on its rolls. However, the company said utilisation improved to 70 per cent, from 67 per cent.
Hexaware Technologies (headcount went down)
The provider of IT and business process outsourcing services, Hexaware Technologies for the quarter ended March 2009 saw employee strength at 5,296 as compared to 5622 in quarter ended December 2008.
This means that the company saw net reduction of 326 employees, down 5.8 per cent from the previous quarter. Hexaware has implemented a virtual bench programme for 250 of its employees as well as salary cuts for all senior and mid-level employees.
The company is cautious but optimistic about the hiring trend in the following two quarters. Says Deepak Chumble, Chief People Officer, "Hexaware?s headcount ?will not go down drastically? in subsequent quarters." The future is uncertain and there is a possibility the situation may not improve even in third or fourth quarter,? he added.
Mastek (headcount went down)
Mumbai-based Mastek's employee base stood at 4,023 as of March 2009, down 220 from the previous quarter. The company reported 4,243 employees as of December 2008. To tide over the economic downturn, the company has introduced the concept of a virtual bench. Employees on the virtual bench would receive only a percentage of the salary and receive training on various technologies during that period.
The identified employees could opt to be on the virtual bench or receive a severance pay and leave the company. An overwhelming 85 per cent opted to stay. Company's HR head Kalpana Jaishankar said that it wasn?t that they were poor performers, this was a business issue and we wanted to make that clear.
Zensar Technologies (headcount went down)
Zensar Technologies saw its employee strength at 4,684 as of March 2009, less 250 as compared to the previous quarter. As of December 2008, the company's employee base was 4,934.
As for what reason the company points -- During the quarter ended March 2009, the company's big domestic voice BPO project came to an end. So the company relieved 250 people working on the contract.
Ganesh Natarajan, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, Zensar Technologies, feels that attrition levels in the industry have come down so drastically that one does not feel the need to hire.
Polaris Software (headcount went down)
Chennai-based Polaris Software saw headcount at 9,238 as of March 2009, down 649 or 6.5 per cent from the previous quarter. As of December 2008, the company's employee strength stood at 9,887.
However, Arun Jain, Chairman and CEO, Polaris Software Lab, said the company would be hiring at least 150-200 every quarter depending on the business need. Opting for just-in-time hiring, he said, Polaris does not recruit so many people.
TCS (headcount went marginally up)
At the end of fiscal 2008-09, TCS employee count stood at 143,761. The fourth quarter ended March 2009 saw a net addition of 13,418 employees to the company's resource pool. As of December 2008, the total employee base stood at 1,30,343 professionals.
According to Ramadorai, the company made 24,885 campus offers for 2009-10. The company added 48,595 employees in the year. As for attrition rate, Ajoy Mukherjee, vice president and head, global human resources, TCS, said, "The attrition rate is at 11.4 per cent. The utilisation rate (excluding trainees) has been maintained at 79.7 per cent, while the utilisation rate otherwise is lower at 69.4 per cent."
The company expects to add only about 16,000-17,000 new net hires, about half the number in the previous year.
Infosys (headcount went marginally up)
Infosys Technologies said that it has hired close to 5,000 employees in the first three months of this year, but net additions were just 1,772 to its headcount after taking into account attrition and other factors.
The total headcount of Infosys and its subsidiaries stood at 1,04,850 employees as on March 31, 2009. "During the quarter, Infosys and its subsidiaries added 4,935 employees (gross). The net addition during the quarter was 1,772," it stated. The company had close to 1,03,078 employees as of December 31, 2008.
Infosys Head, HRD and Education & Research TV Mohandas Pai said, "The year ahead would be challenging on the people front. Our continuous investment in capability development, training and certification would make us more competitive. We have tightened our performance management system to create a more focused workforce."
The company said that it plans to hire a gross 18,000 employees in 2009/10 and there would be no job cuts despite the slowing outsourcing momentum.
MindTree (saw headcount going up)
IT services firm MindTree added people on a net basis during the quarter, taking the employee strength to 7,866 as of March 31, 2009. As of December 2008, the company had 5,826 employees.
The company plans to add another 250 by October this year. MindTree executive chairman Ashok Soota said, "Our new organisational structure and focus on new business areas will help us withstand the economic crisis and continue on our path to become a $1-billion organisation."
Source: The Times of
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