Wipro Expands its Internal Talent Pool to Accelerate Development

Wipro, India's fourth largest IT services company, is increasing internal talent as it prepares for a market recovery in 2025, according to chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil.

Following a series of senior-level departures during the previous CEO's tenure, the almost $11 billion-revenue IT services behemoth is attempting to build stability in the company under CEO Srinivas Pallia, he said.

"Srini is attempting to ensure that the leaders he selects are there for the long haul. Second, there is a nice balance of people who have grown from within and without. He has not made significant structural or strategic changes. "He wants minimal change," Govil stated.

Pallia became Wipro's CEO and managing director in April of this year, succeeding Thierry Delaporte. Over the last year, Wipro has lost over a dozen senior executives.

Pallia has also promoted experienced executives to prominent positions at billionaire Azim Premji's Bengaluru-based company.

Over the last two quarters, top-tier IT providers, including Wipro, have seen early signs of a business comeback and client transaction pipeline in North America's main growth region and the crucial financial services sector.

"Our focus is, as we see green shoots in the macro environment, how can we make sure that there are no supply side constraints on managing the demand which is going to come," Govil said.

Govil also hinted at some "growth pains" coming. Increased attrition and a larger salary expense can reduce profit margins. During the decline in growth, IT investors have focused heavily on margins. He did, however, defend the impact on margins, stating that margins will be addressed once growth returns.

However, following a nearly two-year hiatus in which hiring in the $254 billion software services sector has essentially ceased, Wipro has begun hiring from both campuses and experienced personnel.

Wipro expects to have hired around 7,000-7,500 workers by December 31, or the first nine months of the fiscal year, including the completion of all backlogs.

IT companies attracted freshers from universities but did not hire them due to a lack of demand. The corporation has also shifted its focus toward engineering college campuses.

"We have now adjusted it to train first, then hire. We collaborate with several of our partners, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). "We select people, train and assess them, and then onboard them so they can be deployed much faster," Govil explained.

Wipro is also collaborating with select universities to build academies, assisting them in understanding market expectations and recommending curriculum adjustments to ensure that new graduates are billable or billable-ready before joining Wipro.

It has collaborated with institutes including as IIT-Delhi, IISc-Bangalore, and other regional universities in ten cities, including Chandigarh, Noida, and Coimbatore, to promote research and development in new technologies such as cybersecurity, big data, and cloud computing.

As firms prepare staff for the GenAI wave, Govil believes AI will contribute to productivity increases, but at some point, growth will become unrelated to headcount.