TCS hiring plunges 90%, attrition lowest in five quarters

Indian IT companies have seen a massive headcount fall in the past quarter. IT major Wipro reported an 8,812 dip in headcount to take its total headcount to 249,758 during the first quarter (Q1) of FY24. The story is no different at India’s biggest IT services company TCS and IT major HCL Tech. The net employee addition at the two companies too stood below 2,000. The attrition rate as well is below 20% at all three IT companies, which is over a year-low. Here are key hiring trends at India’s largest software and services company TCS.

TCS hiring falls 96%
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) saw a net addition of 523 employees in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024 (April to June 2023). The number is a massive 96 percent drop compared to 14,136 net additions in the same quarter last financial year. With this, the company’s total headcount went up to 615,318.

TCS hired less than 1000 employees in Q1, second time this year
The net addition made in the previous quarter stood at 821 employees. The company had added over 20,000 employees during the same quarter last year.

Attrition rate at five-quarter low
The attrition rate at TCS has fallen to 17.8%. This attrition rate below 20% is lowest in five quarters. The number stood at 20.1% in the preceding quarter. “Our attrition continues to trend down and we expect it to be back in our industry-leading, long-term range in the second half of the year,” TCS’ chief HR officer Milind Lakkad said.

To hire 40,000 freshers in FY2024
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is reportedly expected to hire 40,000 freshers in fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The number is around 10% lower than last fiscal year. The company hired 44,000 freshers in FY2023. “We continue to hire freshers and we’ll hire this quarter as well and that will continue,” TCS CEO K Kritihivasan said in the company’s Q1 2024 earnings call with analysts. “We should be back in our normal industry-leading range in the second half of this year,” Kritihivasan said.

Hikes ranged between 12-15% for exceptional performers
“We have given a 12-15% raise for exceptional performers in our latest annual compensation review, and also commenced the promotions cycle,” TCS’ chief HR officer Milind Lakkad said. “We remain focused on developing, retaining, and rewarding the best talent in the industry, and enhancing their effectiveness by bringing them back to the office to foster our culture,” Lakkad added.

55% employees working from office
About 55% of the TCS’ workforce has started reporting from the office thrice a week.

TCS to honour all job offers
TCS said that it is committed to honouring all the job offers it has made. Lakkad at the same time added that the company’s focus will be on leveraging the capacity built last year. “On the people’s side, we will be honouring all the job offers we have made but remain focused on utilising the capacity we have already built up,” Krithivasan said, adding that the company’s last twelve months (LTM) attrition in IT services fell further to 17.8%. Gadgets Now