The GCC sector benefits from tech talent lay-offs

The Global Capability Centres (GCC) sector in India, where the demand for talent remains upbeat, is getting increased and easier access to tech talent as lay-offs and hiring slowdown take hold of the start-up and IT sector.

GCCs are delivery centres set up by large multinationals that provide tech services, R&D, engineering, IT support etc. Large companies from across sectors like 3M, H&M, Target, AMEX, HSBC to name a few have their GCCs set up in India.

Not a long while ago, when demand for tech talent was intense, GCCs were vying for the best talent with IT majors and well-funded start-ups. With demand now abating, human resource analysts say GCCs will now see better offer acceptance rates and reduced salary expectations.

Talent demand
A collective of over 40 per cent of the talent demand of the GCCs was fulfilled with talent absorbed from the IT services, products, and tech start-ups cohorts. Specifically, 12 per cent of talent addition was through talent absorbed from the IT services sector, 6 per cent from the software products and tech start-ups sector. As for attrition refills, 18 per cent were scouted from the IT sector, while 6 per cent came from the tech start-up sector, according to data provided by specialist staffing company, Xpheno.

Vikram Ahuja, MD ANSR and Co-founder Talent500 told businessline, “GCCs are seeing a 40 per cent increase in demand from last year. Unlike start-ups that have shown layoffs, GCCs have continued to hire and this has increased visibility and trust for this sector.

Recession-free hiring
GCCs have shown growth despite the global slowdown and recession. Most global businesses continue to invest further in digital transformation and innovation at GCCs. Furthermore experienced professionals are starting to look at GCCs as more of a stable and recession-free hiring option, he added.

Aditya Mishra, CEO of CIEL HR Services, told businessline, “Despite the global headwinds, hiring in the sector is expected to continue powered by the move towards digital transformation and deployment of the latest technology to improve efficiency and deliver higher value to the customers.”

“With increased access to talent on the move and lowering hiring action in the competing cohorts, GCCs have been able to absorb talent with comparatively lower friction. As international brands, GCCs rank hihher than the Indian IT service players on the desirability curve of tech talent,” Kamal Karanth, Co-founder of Xpheno told businessline,

With this attraction and comparatively higher compensation packages, the GCCs have had notable success in wooing talent from the IT services cohort. Further, with reduced competitive hiring over recent quarters, the GCCs have benefited from better offer acceptance rates and moderated package expectations from talent, he added.

Mishra further noted, “The global tech companies that laid off employees in order to cut costs would still require resources to operate their business. India is one such destination for these companies with its abundance of tech talent and availability of cost-effective infrastructure.”

More than 100 companies have laid off employees in India in the last one year, this gives GCCs access to experienced professionals from tech start-ups and MNCs, who have a good understanding of the new tools and technologies in the market, he added.

However, GCCs also say that the talent pool in India has always been abundant. Ariel Márquez, Managing Director of Falabella, a Latin American leading integrated retailer, said: “Currently, there’s access to great talent, and it’s always been the case because India is the innovation capital of the world. Our focus now is on niche skillsets, especially because it touches a large multitude of businesses.” The Hindu BusinessLine