Infosys Announces No Campus Hiring for the Year Due to Ample Fresh Talent Reserve and Reduced Demand in Key Markets, Including the US
The tech industry witnessed a significant surge in hiring during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. However, by the close of 2022, major IT giants initiated layoffs as they recognized the imperative need for cost reduction. These mass-scale layoffs persisted into the current year, leading companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and others to part ways with thousands of employees. While some IT giants resorted to layoffs, others explored alternative strategies for cost reduction.
IT company Infosys announced on Thursday its decision not to recruit fresh graduates from campuses this year. This decision was attributed to the substantial number of fresh graduates already within the company’s ranks who require training. Here are the key points of the situation:
- According to a report from PTI, Infosys clarified that it would not engage in fresh graduate recruitment this year due to its substantial “fresher bench” and a decrease in demand in crucial markets such as the United States. In a press conference on Thursday, Infosys CEO and MD Salil Parekh stated that the company harbors “inefficiencies in its employee pyramid” and possesses sufficient room to enhance utilization rates to 84-85 percent.
- CFO Nilanjan Roy, during the Q2 briefing, mentioned that many fresh graduates are undergoing training on Gen AI, and the company has no immediate plans for additional fresh graduate hiring. He remarked, “Last year, we hired 50,000 freshers and hired ahead of demand…we still have a significant fresher bench… we are, of course, training them on Gen AI…but we still have a way to go on utilization, and at the moment are not going to campuses as yet…we will monitor this every quarter looking at our future projections.”
- Infosys further affirmed that it would honor all previously extended job offers and make new hires as projects necessitate. Roy also addressed the possibility of the company refraining from campus recruitment entirely. He commented, “As we see it, I don’t think it is likely that this year, we are going to be going, but we will watch it every quarter.”
- In February of this year, Infosys drew attention for terminating 600 fresh graduates after they failed to pass an internal test. A fresher employee at Infosys, who was hired in August 2022, shared, “I started working at Infosys in August last year and I was given training for SAP ABAP stream. Out of 150 in my team, only 60 people passed the FA exam. Rest all of us were terminated two weeks ago. From the previous batch (freshers who were onboarded in July 2022), nearly 85 freshers were terminated out of 150 after failing the test.” It was noted that failing the internal test did not result in termination for freshers who joined before July 2022.
- In May, the company reportedly reduced its employees’ average variable pay by 40 percent for the quarter ending in March 2023.
