HCLTech reported a marginal rise in voluntary attrition to 12.8% in the September quarter, compared with 12.7% in the previous quarter, even as its employee headcount increased by 6,450.
The IT services company had 2,30,339 employees at the end of Q2 FY27, up from 2,23,889 in the June quarter. The company also added 6,136 freshers during the quarter, strengthening its workforce as it develops specialised engineering capabilities.
The workforce figures come as HCLTech expands its focus on forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), a role combining AI engineering with customer discovery, solution architecture and rapid prototyping.
Workforce expands as voluntary attrition edges higher
HCLTech’s employee additions marked continued workforce expansion during the September quarter, while voluntary attrition increased slightly from the preceding three months.
The key workforce figures for Q2 FY27 include:
Net employee additions: 6,450 during the September quarter.
Total headcount: 2,30,339 at the end of September, compared with 2,23,889 in June.
Voluntary attrition: 12.8%, up from 12.7% in the previous quarter.
Fresher recruitment: 6,136 graduates joined during the quarter, approximately 1,000 more than in Q2 FY26.
The figures indicate that HCLTech continued recruiting while managing a marginal increase in employee departures. The available data does not establish the reasons behind the change in attrition.
Fresher hiring supports specialised AI engineering roles
Ramachandran Sundararajan, chief people officer at HCLTech, said around 15% of the freshers hired in Q2 belonged to the company’s elite engineer category. These recruits will be upskilled to become forward-deployed engineers.
The company is building this talent pool to combine technical expertise with the ability to identify customer requirements and move AI opportunities from initial use cases into production.
Sundararajan said HCLTech works with institutions across India, including IITs and NITs, to attract specialised engineering talent. He added that compensation forms an important part of its recruitment proposition.
According to Sundararajan, the company pays elite engineers three to four times as much as its regular engineering cadre, a compensation approach announced around five quarters earlier.
HCLTech has not disclosed a specific target for fresher recruitment this year. Sundararajan said the company has fulfilments to deliver, indicating that hiring is expected to continue.
HCLTech develops an enterprise-wide FDE training programme
The company is also expanding training pathways for forward-deployed engineers through an enterprise-wide FDE academy. Sundararajan said the academy will offer tracks aligned with several major technology platforms.
The programme is expected to include:
OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, Google and Nvidia, through platform-aligned training tracks.
Microsoft, through a separate FDE programme intended to strengthen specialised talent.
MIT, through an applied research programme focused on the safety of agentic systems.
These initiatives form part of HCLTech’s stated approach to developing engineering capabilities around AI and emerging technology platforms. The company has not disclosed a numerical target for the number of engineers it intends to train through these programmes.
Revenue per employee rises year on year
HCLTech reported revenue per employee of $65,400 per associate in Q2 FY27, down slightly from $65,500 in the June quarter. The figure was higher than the $63,900 reported in Q2 FY26.
The metric provides another indicator of workforce-related business performance, although HCLTech has not specified a target for revenue per employee. Management expressed confidence that the figure would increase gradually.
The company also expects margin impacts of 80 basis points in the December quarter and 60 basis points in the March quarter, which it said were incorporated into its margin guidance.
Hiring and workforce priorities ahead
HCLTech’s latest figures show continued employee additions alongside a slight increase in voluntary attrition. Its recruitment and training plans also indicate a focus on developing specialised AI engineering capabilities.
The company’s next workforce disclosures will help establish whether fresher hiring continues at a similar pace, how attrition changes in subsequent quarters and whether its investments in specialised engineering talent translate into improvements in revenue per employee.
