TCS boasts over a lakh strong Gen-AI ready workforce but total headcount dips more than 6,300 in Q2

IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on October 11 said its Gen-AI ready workforce was over 100,000 strong at the end of the September quarter of the fiscal. However, the firm’s overall headcount dipped by more 6,300 employees during the quarter, the firm’s second quarter earnings revealed.

N. Ganapathy Subramaniam, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of TCS, in a statement said, “We continue to make investments in our people and new technologies. We now have a 100,000-strong pool of Gen-AI Ready consultants and prompt-engineers who are engaged in hundreds of Gen-AI projects for our clients across segments.”

However, TCS' overall employee count reduced from 615,318 at the end of the June quarter to 608,985 at the end of the July to September period, implying a decline of 6,333 employees overall.

The firm said its total employee base reflects the company’s focus on improving workforce utilisation and productivity. “The employee base continues to be very diverse, with 35.8% women and with 152 nationalities,” it added.

The reduction in the workforce strength comes on expected lines, as experts had earlier suggested that the second quarter was to witness subdued hiring. In fact, Sunil C, CEO of TeamLease Digital, had told CNBC-TV18, “We are expecting a degrowth in the employee base like in the previous quarter. Overall requirements are still negligible and mostly happening as replacements for critical talent."

It must be noted that among the top five IT firms, TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra, TCS was the only firm to have added 523 employee in the April to June 2023 period. Others, meanwhile, had witnessed a net reduction in hiring.

Meanwhile, the attrition rate has reduced to 14.9% during the quarter against 17.7% in the previous quarter. Also, in 2023, TCSers have clocked 26.4 million learning hours, and acquired 2.6 million competencies, including 350,000 high-demand competences, the company said.

As has been TCS’ stance in the past two quarters of “disciplined and efficient” hiring, this time Milind Lakkad, Chief HR Officer, said the firm’s strategy of proactively hiring bright freshers and investing in training them with the right skills is paying off.

“With that talent coming on stream and with reduced attrition, we were able to recalibrate our gross additions, keeping it below the departures during the quarter, driving up productivity and enhancing project outcomes,” he added.