The Hindu Business Line : Infy largesse is talk of the town

THE first thing Sumit did after reading the morning paper on Wednesday was to call up Gagan in Bangalore and congratulate on him on his overnight lakhpati status.

The two, who had been almost inseparable at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Lucknow, had a long chat remembering their good old student days and promised to catch up soon for a round of beer. Of course, Gagan, who was picked up from campus by Infosys, would pay for the treat.

Sumit, who works for a medium-rung software company based in Noida, says the generous dole-out to Infosys employees is, perhaps, the sole topic of discussion at all IT companies. Sumit himself could not help wondering how lucky his best friend was.

A Wipro employee in Bangalore says the average software engineer is not so much bothered about the company joining the "billion-dollar" club. But if that translates into a fat cheque for her, it is great news. "All of us are very conscious of the money our peers earn, especially in the multinational companies. All of us expect more money as there is always someone out there who gets more than you," she said.

Another Wipro engineer says: "Everyone would like to get a $1,000 bonus if the company crosses the billion-dollar mark in revenues. But overall hikes in salary are always more welcome."

Interestingly, the senior management and human resource (HR) departments in different companies are able to feel the pulse of the employees. And in an industry where attrition rates can be as high as 20 per cent, a communication exercise has already been launched.

Employees have been told to "read between the lines" on the Infosys announcements on Tuesday that the company would hand out a $1,000 bonus to each employee, that salaries would go up by 17 per cent and those holding stocks would get a 3:1 bonus.

The theme of the exercise is this: Typically, no company hands out $1,000 as bonus or a 17 per cent hike to each employee without a clause here and there. It is generally a function of performance and that the real amount would be much lesser in most cases, according to a top executive of a leading Indian software firm who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Infosys President, Managing Director and CEO, Mr Nandan Nilekani, clarifies that the bonus amount depends on the salary grade and the average works out to $1,000 per head.

Sumit says his seniors told him that it was more a public relations exercise by a company that had witnessed "tremendous attrition" and "disgruntlement" over the last couple of years.

"I was told how engineers were leaving Infosys for Accenture and other companies. There are problems of work culture, too. Last year, it was not all hunky dory at the country's largest software company," Sumit says.

According to Mr Nilekani, attrition rate in the company stands at 10.1 per cent and the morale of the employees is at an all-time high. "Certain issues were raised last year and we have resolved all of them. All that is behind us, and now every Infoscian is excited about working with a rapidly growing company that takes care of its employees," he says.

For the moment, Gagan is waiting for the announcement to reflect in his bank statement, so that he can buy that mid-segment car he's been dreaming about.

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