Article: Will hire 20,000 in 2017: Infosys says amid layoff talk

Talent Acquisition

Will hire 20,000 in 2017: Infosys says amid layoff talk

Infosys says it will hire 20,000 new employees this year, downplays layoff news
Will hire 20,000 in 2017: Infosys says amid layoff talk

Amid mounting criticism on several IT organizations due to successive layoffs, Infosys has announced that it will hire 20,000 employees this year; adding that things are going normal within the organization, says a news report.

Reportedly, after a meeting with IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Infosys COO UB Pravin Rao, said that organizations like Infosys have new opportunities ahead, with transformation in technology happening at a swift pace.

He also shot off talks about the IT industry being in troubled waters, and said, “With respect to all the talks of layoffs, it's regular performance based things that we do every year. The number is really 300-400, which is consistent with what we have seen every year.” He said that Infosys is adding more people and creating more jobs, and only letting go of a very small number of people that too, because of performance related issues. “I am very optimistic about the future and opportunities in this sector.”

Rao, along with Co-Chairman of Infosys, Ravi Venkatesan, were in a half-an-hour long meeting with Prasad, post which the announcements were made. Later Prasad said, “The Infosys COO has explained about the job opportunities. Tata Group Chairman has also said that Tata Consultancy Services has employed 2.5 lakh people in the past three years and this year they are going to employ 20,000 more.”

About hiring activity this year, Rao was quoted saying, “I think all the news about job losses are overstated. Infosys itself last year recruited over 20,000 people and this year again, we are likely to repeat similar numbers.” He said that within the first half of the year, Infosys will recruit over 10,000 new employees. 

The developments are rather significant, as recently, several IT organizations were under scrutiny for firing employees. This had even lead to several IT workers’ union moving against organizations and elicited serious concerns about the industry’s job-creating capabilities. The $150 billion IT industry, owing to its stellar growth and performance in the past few years, is known to generate massive employment opportunities. The Infosys announcement that says that hiring activity is, as usual, can be looked as a move to allay fears, restore confidence, and above all, indicate that despite the several challenges that the industry faces, things aren’t bad as they have been reported. 

Read full story

Topics: Talent Acquisition, C-Suite, Employee Relations

Did you find this story helpful?

Author

QUICK POLL

How do you envision AI transforming your work?