Might hire a person who just retired, says Capgemini's Aiman Ezzat

For Aiman Ezzat, the global chief executive officer of Capgemini, the ‘Great Resignation’ is not a concern but an opportunity that can be leveraged, and he believes that firms can look for talent even among those who were so far not considered eligible, like retirees.

Ezzat believes the acceptance of remote workforce has increased access to talent from across the world. “I can onboard and train people at a very low cost. So, I can have students or even retired people or somebody who has no technological background train them because it doesn’t cost a lot to train people. So, you have to start thinking differently,” Ezzat said, while talking at the 30th edition of the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum, on Thursday.

Capgemini’s total headcount stood at 324,700 at the end of December, and it has been on a hiring spree in India.

“I have been telling my team that their next best recruit is a person who has just resigned. Because this is the person you want back. We have been taking initiatives to bring back some of these people after six months or after one year, and we have been very successful in achieving this,” he added.

Human resources consultants and experts that Business Standard spoke to agreed that with the talent crunch becoming a serious issue and technology emerging as a horizontal in every sector, companies have been reaching out to former employees to come back or even join for specific projects.

“Historically, there have always been some segments such as HR and admin that preferred to have people from the armed forces and retired individuals, but now companies are tapping people from other sectors for functional roles. For instance, many senior executives from the banking and financial services space get tapped by tech companies for functional roles and then form a part of the design solutions team. The same is true for several other segments. This trend will increase further because every company wants to have a digital footprint now,” said Mansee Singhal, senior principal, rewards consulting leader, Mercer India.

Ezzat also said the time has come to expand the talent pool and just hiring people who switching companies will not solve the problem.

Ezzat also said Capgemini is looking to create a talent ecosystem that goes beyond the current employee base. “A talent pool where we can tap into people who know how to work with Capgemini. For example, somebody who just retired in such a short labour market, I might put him back to work with us on a project for three months. But for that you need to be the talent ecosystem and manage it proactively,” he added.

Anshul Lodha, regional director at global recruitment firm Michael Page, agrees. “We have seen companies going back to former employees and asking them to come back either full time or even on project basis. Of course, the trend is more in the tech sector,” he said.

Another HR expert, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the electric vehicle sector is another case in point. “EV segment has seen a huge uptick, but talent is an issue and we are seeing companies tapping into senior executives who have retired just because of age and getting them on either as consultants or full time,” he said.