Gen Z churn fuels GCC backfilling surge: Report

BENGALURU: High attrition among Gen Z employees is driving a surge in backfilling across India's global capability centre (GCC) ecosystem, even as overall hiring demand witnesses a sharp rebound.

A report by Quess Corp shows Gen Z tenure has dropped below 24 months, with companies facing a 40% replacement hiring rate-meaning nearly two in five roles are being refilled rather than newly created.

The churn is most visible in high-demand tech roles, where young professionals are switching jobs rapidly for better pay, faster career progression and exposure to cutting-edge AI work. This has created a continuous cycle of hiring, training and replacement, adding pressure on companies already grappling with talent shortages.

GCC hiring saw a sharp recovery in the March quarter of FY26, with headcount expansion rising 12-14% quarter-on-quarter, more than double the 4-6% growth in the previous quarter.

The report showed that India's GCC base expanded alongside hiring, with 2,150-2,200 active centres currently operational and the workforce projected to reach 2.5-2.7 million by 2030.

The rebound is being driven by a shift toward AI-led transformation, platform engineering and infrastructure modernisation. Nearly 60% of new demand is concentrated in AI, data and platform skillsets. "The simultaneous growth in demand and ecosystem scale confirms that Q4 was not a seasonal uptick, but the beginning of a sustained recovery," said Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT Staffing.

Professional and shared services led the growth with a 16% sequential expansion. Real estate, infrastructure and security emerged as the fastest-growing segment at around 18%, followed by construction and engineering at about 15%. Hospitality, travel and logistics continued their recovery with 13% growth, while telecom and media saw a relatively moderate 9% rise.


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