Infosys sees 10,627 exits in first quarter

19% attrition rate at all-time high

Infosys is facing a challenge of double-digit attrition, which many believe could rise further in the next quarter (July-September) before peaking out.

According to experts, the high attrition is a reflection of business-related challenges at the company, and the senior exits over the last one year. During April-June 2014 (Q1FY2015), Infosys saw exits of 10,627 professionals, even more than the total employee base of mid-size Indian information technology (IT) services companies. At the end of the April-June quarter, the company's total headcount was 161,284.

Attrition rate during the quarter was 19.5 per cent, the highest Infosys has seen in its 33 years of existence. Infosys' attrition during January-March 2014 was 18.7 per cent, higher than 11.3 per cent at Tata Consultancy Services, 15.1 per cent (voluntary trailing - ten-month basis) at Wipro and 16.9 per cent at HCL Technologies.

Calling it "worrisome", Infosys' Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao said the Bangalore-based company was implementing initiatives to retain good talent and reduce attrition.

Last year when the attrition had initially started picking up, Infosys had given out mid-year salary increments to employees. But this did not help much.

Chief Executive Officer S D Shibulal said the company had "tried very hard to listen to the employees", to solve the issues leading them to quit.

"We realised that the concerns were not about compensation," Shibulal said. "They were more about predictability, career growth, and variable component, which our employees said was a huge part of their salary. We have brought down the variable compensation considerably across the board."

He said the company has started communicating with its employees to bring more clarity to them. "On predictability, we have done everything as scheduled in six to eight months. The schedules for compensation and promotion were delivered," he said.

Infosys gave 7,500 promotions during April-March. The company has decided to have quarterly appraisals, Shibulal said. "Promotion is a reflection of growth. Our growth created opportunities for our people to go up in the career track," he said.

The company has also started training for its employees to re-tool them on new and coming technologies.

For FY15, Infosys has given job offers to 22,000 fresh graduates through campus recruitment, who will be taken on board over the year.

Infosys made a gross addition of 11,506 employees during the quarter, taking its total strength to 161,284 employees as on June 30.