Covid-19 impact: IT services let go of contract staff to reduce bench

In the last few years, subcontracting costs for most IT firms have also increased manifold due to protective measures around issuance of H1-B work visas

Employment of contractual software engineers by Indian IT services companies has fallen significantly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

Most of the IT firms are struggling to manage their growing bench (reserve employees who are not deployed in any revenue-earning projects) owing to cancellations of projects in verticals such as hospitality and aviation, as well as delay in project starts and ramp-ups.
 

According to several people, expenses towards deploying contractual staff, which used to account 10 per cent of the overall billable employee cost at IT firms, has fallen to around 3 per cent. IT firms typically use the