Infosys tweaks HR processes to stem attrition

BANGALORE: Software major Infosys Technologies is rehauling its decade-old hierarchical system and making internal processes more flexible for young employees this year to stem attrition and attract talent. The $6-billion firm has come up with a programme called Talent Strategy for 2015, drawing inspiration from James Surowiecki's Wisdom of Crowds. The idea drawn from the book is that decisions taken by groups is often better than those made by an individual. Infosys will apply this principle to improve revenue per employee, deal with the large number of global hires and stem attrition.

The company faced an attrition of 17.5% in the October-December 2010 quarter. Its peers Wipro and TCS faced attrition of 21.7% and 14.4% respectively, in the period. And like other large IT majors, Infosys, like other IT majors has typically witnessed a fleeing of talent with 3-8 years' experience. "Given that we are a very large company, it's important to decentralize and democratize ideas and inputs," says senior VP and group head, human resources, Nandita Gurjar. Talent Strategy for 2015, is part of the company's five-year plans, she says. "The objective of this programme was to ideate the talent management paradigms and practices required for the Infosys of 2015." To begin with, the company took a quick survey among employees. From September to November 2010, Infosys asked them to define the policies and initiatives they wanted. A 100-member panel from different business verticals and geographies along with business heads, will create ways to implement the ideas that have been accepted. The panel is drawn from an age group of 21 to 53 years, with tenures of half-a-year to 15 years. The company is also tweaking its talent retention processes. Recently, for instance, a senior employee was given the option of staying a consultant for three days of the week as he had to attend to family commitments on the other days. Earlier, he could have taken a sabbatical or have no option but to continue with his five-day week schedule. The company plans to create an internal job market, where an employee can see the roles available and the compensation tailored to it.
just another it consultant (usa) 09 Feb, 2011 03:27 AM First think global and get matured as a true global company with respect to positioning, HR policies operations etc. Have you thought about productivity? Not just Infosys any consulting company to this matter. Common what is the 50 or100 size team doing there building space ships? Out of this there will be 5 or 10 who really run the show so focus on building quality and not more recruitment. Enable people understand the real problem and come with a solution. Just growing headcount makes it difficult to manage and operate. Xyz company plans to hire 12000 jobs news are not positive measurement Create policies that are useful and practical. For this matter learn from us or UK counterparts. Ex Infy (Mlr) (Delhi) 05 Feb, 2011 05:16 PM

Funny thing, the Big IT companies talked to themselves and thought they are better than rest of IT companies. I have worked in Infy and hold the founders with respect for their vision, but this loss of employee trust is nothing new. The challenge comes when these companies forget that there is an outside world other than IT, which is moving much faster and better. Instead of value creating many of Big IT names have just become body shopping companies, with people management responsibilities either ignored or completely delegated to employee without any authority. I have worked in non-IT companies post leaving Infy, and frankly find them much better. I recently reviewed the structure of an MNC IT company, which had no HR (may be one or two), and all of it delegated to managers on a stretch basis (no time allocated to them for people management). This is what happens when people management becomes a stretch job (and nobody does it). All the best to the IT companies

Balaji (Chennai) 04 Feb, 2011 10:31 PM Great thoughts, some for and the rest against Infosys. Yes, there are a few flaws in Infosys like no WFH policy, 9.15 hours despite all the DC's away from the city and complicated pay structure that assure none of a financial stability. But, there are quite many number of companies that are intolerably bad. The values what NRN and other founders held/hold haven't percolated to the recent employees. This has created some vaccum in the value system in the middle management level. Could be better if management takes note of this and addresses this issue. But, this doesn't mean train these employees/managers, a few of whom may not fit into value system, about the values what the Infosys founders have been practising. So, the management has to take a call on what needs to be done.