iStockGlobal capability centres (GCCs) are increasingly turning to IT companies in their search for senior talent, the findings of a new survey show.
About a quarter of senior executives in GCCs are from the IT services sector, according to a study conducted by staffing firm Xpheno. The report was shared exclusively with ET.
According to the findings, there are about 120 top GCCs in India with some 21,000 senior executive roles, including those of vice-president, assistant vice-president, senior vice-president and director. These senior executives have a minimum experience of 15 years, and in the last one year, more than 100 have moved from an IT company to a GCC.
Higher compensations, slow hiring in IT services and promising global presence are some reasons for IT talent to move to GCCs, experts at WTW India and Everest Group told ET.
“This talent pool of leaders grew by 5% over the last 12 months, which translates to over 1,000 leadership movements, including internal elevation and lateral hiring,” said Siddharth Verma, business head, Xpheno Executive Search.
Currently, the Indian IT services cohort has more than 102,000 active professionals in senior roles, including CXOs, director, VP/AVP and head of department and chief of enterprise functions, the findings suggest.
In the last two years, most of the senior executives in the IT sector have moved within the sector itself, while 10% of the IT services' senior talent has gone to GCCs, 9% to product companies, and 20% to startups, according to Xpheno.
Salary is one of the main drivers. For instance, according to Xpheno’s analysis, technology leadership roles (CTO) are rewarded with on average about 14% higher pay in GCCs compared with IT services.
“We found the CFOs package being positioned around 12% higher, and the HR leader’s compensation being 25% higher than in IT services,” said Verma.
Rajul Mathur, consulting leader, Work and Rewards, WTW India, said, “IT services firms have been a good hunting ground for GCCs being set up in India. Exits have also happened to product or platform organisations. Most often exits have happened at higher pay points and more LTIs.”
India is adding 10-15 GCCs every quarter, according to Mathur. “Given that each GCC would have 10-15 senior folks, we are looking at a demand of 150 senior folks per quarter (external and internal both),” said Mathur.
Experts, including Everest Group, are seeing a year-on-year decline in talent demand for senior roles, especially across Indian pure-play service providers, including Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra.
“This decline is much more prominent for global providers, reaching 35% YoY. Our hypothesis is that hiring is slowing down in line with weak macroeconomic sentiment and tighter tech spending by clients,” said Parul Jain, vice president, Everest Group. “On the other side, there is a peak surge in hiring for senior roles in GCCs in India, further attesting to the rising insourcing trend. We expect this GCC hiring surge to keep continuing at least till the end of 2024.”
This industry witnessed very high attrition levels at the peak of the great resignation? (YES) in FY 2021-22, according to Dinkar Pawan, director, Human Capital Consulting, Deloitte. “However, over the last two years, attrition rates have significantly tapered down, and incremental hiring is either low or negative,” he said.
About a quarter of senior executives in GCCs are from the IT services sector, according to a study conducted by staffing firm Xpheno. The report was shared exclusively with ET.
According to the findings, there are about 120 top GCCs in India with some 21,000 senior executive roles, including those of vice-president, assistant vice-president, senior vice-president and director. These senior executives have a minimum experience of 15 years, and in the last one year, more than 100 have moved from an IT company to a GCC.
Higher compensations, slow hiring in IT services and promising global presence are some reasons for IT talent to move to GCCs, experts at WTW India and Everest Group told ET.
“This talent pool of leaders grew by 5% over the last 12 months, which translates to over 1,000 leadership movements, including internal elevation and lateral hiring,” said Siddharth Verma, business head, Xpheno Executive Search.
Currently, the Indian IT services cohort has more than 102,000 active professionals in senior roles, including CXOs, director, VP/AVP and head of department and chief of enterprise functions, the findings suggest.
In the last two years, most of the senior executives in the IT sector have moved within the sector itself, while 10% of the IT services' senior talent has gone to GCCs, 9% to product companies, and 20% to startups, according to Xpheno.
Salary is one of the main drivers. For instance, according to Xpheno’s analysis, technology leadership roles (CTO) are rewarded with on average about 14% higher pay in GCCs compared with IT services.
“We found the CFOs package being positioned around 12% higher, and the HR leader’s compensation being 25% higher than in IT services,” said Verma.
Rajul Mathur, consulting leader, Work and Rewards, WTW India, said, “IT services firms have been a good hunting ground for GCCs being set up in India. Exits have also happened to product or platform organisations. Most often exits have happened at higher pay points and more LTIs.”
India is adding 10-15 GCCs every quarter, according to Mathur. “Given that each GCC would have 10-15 senior folks, we are looking at a demand of 150 senior folks per quarter (external and internal both),” said Mathur.
Experts, including Everest Group, are seeing a year-on-year decline in talent demand for senior roles, especially across Indian pure-play service providers, including Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra.
“This decline is much more prominent for global providers, reaching 35% YoY. Our hypothesis is that hiring is slowing down in line with weak macroeconomic sentiment and tighter tech spending by clients,” said Parul Jain, vice president, Everest Group. “On the other side, there is a peak surge in hiring for senior roles in GCCs in India, further attesting to the rising insourcing trend. We expect this GCC hiring surge to keep continuing at least till the end of 2024.”
This industry witnessed very high attrition levels at the peak of the great resignation? (YES) in FY 2021-22, according to Dinkar Pawan, director, Human Capital Consulting, Deloitte. “However, over the last two years, attrition rates have significantly tapered down, and incremental hiring is either low or negative,” he said.
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