Tata Consultancy Services' gross hiring during the recently concluded quarter was the highest by the company since its inception.
It added 20,349 new hands — a combination of laterals and campus recruits — during the period, said Mr Ajoy Mukherjee, Execuitve Vice-President and Global Head, Human Resources.
Attrition decreased sharply for the company, dropping to 13.7 per cent from 14.8 per cent in the first quarter. Attrition in the IT services business was 12.51 per cent, while BPO attrition stood at 24.25 per cent.
“We have been looking at several employee engagement levers to rein in attrition…Moreover in the first quarter, we always have higher churn because it coincides with the start of the academic year for higher studies…going forward, we would lover to see attrition at even lower levels and that is something we will continue to work on,” said Mr Mukherjee.
TCS now has 2,14,770 staffers on its rolls. The utilisation rate (excluding trainees) was flat at 83.1 per cent and that including trainees was 76.4 per cent.
“We will run a tight shop…we will take utilisation to 85 if need be,” said Mr N. Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. TCS has a stated target of hiring 60,000 employees at a gross level in fiscal 2011-12.