Dive Brief:
- Infosys will create a "Design and Innovation hub" in Providence, Rhode Island that is set to hire about 500 people over five years, according to a company announcement on Monday.
- The Rhode Island location is intended to "close the gap for design and human-centric" skills in technology fields, according to the announcement. The hub will conduct training for "early-career designers" and allow them to connect with industry experts. The Infosys Foundation USA already has 4.7 million students and 13,000 teachers nationwide.
- Infosys chose Rhode Island for its high population of a "design-focused" workforce and access to local startups. The company wants to further develop skills in AI, ML and user experience design with talent from American colleges.
Dive Insight:
Infosys, among other tech companies, readjusted its hiring process partially in response to the uncertainty coming from the Trump administration and pressure to accommodate the "Hire American" initiative.
The India-based company previously pledged to hire 10,000 U.S. workers and establish four locations in the U.S. over the course of two years. The company previously announced Raleigh, North Carolina and Indianapolis, Indiana as its first two hubs. Both locations are set to hire about 2,000 employees each.
Still, Infosys saw change internally after its CEO, Vishal Sikka, resigned in August saying the "the distractions, the very public noise around us, have created an untenable atmosphere." There is speculation that the "noise" Sikka is referring to is around the company's use of the H-1B visa program.
Sikka believed in outsourcing talent as India is a leader in the market, but the changes to the H-1B visa program are forcing companies to reexamine how they access top talent. The U.S. is a leader in cloud-based technologies, and Infosys is looking to access the talent most trained in it. Establishing a presence in the American workforce will allow Infosys to stay relevant in competitive global IT, according to Sikka.
