More offshoring to India in case of US slump

MUMBAI, INDIA: When TCS announced its Q3 results on January 16, it had maintained its attrition rate at 12.2 per cent and declared it to be the lowest in the industry. This interestingly brought in the topic of retention of talent in an industry that sees astronomical turnovers and more so with the rupee appreciating against the US Dollar.

Prasad Ramasubramanian of CyberMedia News spoke to Kalpana Jaishankar, vice president (Human Resources) at Patni to know about the scenario that’s prevailing at the moment. Excerpts from the interview:

Could you give us an overview of the impact that the possible US recession would have on the IT recruitments front in India and in the US markets both from Patni's perspective and from the industry end? The impact of a possible US recession could be increased offshoring of projects to India because of the cost and quality advantage and therefore an impact of reduced intake in the US market.

What are the latest trends that you witness in the HR functionary?

The demand from the HR function is extremely high – Business demands a super fast response from HR with respect to recruitment, progressive policies, seamless operations and a complete understanding of business needs. Further the time span for growth is much faster and therefore there is a need to groom people faster and once again a demand from the HR functionary to ensure this for retention and development purposes.

With companies increasing their scale of operations and expanding their reach across geographies, how has this affected the rate of growth of HR functionary in IT enterprises?

There is a considerable gap of HR people at the middle and senior levels. Growth is a much accelerated pace in the HR function as in software.

What are the major challenges from the HR perspective and the opportunities for the year 2008?

Major challenges from the HR perspective continue to be retention and being the Best among Best Employers in keeping employees engaged.

How have you seen the growth of salaries in this industry and what according to you would be the trend in the year 2008?

Growth in salaries in the industry has been in the range of 12 to 14 per cent and the trend is going to continue.

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