New Delhi, June 13: Infosys, India's second-largest software exporter on Thursday announced salary increments of an average 8% for the financial year 2014. The increment will be for all eligible employees of the IT firm.
The salary hike will be effective from July 1 onwards. The global sales force of Infosys will also get an average salary hike of 8%. The global sales force will see an average increase of 8% which will be effective May 1, 2013.
Employees based in other geographies, who have not been covered by salary increases in February 2013, can look forward to an average increase of 3%.
Infosys has been in focus this month for getting back NR Narayana Murthy as its Executive Chairman. Earlier this month, ET had reported that employees at the Electronics City campus of Infosys on the outskirts of Bangalore said Murthy's return is like the unexpected, surprise visit of an extended family member.
"We were happy that Murthy is coming back. We have an extended family and whenever a family member comes back, either invited or as a surprise, you are always happy," said Shishank Gupta, an assistant vice-president at India's second-largest software exporter.
Murthy, who is turning 67 in August, was designated as the chairman emeritus after he announced his retirement from all executive posts at the age of 65 in 2011. Several employees that ET spoke with said that Murthy's return is a big morale booster and hoped for timely pay increases and promotions. They are certain that Murthy will never compromise on increments. Infosys had irked its over 1.5 lakh employees when it decided to freeze salaries last April when rest of the industry was giving out pay hikes.
Employee churn has gone up to 16.3% at the company, at a time when attrition is on a declining trend for most of its large rivals. Murthy endeared himself to even the most junior staff by interacting with them casually and making himself easily approachable. "Whenever he was in campus, he would come to cafeteria for lunch, stand in queue like one among us. We never saw Shibu (SD Shibulal) and Kris (S Gopalakrishnan) at cafeteria.
Apart from Murthy's comeback, the appointment of his son Rohan as his executive assistant was another surprise for the employees. By allowing Murthy's son to join the company, Infosys board is going back on Murthy's own policy of keeping relatives of founders' families away from the company. "We had a good laugh at this. The compensation (Rohan takes a token Rs 1 as annual pay) is immaterial. It is sad to see Infosys in such a state that it succumbs to every condition of NRN," said an employee.
