Tech Mahindra, an IT services firm, has disclosed a sequential decrease in its employee count by 795 for the fourth quarter ending 31 March. This aligns with the broader industry trend experiencing a slowdown in hiring due to macroeconomic challenges and uncertainties in demand.
This fiscal year, FY24, marks the second consecutive annual decline in headcount for Tech Mahindra, amounting to a reduction of 6,945 employees. This downturn is reminiscent of FY18 when the company also witnessed a drop in its workforce.
As of Q4, Tech Mahindra’s total headcount stood at 145,455, reflecting a decrease of 4,354 employees from the previous quarter.
Despite the decline in overall headcount, the attrition rate for Q4 decreased to 10 per cent from 11 per cent in Q3. This continues the trend of declining attrition rates observed since the beginning of fiscal year 2023.
In the upcoming fiscal year, FY25, Tech Mahindra plans to recruit approximately 6,000 freshers. It has been absorbing over 1,500 graduates every quarter. It will be imparting artificial intelligence or AI-related training to more than 50,000 employees.
This recruitment strategy differs from its peers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro, which have not disclosed specific targets for fresher hiring in the new fiscal year. Emphasising a focus on early career and fresher workforce development, Tech Mahindra aims to train and deploy them as part of its business turnaround strategy by 2027, as stated by Rohit Anand, CFO, during an analyst call on 25 April.
The objective is to get ahead of competition in terms of average topline growth by FY2026-27.