Fresher-heavy talent pyramid of Infy heads to US

BENGALURU: India’s second-largest software services exporter Infosys is taking its time-tested talent pyramid model — with a large base of freshers at the bottom — to the US where it plans to hire more than 10,000 people in two years.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company said it would focus on hiring more fresh graduates in the US and train them to create a diverse set of talent pool with specialisations in liberal arts and economics.

As per its renewed strategy under chief executive Salil Parekh, Infosys would also replicate the an onsite talent pyramid, which will be in line with the talent model practised in India for more than three decades, in Europe and Australia, the company said.


Ravi Kumar S, president at Infosys, said it is important to get closer to clients because “life cycles of the projects are very agile in nature” and the speed of deployment is crucial. “You are not going to get many lateral or experienced talent because you do not have it in the US. So we hired from universities at scale,” he said.

A large number of these fresh graduates will be trained in emerging technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and design thinking in the US and be placed close to the client.

The company believes hiring freshers will help it combat a shortage in experienced people who can work with the IT services company and deliver services to clients. “Large part of our talent pool can only come through reskilling,” said Pravin Rao, chief operating officer at Infosys.

Analysts said this move could help Infosys get to markets faster with right resources.

“This will help them improve time to market for clients,” said Ray Wang, principal analyst at Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research. “This is something Salil (Parekh) has had much experience with, but I believe he wanted to see if it would work for Infosys,” he said.

Peter Bendor-Samuel, chief executive at Everest Group, however, expects the increased local hiring on-site to impact Infosys’ operating margin.

“I do not think that the hiring of US talent, which is replacing importing Indian talent, will better position Infosys or any other of the Indian firms in their ability to win business,” he said. “In fact the higher cost of this talent will negatively affect margins. We estimate that over time it is likely to cost Infosys up to 3 points of margin.”

Bendor-Samuel said this model “would go some way to levelling the playing field with domestic competition”.

Infosys will also have specialised hubs in specific US cities. While the Rhode Island facility will have specialisation in design thinking, North Carolina will focus on open source technology.

Employees at the bottom of the pyramid may have different roles on-site and offshore, irrespective of their level within the company, said Rajesh Gupta, India partner at IT consultancy firm ISG. “Onsite employees at the bottom will probably have digital technologyfocused duties,” he said.

Bendor-Samuel of Everest Group said, “Implementing the same talent recruiting and management structure in the US and EU has long been considered, but Infosys and other Indian firms have held off on implementing this as it increases cost and was unnecessary as long as they had the ability to import the talent needed.”