Record net hiring by TCS in FY22; attrition up 17.4%

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s largest software exporter, has registered a record increase in its employee headcount in FY22, while it also reported a spike in attrition during the fiscal.

The IT major hired as many as 103,546 employees in FY22, the “highest ever” net addition in a year by the company. The company also witnessed the highest ever employee additions of 35,209 on a net basis during the January-March quarter of FY22.

The Tata group company's total employee count stood at 592,195 at the end of the fiscal. However, the company’s IT services attrition (LTM) continued to remain high at 17.4% for FY22, up from 15.3% in the December 2021 quarter. Management said that though the attrition rate is high, the numbers are moderating on an incremental basis.

“IT services attrition continued to climb. However, incremental attrition has moderated," says the IT behemoth in its earnings report on Monday.

“With the highest ever net addition this year, consistently highest talent retention, benchmark talent development metrics, continued focus on health and well-being and numerous industry awards, we have reaffirmed TCS’ position as the number 1 employer of choice,” says Milind Lakkad, chief HR Officer, TCS.

The Mumbai-headquartered firm says the workforce continued to be diverse, comprising 153 nationalities and with women making up 35.6% of the workforce. TCS added around 1,00,000 freshers in FY22 amid huge demand for IT services as Covid-19 pandemic forced many companies to go fully remote.

Going forward, the company plans to continue its hiring momentum in line with the previous fiscal, and expects to add 40,000 employees in first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1 FY23). “We will start with a campus hiring number of 40,000 for the Q1 of FY23," said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, COO and executive director, TCS, in a post earnings commentary.

The company in its earnings release says its focus on organic talent development continues to produce best-in-class outcomes. “In Q4, TCSers logged 22 million learning hours. For the full year, the company’s investments in learning and development resulted in the workforce acquiring 3.5 million digital competencies. The number of contextual masters crossed 50,000 – another key milestone in the journey to scale growth and transformation capabilities within the organization,” it added.

TCS closed full financial year 2022 with a net profit of ₹38,327 crore, up 14.8% on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis. The revenue jumped 16.8% Y-o-Y to ₹191,754 crore. For the January-March quarter of FY22, the IT behemoth reported a consolidated net profit of ₹9,926 crore as compared to ₹9,246 crore a year ago, registering a growth of 7%. Revenue from operations jumped 16% Y-o-Y to ₹50,591 crore for the quarter ending March 2022.

Commenting on financial performance, Rajesh Gopinathan, chief executive officer and managing director, said: “We are closing FY22 on a strong note, with mid-teen growth and adding the maximum incremental revenue ever. Increasing participation in our customers’ growth and transformation journeys, and an all-time high order book provide a strong and sustainable foundation for continued growth ahead.”

Boosted by strong earnings, TCS' board has also recommended a final dividend of ₹22 per equity share for FY22.