Nearshore Americas

Infosys Reportedly Cuts 31 Jobs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Indian outsourcing giant Infosys is reportedly cutting 31 jobs at its delivery center in Milwaukee, the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the BPO provider has notified state officials of the plan to downscale its operations.

Infosys, headquartered in Bangalore, launched a delivery center in Milwaukee in 2012 following its deal with motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc. to provide IT and consulting services.

The Indian company, according to analysts, may also have gained other clients in Milwaukee, because, at the center’s inauguration its executives had talked of dedicating about 70 of 120 employees to work for Harley-Davidson.

A year later, Infosys moved its operations to a new office within the city after renovating it at a cost of $1.4 million.

The agreement it signed with Harley-Davidson has a five-year time frame. Analysts in Bangalore say it is not clear what caused the outsourcer to cut jobs in the U.S. city because it is still not known which other clients Infosys is serving in Milwaukee.

Harley laid off more than a hundred IT workers soon after it outsourced its IT work, although those who lost their jobs were offered work at the Infosys center in Milwaukee.

Harley claimed the credit for Infosys’ expansion to Milwaukee, saying that it insisted that Infosys open an office in Milwaukee if it wanted the company’s business. “The five-year engagement with the world’s leading American motorcycle manufacturer was the catalyst for locating the new facility,” stated the Infosys press release issued in 2012.

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More than half a dozen senior executives have left Infosys over the past six months. Earlier this month, CEO Shibulal has also announced his plans to retire next January. When approached by Nearshore Americas, Infosys was unavailable for comment.

Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

2 comments

  • Interesting but hardly surprising development of recent months. Murthy and his son, Murty, are now in charge of all decision making in the company. The focus up till now has only been on reducing costs, leading to droves of senior executives leaving the company since last June, large scale attrition of mid-level employees, especially outside the low cost centers of India. Was only a matter of time before the US centers got hit.

    Also, leadership would not want to invite flak for firing people after giving over the project to Infosys, so would have baked into the contract a slow choking of people handed over by it to Infosys over the next 36 or 48 months. These things are always planned but never let on to folks.