14 of 100 Employees Left Wipro; TCS Reduced Headcount: What IT Workforce Data Shows

In every business, people matter. But in IT services, people are the business. The “product” is project delivery, and delivery depends on stable teams.

That is why one people metric deserves attention: attrition rate, which means the percentage of employees leaving a company. In 2025, about 14 out of every 100 employees left Wipro, an attrition rate of 14.2%.

In this blog, you will learn what this number actually means in simple terms, how Wipro compares with other large IT services firms, and what higher or lower attrition can signal for execution and costs.

Attrition Stayed High Across Large IT Firms, Not Just Wipro

During Q3 FY26, Wipro reported voluntary attrition at 14.2% on a trailing 12-month basis. In simple words, this is roughly 14 employees leaving out of every 100 over a year.

Employee exits were not a “Wipro-only” story. Large Indian IT firms were in a similar band, roughly around 12% to 14% attrition.

Infosys reported voluntary attrition of 12.3% in Q3 FY26, which is lower than Wipro’s 14.2% in the same broad period. TCS reported voluntary attrition of 13.5%, while HCL Tech disclosed an attrition rate of 12.4% during the same period.

Source: Company filings

A 1-2 percentage point difference looks small, but at very large headcounts, it can translate into thousands of employees, and that can affect staffing stability and replacement costs.

Why lower attrition can help margins

Every time a company replaces an employee, it spends money and time. Recruiting, training, and onboarding all cost money. Onboarding means helping a new joiner become productive.

So, companies with lower attrition may save costs by hiring less urgently and by keeping experienced people longer, which can support steadier delivery and sometimes better profitability over time.

When exits stay high, what it can signal

Persistent employee exits may signal pressure on work culture, pay competitiveness, or job satisfaction. These are not always visible in a profit and loss statement, but they show up indirectly through delivery quality and employee productivity.

This is why attrition is a “quiet” but important metric in IT services. It tells you how stable the delivery engine is.

TCS Saw Headcount Decline while Peers Expanded

Attrition is one part of the people story. The other part is net headcount change, which simply shows whether a company is running with a smaller or bigger workforce.

TCS stands out because its headcount fell. Its latest headcount is 582,163 (Q3 FY26), with net change of -11,151 in the quarter and -25,191 in 2025. This typically signals tighter hiring and a cautious stance, often linked to cost control, softer demand, or a push to keep utilisation high (utilisation means the share of employees working on billable client projects).

Peers looked more growth-oriented, but in different shades. Infosys and Wipro added employees in the latest quarter and over the year, while HCL Tech and LTIMindtree also grew on a full-year basis but were mixed in the latest quarter, suggesting more calibrated hiring.

Source: Company filings

How a retail investor should read this: falling headcount can protect margins in a slow patch but may reduce readiness if demand improves. Adding headcount can support growth, but if demand is weak, it can increase bench (bench means employees not currently billed to a client project).

What Retail Investors Should Know

Attrition and headcount are like two health checks for an IT services company: stability and capacity. One tells you how steady teams are, the other tells you how much delivery muscle the company is keeping.

A calm way to use these numbers is to track the direction for a few quarters, not just one data point. Also, compare it with peers, because the whole sector moves together in cycles.

• Watch whether attrition is trending down, flat, or rising over time.
• Check if headcount changes match the demand narrative management is giving.
• Remember: lower attrition can reduce replacement costs and support smoother project execution.
• A headcount drop can be cost control, but too much of it can limit growth readiness later.
• Use peer comparison to avoid judging one company in isolation.

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