The attrition rate at India's IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd shot up during the October-December third quarter of fiscal 2010-11 on annualised basis, with more employees leaving than it hired.
Though the global software major hired 11,067 employees during the quarter, the net addition was 5,311 techies, as 5,756 left the company for various voluntary and involuntary reasons.
"The attrition rate has gone up to 17.5% by December from 11.6% in like period year ago and by 0.4% sequentially from 17.01% at the end of the previous quarter (September)," the company said in a statement in Bangalore on Thursday.
With additional hiring, the total number of employees stood at 127,779 at the end of the third quarter (December 31) as against 122,468 a quarter ago and 109,882 a year ago.
Infosys' board director and human resources development head T V Mohandas Pai, however, maintained that attrition had reduced in the parent company (sequentially) and the employee engagement programme had shown good results.
Attrition during the second quarter was 6,618 employees while net addition was 7,646 employees.
{{/usCountry}}Attrition during the second quarter was 6,618 employees while net addition was 7,646 employees.
{{/usCountry}}"Employee referrals are at an all-time high. Lateral hiring was a record this quarter," Pai said in a statement.
The company's back office subsidiary (Infosys BPO) lost 582 employees during the quarter, resulting in its total strength declining to 17,978 from 18,560 at the end of the previous quarter.