Indian companies are increasingly turning to contract and outsourced hiring as AI ​related uncertainty has firms rethinking their workforce planning, a top executive ‌at staffing firm TeamLease Services said on Thursday.

Firms ​across sectors are slowing hiring and ⁠reassessing headcount needs as they experiment with AI-led automation, even as India remains a key global hiring market for multinational companies ‌and global capability centres, Chief Financial Officer Ramani Dathi told Reuters in an interview.

"Firms that ‌cut staff (numbers) by 50% after adopting AI tools ‌were ⁠coming back within months saying they ⁠still needed people to manage them," Dathi said, adding that the company was advising clients to keep 20%-30% of their workforce on outsourced ​or variable models.

The comments ‌highlight a broader shift in hiring, with companies pivoting to flexible staffing and AI-led workforce realignments even as demand grows for specialised tech talent and GCCs ‌expand beyond IT roles.

A report by job ​search portal Indeed and IT industry body Nasscom released on Thursday found nearly all ⁠organisations expect their 2026 workforce strategy to centre on AI-related or AI-supported roles, while 40% expect a major ‌workforce rejig.

Teamlease, which manages more than 340,000 associates and trainees, said it is currently able to fill only about 30% of open positions from clients because of mismatches on salary expectations, location preferences and required skills.

Nearly one-third of TeamLease's GCC workforce are ‌now in non-IT roles, Dathi said.

The company is also seeing rising ​demand for cybersecurity professionals with AI specialization, with firms willing to pay 30%-40% salary premiums ⁠for such talent, she added.

The trend mirrors broader industry ⁠demand, with the Indeed-Nasscom report showing nearly two thirds of employers across industries had increased hiring ‌for AI-related roles over the past year, led by sectors such as banking, finance services, insurance and ​telecommunications.

Published on May 21, 2026