Home & hearth

Mumbai, July 11: Infotech majors like Infosys, Wipro and TCS are investing in guest houses and residential campuses to accommodate the thousands of techies they hire every year.

TCS employs nearly 28,000 employees and recruits at least 3000 more every year, while Infosys and Wipro are not lagging behind with a turnaround in the IT sector. TCS officials were unwilling to speak, in view of the ‘silent period’ before its maiden public offer hits the market.

“We own about 60 flats in an apartment complex in Bangalore, which we use for Infoscions who are in the city on transit,” said Infosys chief financial officer and director (finance and administration) T. V. Mohandas Pai. “We are also building a capacity to house around 4000 people in our campus in Mysore as part of the centralised training and development initiative by Infosys,” Pai added.

Wipro is also moving on the same lines. General manager, operations, Hariprasad Hegde said, “Currently, Wipro has about 184 guest rooms in privately owned or leased properties with approximately 60,000 room nights available across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Calcutta.”

“The idea has been so popular that Wipro is in the process of adding another 200 guest rooms with an availability of approximately 70,000 additional rooms nights,” Hegde added.

Real estate rates in commercial as well as residential areas in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Calcutta are climbing as a result of this, said realty consultants.

“Guest houses are now an intrinsic part of the corporate culture and are here to stay. They provide the comfort of a home away from home and is also cost-effective,” Hegde said.

It is not cost alone that’s driving infotech companies to provide accommodation to its employees, aver analysts tracking the sector.

According to analysts, infotech companies — Indian or MNCs — are facing a problem of high attrition rate in the industry. It is, therefore, necessary that employees are given the best facilities instead of depending on external agencies, they added.

“Traditionally, hotels have always been a standard choice of accommodation of a corporate traveller. However, recently, with the emphasis on cost and convenience, corporate guest-houses have gained popularity across the industry,” Hegde said.

“The corporate traveller, who probably spends most of his time away from home, expects an environment that can provide a certain level of comfort and at the same time enjoy the basic facilities and privacy of a home,” Hegde added.

“Guest houses at Wipro are either self-owned and on campus, or are leased for the purpose. In either case, the company normally contracts an organisation/agency to manage its properties and maintain standards,” Hegde explained.