Infosys not to disclose involuntary attrition going forward, Q1 voluntary attrition fell to 11.7%

The Infosys management usually don't shy away from disclosing involuntary attrition figures when asked during the media interactions, but they did not disclose the breakup on Wednesday.

“We will be disclosing only voluntary attrition from this quarter as that is what industry is doing,“ COO Pravin Rao said during the company’s virtual press conference following the Q1 results.

Infosys' attrition in the March quarter had stood at 18.2 percent on a standalone basis, and the company management had disclosed that the involuntary attrition had fallen by 50 bps in the quarter. In Q3, involuntary attrition comprised 2 percent of the 17.6 percent attrition in the quarter.

Involuntary attrition entails layoffs linked to performance or other factors.

Infosys’ overall employee base fell by over 3000 to 2.39 lakh from 2.42 lakh in the March quarter. This is despite the company stated that it had onboarded nearly 5,000 laterals globally.

Rao added there was no “structured program” to let go of senior people, when asked about attrition.

Voluntary attrition fell in the quarter owing to the initiatives taken on employee engagement, the company said, adding that it expects 25,000 campus recruits to join in a phased manner from the current quarter.

The company also upped variable pay in the quarter, which hit margins by 100 bps, CFO Niranjan Roy said.  Infosys said it has transitioned 99 percent of its employees to work from home during the quarter.

The training of 5,000 freshers at Mysuru campus was also converted to virtual training, Rao said.  Infosys also said the recent ban on H1B visas until December will not have a big impact on the company given that 60 percent of its employees in the US are visa independent, but the management criticised the move.

“The H1B visa rule doesn't make logical sense. But there is no short-term impact (on Infosys),” said Rao. “Our focus on localisation has helped us. 60% of employees in the US are now visa independent."

Infosys has hired more than 13,000 US nationals since 2017, Rao added.