Article: When HR came calling at Chennai

Strategic HR

When HR came calling at Chennai

NASSCOM HR Summit 2014 revealed 6% growth in IT hiring, double-digit hikes in the offing & need for digital skills
When HR came calling at Chennai
 

IT professionals can expect a double-digit increase in emoluments this year compared to average 8-10 per cent hikes last year

 

NASSCOM expects the IT sector to hire about 1.8 lakh professionals this year, an increase of about 6 per cent over the last year

 

July saw one of the largest gatherings of HR professionals in India at the NASSCOM HR Summit 2014 at ITC Grand Chola in Chennai this year. The two-day summit was an effort to assess the effect of the continuously changing business environment on hiring trends and the outlook for FY15. The event saw participation of over 70 speakers and 650 delegates.

Day 1 was eventful with discussions on the changing dynamics of the workplace. With multiple sessions happening across the board, the event provided a close look at the way men and women work, insights into the new culture of SMAC, skilling and re-skilling, making the workplace fun, and many other vital scenarios. Day 2 featured another set of interesting discussions on HR roadblocks, performance management, analytics and talent acquisition.

Growth prospects: NASSCOM expects this year’s industry revenue to grow 13-15 per cent over last year’s income of $118 billion. Riding on the back of better operational performance, IT professionals can expect a double-digit increase in emoluments this year compared to average 8-10 per cent hikes last year.

NASSCOM Vice Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy said, “The role of HR leaders is rapidly changing as technology disruptions are creating new opportunities for the industry. HR is gaining more prominence as a ‘strategic business partner’ for the industry with HR transforming to meet new and dynamic business priorities, while preparing for the future and developing next level of leadership.”

NASSCOM believes that middle managers will get the best rewards through increased variable pay and incentives. Middle management techies will get 11-15 per cent hikes while entry and senior management will receive 5-10 per cent increases. The IT industry has also instituted innovative incentive schemes to reward performances this year. Some of these schemes include skill bonus, zero attrition unit incentive and project-based incentives as well. Sangeeta Gupta, VP Research at Nasscom stated that these projections were made based on an internal survey done among their members. Responses were received from over 100 firms which account for over 42-45 per cent of IT sector revenues. There will also be a shift in recruitment methodolo¬gies undertaken by companies.

Hiring: NASSCOM expects the IT sector to hire about 1.8 lakh professionals this year, an increase of about 6 per cent over the last year. With renewed focus on skills over building capacity, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are expected to drive hiring with 7-8 per cent growth in headcount. Experts said the industry is more focused on lateral hiring as there is a higher demand for niche technology skills and domain-specific capabilities. Digital skills that pan across analytics, cloud and mobile are the key skills in demand. Moreover, companies are resorting to just-in-time hiring to reduce bench strengths. Overall, the industry may be gearing up towards a bench strength reduction of 1-2 per cent this year.

Hiring of fresh graduates and lateral hires will be at a ratio of 70:30. According to NASSCOM, industry players intend to hire about 10 per cent more experienced professionals this year in order to cater to demand in time. Additionally, the IT industry is moving towards cross-sector hiring, said Moorthy K. Uppaluri, Chief Executive Officer of Randstad India. Rather than hiring people with necessary skills in concerned industries, companies are now hiring from across sectors to fill up the missing gaps, he added. This also helps to minimise strains of hiring on demand.

Technology: Technology for HR functions will prove to be a boon as technology solutions are expected to bring in more clarity to the HR processes, resulting in increased employee satisfaction. It is expected that for half of the firms, more than 50 per cent of HR processes will be automated. Digital technology will play a significant role in improving the talent hunting process resulting in finding the right candidate in a reasonable time span. This will witness a rapid shift to non-traditional hiring methods such as online job portals, social media and referrals. New digital channels specifically online portals, social and digital media, like Facebook and LinkedIn are in process of driving recruitment.

Skills: Digital skills that pan across analytics, cloud, mobile are the key skills in demand. The industry is also putting in place multiple solutions to address the niche skill set requirements and is actively engaging with employees to build a strong entrepreneurial culture.

Echoing the upbeat mood of the industry, NASSCOM also announced the annual rankings of top 20 IT-BPM employers in India for financial year 2013-14. Tata Consultancy Services emerged as the largest recruiter over the last year, followed by Infosys and Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Skills Gap

With industry focus shifting towards digital skills, NASSCOM recommended a ‘Multiple Engagement Solution’ for the industry:

Leadership training: Manage the required change in leadership mindset for managing projects and teams for digital solutions and develop a leadership program, which includes new KPIs. Also, build a strong HR communication and training process to help in leadership transition

National level Hackathon/Codefest: Conduct regional and country level competitions for technologists on digital solutions to promote knowledge, awareness and skill development

Collaboration with industry external partners: Collaborate with User Experience (UX), Design Thinking and Data Research firms to develop skills and solutions utilizing digital services and concepts

Collaboration with Universities: Define trainings, skillset requirements for digital technologies and communicate to technology and business schools. Collaborate with universities to define right training to educate the future workforce

NASSCOM Top 20 IT-BPO Employers in India

  1. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.
  2. Infosys Ltd.
  3. Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd.
  4. Wipro Ltd.
  5. HCL Technologies Ltd.
  6. Tech Mahindra Ltd.
  7. Capgemini India Pvt Ltd
  8. Genpact Ltd
  9. Serco, Global Services
  10. Mphasis Ltd
  11. Aegis Ltd
  12. iGATE Global Solutions Ltd.
  13. CSC, India
  14. WNS Global Services (P) Ltd
  15. Syntel Ltd
  16. L&T Infotech
  17. Firstsource Solutions Ltd
  18. EXL
  19. Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd
  20. Mindtree Ltd

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Topics: Strategic HR, #Trends, #BestPractices

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