Less than 1 percent of IT workforce laid off

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 16:18 IST   |    10 Comments
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Less than 1 percent of IT workforce laid off
Bangalore: "Less than one percent of the total workforce has been laid off in the information technology and business process outsourcing industry," said Pramod Bhasin, Nasscom Chairman and Genpact President and CEO. Nasscom executives have said that the industry has not yet come in the grip of large-scale layoffs. "We have seen the slowdown affecting the primary markets and impacting consumer spending. But this has not necessarily translated into massive layoffs of IT industry personnel. At least, I am not aware of any," Bhasin said on the sidelines of the Nasscom BPO Strategy Summit held in Bangalore on Tuesday. "No member company of Nasscom has resorted to lay off employees in large numbers," Bhasin said, adding, "a key fallout of the ongoing economic slowdown is that companies are less tolerant of non-performance from their employees than they were earlier." Nasscom President Som Mittal said, "While there have been reports of small-scale layoffs running into the hundreds, the bigger issue is that no company is hiring in large numbers. This is forcing students to enroll for higher courses to increase their employment skill." Bhasin felt investments in new markets, research and development activity and expanding domain skills would increase in the face of the slowdown. "Once growth picks up, the industry will move more and more into the smaller towns, which will increase employment," Bhasin said. Mittal also said, "There is a clear willingness on the part of everybody concerned - government, industry, employees and other stakeholders - to work together to overcome the situation."