Talking about the delay in the joining dates of freshers who were recruited from colleges in 2011-12, Mr. Shibulal said the joining period has been extended by three months this time.
“Normally, we let them join between July and December. This year, the joining will go on every month till March 2013."Mr. Shibulal said that even in 2009, in the midst of the economic downturn, the company had honoured all its commitments. “We were in a state of turmoil then, and hundreds of employees were on the bench.
“With an utilisation of 70 per cent, we are in the same situation again now. But this year, we have expanded the joining period to nine months instead of the usual six months.” Mr. Gopalakrishnan noted that Infosys had striven hard to keep its fundamental values intact over the years, and despite slowdowns, honoured its commitments and never compromised on training of employees. “In fact, we increased training period of the employees to six months. The fundamentals of this organisation have not changed, and will not change,” said Mr. Shibulal.
He said the company expected a conversion of 22,000 offers from the 26,000 letters that had been sent. “The company does not intend to change its recruitment policy. About 70 per cent of our hiring comes from college campuses, and 30 per cent from lateral hiring. Last year, we made it 80 -20. This year we might go back to 70– 30,” he added.
Infosys recruited 45,000 people last year, while this year, it plans to hire 35,000 including 9,000 employees for the BPO sector.
