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Is the IT industry facing an HR management challenge?

Wipro's Rishad Premji recently said that talent, not market growth, was the challenge tech services companies were staring at. What is the cause of these troubles? Is it an HR management challenge?

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Indian IT industry | HR | rishad Premji

Bhaswar Kumar & Shivani Shinde  |  New Delhi 



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recently axed 300 employees after it found that they were also working for its rivals. The decision was announced by the firm’s executive chairman, Rishad Premji, a vocal critic of moonlighting. As remote working became the norm due to the Covid-19 pandemic, employees found it easier to take up more than one job at a time without the knowledge of their companies -- a practice known as moonlighting. Of late, it has become a concern for the .

The co-founder and former CEO of Infosys, Kris Gopalakrishnan, also joined the debate recently, saying that working for more than one company at the same time would come in the way of building trust. His remarks were aimed particularly at the new generation of techies.

Earlier in September, Infosys sent an email to employees titled ‘No Double Lives’. The country's second-largest IT services firm said that dual employment was not permitted in line with the employee handbook and code of conduct. However, the email from Infosys also made a distinction that may prove to be important in settling the moonlighting debate in the future. It said that the company’s consent was paramount with regard to moonlighting. The letter added that consent may be given, subject to terms and conditions, and may also be withdrawn at any time. Effectively, this leaves the possibility open that at least some employees could hold two jobs simultaneously without it being considered moonlighting.

In fact, companies are reportedly turning to experts and digital tools, which forensic accountants say can easily track moonlighters. Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services, EY, told Business Standard that EY was working with several firms to gauge the extent of moonlighting among their staff.

Even as they tackle this problem, there's evidence that the plans for the Great Return, or resuming work from the office, are not progressing smoothly for all IT firms. While IT companies have been at the forefront when it comes to hybrid and flexible work, they have now taken the lead in rolling back remote work plans.

IT firms have had to keep up with the changing dynamics of the job market, where, till recently, workers had been quitting their jobs, seeking either higher pay, better benefits or more control over their lives. While Indian IT firms say that a hybrid workforce is the new normal, client needs have made a return to the office and work sites necessary. Also, a return to the office first is necessary for their hybrid policies to kick in.

At Tata Consultancy Services, 20 per cent of its employees are back to office. TCS has said that it will continue to drive the return-to-office model because having a permanent hybrid work environment will first involve getting back to a normal working environment. That is why TCS recently asked around 80 per cent of its staff to return to the office. Perhaps the industry’s frustration with stubborn employees was best reflected when RPG group chairman Harsh Goenka recently warned IT workers of a mediocre career trajectory if they dug in their heels and worked from home.

These challenges couldn’t have come at a worse time. The performance of top-tier IT firms in the first quarter of the current financial year shows that they are still far away from getting a grip on managing attrition. In fact, talent retention challenges have eroded both their margins and any gains they may have made thanks to the depreciating rupee. Despite higher pay and other retention policies, attrition continued to zoom. Attrition at Infosys rose to 28.4 per cent. TCS saw a much higher rise in attrition at 19.7 per cent. Attrition at HCL Technologies for the quarter was up at 23.8 per cent. In fact, was the only company that reported a drop in attrition at 23.3 per cent. The IT industry will be worried that the current talent crisis may delay its efforts to move up the value chain by delinking headcount and revenue streams.

Recently, freshers who had received job offers from top IT companies took to social media to say that they had not received an offer letter or any communication about the onboarding process even three to five months after the offer was made. The companies concerned have said that all the offers made will be honoured. However, this may point to some lacunae in their process, which could damage the trust of future employees. Loyalty, after all, is a two-way street. IT industry leaders have spoken a lot about how employees must build trust, perhaps equal emphasis is now needed on IT firms responding in kind.


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First Published: Mon, September 26 2022. 07:00 IST
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