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December 11, 2019

One year in, Infosys hires more than 500 in CT

HBJ Photo | Sean Teehan Gov. Ned Lamont, state Office of Higher Education Executive Director Timothy Larson and Infosys CEO Ravi Kumar at Infosys' Hartford Hub on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
By Sean Teehan

At an event Tuesday marking one year since tech giant Infosys opened its Hartford operation, officials from the company and state touted the firm as a job creator with the potential to help reinvent Connecticut’s Capital City as an East Coast tech hub.

Since March 2018, the company has hired 170 people in its Hartford hub, and more than 500 statewide, most of whom moved to Connecticut to work at the company, said Jeff Auker, head of technology and innovation at Infosys’ Hartford hub.

“Sixty percent … have been from the New York, New Jersey, Boston areas, [and] Philly,” Auker said, adding the company currently has 40 open positions it is trying to fill. “Once they get here, we’ve got the best retention of any of the [Infosys] centers here in Hartford.”

Infosys CEO Ravi Kumar said the company is ahead of schedule in delivering on its promise to hire 1,000 people in Connecticut by 2023. He also said the company is attracting clients from New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, in addition to Connecticut, bolstering hopes Hartford is on its way to becoming a regional tech industry player.

Kumar noted the company is looking outside the traditional hiring base of computer science and engineering majors, largely through its partnership with Trinity College, in which Trinity faculty and Infosys jointly provide training to new Infosys employees with liberal arts and other backgrounds. They are trained to become entry-level business analysts.

“We do believe that the future of digital capabilities is actually going to be in non-STEM … from liberal arts and design,” Kumar said. 

He also said the Infosys Digital Apprenticeship program is actively recruiting and hiring from the state’s community colleges.

That piece is key to workforce development in Connecticut, said Garrett Moran, chairman of the Governor’s Workforce Council.

“This is a moment in time when we can lift a lot of people out of poverty, and out of working poverty to great careers that have great futures,” Moran said.

Developing a state workforce capable of filling positions in the tech field is key to avoid embarrassing corporate defections like General Electric’s 2016 decision to relocate its headquarters to Boston, said Gov. Ned Lamont.

He said GE officials told him a large factor in their decision was a dearth of talent.

Infosys, Lamont said, demonstrates the results a focus on workforce development can deliver.

“Let’s make sure we never fall behind [on workforce development] again,” Lamont said. “Companies around the country can go anywhere they want to, and I’ve got to make sure that they don’t leave Connecticut, or they don’t not come to Connecticut because they can’t find the people here.” 

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