Infosys now losing close to a fifth of its workforce every year as attrition climbs

MUMBAI: The number of employees leaving Infosys rose in the first quarter and the company is now close to losing a fifth of its workforce a year, even as the former IT industry bellwether continues to implement its turnaround plan.

For the quarter ended June 30, attrition rose to 19.5%, up from 18.7% in the previous quarter. A year ago, Infosys had an attrition rate of 16.9%.

Attrition has been a key concern at Infosys, which has seen a string of top level executives leave over the last year. Rising attrition rates show that departures are happening at other levels of the company as well. Analysts have pointed that the underperformance and attrition could create a vicious cycle further hurting growth.

“It’s a bit of a circular loop – you lose critical middle-management talent and due to this, delivery and client satisfaction suffer, impacting growth. Once growth is seen as sluggish, the critical talent are looking for options in better-performing companies for perceived better career growth/prospects. Each feeds off the other,” Viju George, analyst with J.P.Morgan, said in a note in March.

Infosys’ attrition rate is also far higher than its larger Mumbai-based rival Tata Consultancy Services. TCS reported an attrition rate of 11.1% in the fourth quarter. TCS is scheduled to report first-quarter results next week.