IT cos likely to hire freshers round the year

Global Headwinds

- Wipro has modified offers of freshers giving them low pay

- Many companies are yet to intimate joining dates

- Freshers staring at uncertainty owing to tepid revenue growth projections

Bengaluru: Uncertain demand environment and difficulty in planning are likely to force many large and mid-tier IT firms to conduct year-long fresher onboarding process, which is now limited to a few months.

According to sources in the HR industry, some companies are actively considering year-long joining of freshers based on demand than onboarding them all in a few months.

“It is likely that many IT firms will change their campus hiring strategy, which is a vital one for each company. Currently, campus hiring is limited to a certain time of the year, but it is likely that this will be all round the year. Under the traditional process, all freshers are onboarded during May-September period. As the world turns agile with clients providing short-tenure projects, it is expected that companies will onboard freshers from campuses on round the year,” Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of HR consultancy firm, CIEL HR, told the Bizz Buzz.

Fresher onboarding this year is facing a lot of strain with many companies delaying joining dates. While many companies are yet to give any kind of joining date, many others have also given an option for joining at a lower offer price. Recently, Wipro has modified its offers to some engineering graduates selected from college campuses. The company has given freshers the option of taking up certain roles at Rs3.5 lakh per year, compared to its initial offer of Rs 6.5 lakh per year, creating a hue and cry in the technology world.

Earlier, Wipro has fired around 450 freshers after they performed poorly in the internal tests. Infosys has also undertaken similar exercise with firing of 600 freshers after those candidates were not able to clear its internal assessment tests.

According to HR experts, such late onboarding, firing after training period and non-communication of joining dates are the outcomes of the present demand environment. After two-years of Covid-induced hyper growth, global software services companies are looking at low revenue growth as enterprises are holding back fresh investments. According to global consultancy firm Gartner, worldwide IT spending growth is likely to be 2.4 per cent in 2023, from a 5.1 per cent projected earlier.

Amid such growth bumps, Indian IT firms are facing a difficult situation of optimising cost to protect margin. As wage cost of employees constitutes around 55 per cent of total cost, these companies are opting for reducing headcount for saving cost. Experts said fresher onboarding issues are the direct result of demand situation.

“When clients are providing short-tenure projects and spending in digital space is coming down, IT firms don’t require the additional employees they have hired from campuses in anticipation of demand. So, freshers onboarding is getting delayed. Those companies, which have over-hired, are forced to reduce headcount,” said another HR expert.

In the third quarter ended December, the top four IT firms- Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys and HCL Tech- reported a combined net addition of 1,940employees, a drop of 94 per cent from the previous quarter. So, tepid headcount addition indicates IT firms are likely to onboard freshers all along the year in tranches depending on the projects in hand than completing the process in a few months, the source added.

It is likely that many IT firms will change their campus hiring strategy, which is a vital one for each company. Currently, campus hiring is limited to a certain time of the year, but it is likely that this will be all round the year. Under the traditional process, all freshers are onboarded during May-September period. As the world turns agile with clients providing short-tenure projects, it is expected that companies will onboard freshers from campuses on round the year

- Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO, CIEL HR