IT, BPM firms to see increase in hiring intent in next six months: Survey

With IT and business process management (BPM) sectors witnessing a slump in hiring in September due to margin pressures, a study has revealed that 51 per cent respondents believe that there would be an increase in hiring intent in the next six months.

However, around one-third (34 per cent) respondents said there is going to be a decline in the hiring intent, while 15 per cent believe that it would be business as usual, according to the CIEL HR study.

The study is based on an online survey of 10,00,000 employees working in top 50 IT/BPM companies operating in India.

During the pandemic years, IT companies had hired massively to address the surge in demand driven by the wave of digital transformation across the globe, it noted.

Now that the demand has subsided, the companies are 'rightsizing' again, it said.

The study further revealed that the level of optimism in hiring intent was found higher among the respondents of smaller companies.

On the other hand, the majority of respondents from mid and large sized companies seemed to be more pessimistic about the hiring outlook.

On the job front, the study found that Bengaluru remained the 'hottest destination for IT and BPM talent', with 28 per cent of job postings for this region, followed by Delhi (14 per cent), Hyderabad (13 per cent) and Pune (12 per cent).

Out of the total job postings, foreign MNCs accounted for around 66 per cent of the jobs while Indian MNCs accounted for 18 per cent.

"The demand for IT talent, which was at its peak during the first half of the year, saw companies go into a hiring spree. Companies were ready to spend the extra buck to onboard resources with the right skill.

"The hiring frenzy overlooked aspects like cultural fitment, which created a disharmony as people have started coming back to office. So, some hard decisions are being made and contract resources have suffered the brunt of this," CIEL HR Services Managing Director and CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra said.

He added that pressure has been building on the performance of big tech firms as they have not been able to bring anything majorly innovative.

"Companies are focusing on cost optimisation and rethinking business strategies to protect their revenues and as a result, it won't be surprising if more layoffs take place," he added.