IT giant Wipro is expected to hire over 20,000 employees during the next fiscal, which will be about 50 per cent more than the current year, even as the company has moved key accounts like Citibank and BP to be handled by vertical heads.
Sources in Wipro told Business Line that the next year (2011-12) hirings will be much higher than this year's. Wipro has also moved some of its key accounts to vertical heads, as part of an organisation change it had effected early this year.
A Wipro spokesperson, however, refused to make an official statement saying that the company was in a silent period ahead of its quarterly results.
But IDFC Securities in an internal note to its investors said certain key accounts like Citi, Aviva, BP and a few others will now be handled by seven P & L heads (six by verticals and one for India and West Asia ).
Approvals
Earlier, decisions regarding important accounts such as Citi required approvals from the both the US (geography) P & L head, as well as the BFSI (vertical) P & L head. But now all the decisions are handled by the vertical heads. For example, Aviva and Citibank and a few others are being handled by the BFSI vertical head, while BP, Origin Energy etc come under the energy & utilities head. But Aircel, ESIC, Lavasa are handled by the person heading India and West Asia .
The Wipro management has effected these changes to enable swift decision making and single point accountability. According to an analyst firm, the company carried out these the restructuring exercise based on the customer feedback and hence it put together in place single-point accountability for ‘One Wipro' positioning.
According to the feedback, Wipro came across as a fragmented organisation. A Wipro spokesperson had earlier said that the changes in the organisation will start delivering results in the next two-three quarters. It also expects demand to return to verticals soon.
“Wipro has set high expectations by committing to deliver results of recent restructuring in the next two-three quarters. However, it may take longer for benefits to flow, as changing client perception and mindset change (within company) are long drawn processes,” Edelweiss said in its recent ‘visit note.' As far as new hirings are concerned, it will be carried out through lateral, Wipro Academy of Software Excellence (WASE) and Wipro Eco-System (WES). WASE is a 4-year off campus MS Programme organised in collaboration with BITS, Pilani and under WES, Wipro works with mid-sized firms through whom it hires employees on a contract basis.