Infosys to grow workforce to 4,000 employees including nearly 500 graduates
Infosys’s growing presence in Australia has just become far more obvious. The next-generation technology services and consulting firm has announced their intention to grow their workforce by over 1,200 earlier this week, with 40% of those newly created jobs reserved for graduates.
Bangalore-based Infosys earlier this year announced the grand slam partnership with the Australian Open, taking over the reins from IT heavyweight IBM. Infosys, who have been active in Australia since 2003 and have played a heavy role in the government’s digitisation push, have now dropped another groundbreaking announcement, which includes the development of three Innovation Hubs across Australia.
Infosys already has a presence across ANZ with offices in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Auckland and is headquartered in Melbourne. Whilst it has not been revealed where the new Innovation Hubs will be located, the firm has let it slip that they’re expecting to grow by 1,200 IT jobs in Australia by 2020.
Of this number, the firm says that around 40 per cent will be Australian university graduates from a range of fields including Computer Science and Design. They’re currently busy strengthening their academic partnerships to attract top graduate talent and accelerate digital skill building in Australia.
“Today marks an important milestone for our company in our 20 year journey in Australia,” said Pravin Rao, Infosys’ COO at a press conference earlier this week. “As a key technology partner of Australian business, we are proud to announce our commitment to accelerating digital skills in the region through the creation of 1200 skilled jobs, the development of our new Innovation Hubs and our deepening partnerships with academia.”
According to Rao, the innovation hubs will serve as a platform which brings together Infosys’ clients but will also be open to academics, students and the public sector. By creating an open environment which fosters innovation and co-creation, the hubs will help position Australia in terms of industry 4.0 capabilities.
By equipping Australia with a strong foundation to meet rising demand for expertise in emerging technologies, the firm will solidify its position as a industry leader and drive economic growth. The hubs will focus on areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), user experience, cyber security, digital platforms, big data and cloud.
Karen Andrews, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, commented on the announcement, saying, “I welcome Infosys’ decision to create 1200 IT jobs in Australia by 2020. It’s a great vote of confidence in our economy and the Coalition Government’s commitment to jobs of the future, that a company of Infosys’ global standing would make this kind of investment here”.
Graduation to full time work
The firm’s announcement that 40% of the intake will be fresh graduates comes during a period of increasing uncertainty for young Australians. According to a report released earlier this year by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), it now takes graduates an average of 4.7 years to transition from education into full time work. Young Australians have also been portrayed as an army of dole-bludgers draining the country’s economy by the mainstream media.
The gap between university and full time employment is said to cost the Australian economy roughly $15 billion in lost GDP per year. With this in mind, the nearly 500 new jobs for graduates is a rare win for young Australians who are either unemployed or under-employed after university.
“Continuous education is a collective effort and we are proud to work with the government, academia and local communities to help build and shape our next-generation of entrepreneurs and innovators”, said Andrew Groth, Senior Vice President for Infosys Australia and New Zealand.
“Building our Australian talent pool is already underway. So far, we have recruited 75 graduates, and more than half have completed their induction training and are ready to be placed on strategic client projects. Under this program, graduates start their Infosys learning journey in our Sydney and Melbourne training centres. They can choose from high demand areas, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, user experience, cyber security, cloud and big data,” he concludes.
