Attrition level should come down in next 2 quarters: Infosys

Even as high attrition rates continue to haunt Infosys, the country's second-largest IT services firm is confident of bringing it down to 12-14 per cent in the next two quarters as it gets back to the growth trajectory.

The Bangalore-based firm has witnessed steady exits, especially of senior level executives, in the last one and half years.

The attrition level grew higher to 20.1 per cent in the July-September 2014 quarter as compared to 19.5 per cent in the April-June 2014 quarter and 17.3 per cent in Q2 last fiscal.

In comparison, TCS had reported an attrition rate of 12 per cent, while that at Wipro (IT services) and HCL Services stood at about 16 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, in the April-June 2014 quarter (last 12 month basis).

These companies are scheduled to announce their financial results for July-September 2014 quarter later this month.

With Vishal Sikka as its new CEO and a team of leaders, Infosys is looking at arresting the high attrition rate in the next few quarters.

"On LTM basis, it is 20.1 per cent but when you look at it on a month-on-month basis, it has actually come down and stemmed down in the right direction. We are very confident that in next two quarters, we will get it back to where we want it to be," Infosys Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao said. He added that historically, attrition rates have hovered around the 12-14 per cent range.

"... and that is where we would like to see it," he said. Infosys made a gross addition of 14,255 employees (net addition of 4,127) during the quarter under review, taking its total headcount to 1,65,411 as of September 30, 2014.

Talking about the efforts Infosys has made to check attrition rates, Rao said the firm has already given about 12,000 promotions. "We have done a lot of things to fix it," he said, adding that Sikka and other management leaders are engaging with the employees on a regular basis.

In April, Infosys had announced a wage hike of 6-7 per cent for offshore employees and 1-2 per cent onsite employees.

Infosys said it has increased its utilisation rate to 75.2 per cent (including trainees) in the said quarter, while that excluding trainees stood at 82.3 per cent.