GCCs In India Are Expanding, And So Are The Talent Acquisition Challenges

Today, the presence of GCCs has exponentially increased and so has the scope of their work. Right from offering the conventional back-end support to high-value services related to emerging technologies like AI & ML to driving innovation, GCCs now play a catalytic role in driving business growth.

NASSCOM estimates a sharp rise in the number of GCCs from 1,430 at present to 1,900 by 2025. The growth of GCCs at such a rapid pace is expected to create a significant demand for skilled IT talent in India, which is already in short supply.

In this blog, we touch upon the evolving nature of GCCs and the talent acquisition challenges faced by them.

An EY survey found that about 76% GCCs believe they are not adequately equipped to attract skilled talent. Given the expanding scope of GCCs to deliver high-value functions while serving as strategic partners to their parent organizations, these entities have started working on revamping their personnel policies in the past few years.

Most organizations emphasize three essential pillars to attract and retain talent– employee’s professional growth, engagement, and experience.

Mirroring their work culture to meet employee expectations, GCCs are actively providing the much-demanded upskilling and reskilling opportunities to their employees. Reports suggest that GCCs have cumulatively spent approximately $275-325 million in the past six years on digital skilling of their employees.

The focus is also increasing on grooming in-house talent for leadership positions to take on diverse global roles, thereby further widening the scope of growth for employees.

In addition to providing ample opportunities for professional growth, GCCs are also developing extensive perks and rewards like LTIs and high-value bonuses to keep their employees content and engaged.

The striking pace at which new-age GCCs are being established has exponentially amplified the demand for skilled IT talent. NASSCOM predicts GCCs to employ close to 2 million employees by 2025 against the current 1.3 million GCC workforce.

Advanced skills like AI, ML, cloud management, and automation have become part of the standard skill set requirements for GCC candidates, while the talent pool for such skills remains limited. This talent pool gap serves as the biggest challenge for hiring in GCCs.

Usual recruitment routes like campus hiring are ineffective, with only 10% GCCs attributing it as a major source of hiring. While hiring from competitor GCCs and core-IT companies remains the main source, GCCs are also exploring hiring from Tier-II and Tier-III locations.

While this has opened up a new talent gateway through remote working, the major challenge that arises over here is cybersecurity, as most GCCs are located in metros and about 58% of GCC leaders believe that remote working increases the probability of data breaches.

The key enabler in ensuring a smooth talent acquisition process for GCCs is having access to a wide pool of background-checked candidates with the requisite skills, backed by support from a team of seasoned industry professionals with a rich background in end-to-end recruitment.

Taggd does just that. With an active database of more than one million candidates, Taggd offers ready-to-hire talent to organizations while deploying customized hiring solutions based on the latest industry insights and hiring trends.

Interesting read: How Taggd Helped A Global Consumer Insights Leader To Build And Set Up Capability Centers In India