Unhappy with increments, close to 5 lakh techies looking for new job, says report

The number of job seekers within the IT industry in the country is on the rise following poor appraisal in the last cycle, The Economic Times reported, citing a recent study. The number of techies looking for a new job has risen by three times as compared to the pre-appraisal figure.

The study by staffing firm, Xpheno, mapped over 17 lakh employees from the top 13 IT services companies in the country, including Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Cognizant Technologies. And, as per the report, 4.72 lakh employees were found actively searching for job during the last two months, a stark rise from the fewer than 1.7 lakh workers seeking new opportunities during the June-July period.

The techies, a majority of whom are in relatively senior positions with over a decade of experience, were on the lookout because of their unhappiness with increments in the last annual appraisal cycle.

The development, the report, said comes as IT firms are bracing themselves to cope with the new challenges, forcing them to take a more stringent approach on remunerations. Employees with niche skills especially in in-demand technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, user interface, and machine learning etc. are much sought after.

“Usually post appraisal there is attrition in the IT services sector ... now the companies are getting more stringent when it comes to performance as the environment is getting hypercompetitive," Sangeeta Gupta, a senior vice president at IT industry body Nasscom was quoted as saying by the Economic Times. "Companies are also putting a premium on talent with niche skills and high level of performance," she added.