Attrition in the Indian IT sector is at an all-time high. For the quarter ending December 2021, TCS saw an attrition rate of 15.30%, while Infosys and Wipro’s numbers stood at 25.50% and 22.70 %, respectively. A far cry from last year’s numbers.
Source: Company reports
The rapid digitisation in the wake of the pandemic has driven the demand for IT talents. From early career IT professionals to mid and senior-level executives, the IT tech space is brimming with opportunities right now. Additionally, the companies are offering huge hikes to retain talents. Many professionals are moving away from traditional IT companies to startups with faster growth opportunities.
Image: LinkedIn
“Engagement with the company has seen the most impact in the past few months. Organisations have been in experimental mode globally to try and reduce the gap creating a lot more overhead across work levels and not being able to truly engage with their ecosystem. There's a lot of commercial excitement today in the market. This can be seen not just for IT but also for business roles,” said Dipesh Lakhotia, head of analytics, Britannia Industries Limited.
“The talent drain and the disruption over the last two years has led leaders to start thinking and planning their organisation as a more autonomous entity which is able to work seamlessly with minimal dependence on individuals,” he added.
Problem of plenty
As per PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploiting the AI Revolution, AI could contribute up to USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030. Of this, USD 6.6 trillion is likely to come from increased productivity and USD 9.1 trillion is likely to come from consumption-side effects. While some markets, sectors and individual businesses are more advanced than others, AI is still at a very early stage of development overall, the report said.
AI is primed for growth, and will open up a lot of opportunities for India’s IT talent pool. The demand will outstrip supply, and experienced candidates with good domain knowledge will have a lot of options to choose from. According to Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh, the shortage of digital talent in India is leading to high attrition rates and increased wages.
Image: World Economic Forum
The shift to remote work has definitely changed the mindset. “Job security as a concept has also lost its meaning over time. Working from home has allowed individuals to perform independently and boosted their self-confidence. This has led to people seeking opportunities to push their envelope and experiment with their professional journey,” said Lakhotia.
Image: LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2022
Companies are taking a multipronged approach such as stepping up fresh hiring to increase the supply pool, accelerating re-skilling programmes through online learning, deploying adjacent-talent skills for on-the-job learning, and offering employees a holistic experience etc to reduce the attrition rates, Debjani Ghosh has said.
To reduce attrition rates, the companies should be invested in the employee’s career journey. Lakhotia pointed out a few practices that can be implemented to retain talent.
- Building a good work culture is a must for companies.
- Develop empathy towards your team's struggle and actively participate in their journey.
- Challenging employees intellectually and keeping track of their personal growth is crucial.
- Growth mindset is not just about generating revenue, but growing together as a team. Build that culture, sustain it and perfect it over time.
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