Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday reported a net addition of 5,090 employees in the April–June quarter, marking its second consecutive quarter of headcount growth. The total employee strength now stands at 613,069. While the company remained cautious on future hiring volumes, it reiterated its commitment to honour existing job offers and maintain campus recruitment activities.
TCS chief human resources officer, Milind Lakkad said that the company remains on track with its gross hiring target of 40,000 for the fiscal year. However, he clarified that the actual intake will be adjusted based on evolving business conditions. The company has yet to provide a firm number on fresher hiring this year, although previous statements indicated it could be at similar levels or slightly exceed last year’s figure of 42,000.
Adding to employee concerns, the company has not yet announced salary hikes for FY25. Typically, revised pay structures are communicated in the first quarter of the new fiscal and implemented from the second quarter, along with arrears for the first. Lakkad stated that decisions on wage hikes will be made over the course of the year.
Attrition, which had been on a steady decline for nearly two years, ticked up once again. The company reported a 50-basis-point increase in voluntary attrition, taking the rate to 13.8% on a trailing twelve-month basis. This marks the fourth straight quarter of rising attrition after a sustained drop from a peak of 21.5% in Q2 FY23.
Meanwhile, TCS highlighted that over 114,000 of its employees are now trained in advanced AI capabilities. Lakkad stressed that AI adoption will not result in workforce reductions. He also emphasised that hiring decisions are made with a long-term perspective and should not be linked too closely with quarterly business fluctuations.
“We hired early in the year, and while there were some business headwinds later, it’s not a concern. We will fully utilise these resources going forward,” Lakkad said in what was his final quarterly earnings call as CHRO. He will soon be succeeded by Sudeep Kunnumal, a long-serving executive at TCS.
Source – https://www.financialexpress.com/business/industry/tcs-adds-over-5000-employees-in-q1/3910135/