CEO Vishal Sikka-led Infosys, India’s second largest software services firm, has rolled out salary hikes between 6.5 per cent to 9 per cent, based on performance, to its staff in India for the fiscal 2015-16 – this is the first hike since Sikka took over in August, 2014 from founder NR Narayana Murthy.
While the average pay hike is about 6.5 per cent, effective April 1, those who have performed outstandingly well, will be taking home pay hikes of 9 per cent – no one has received hikes in two digits reportedly.
However, salaries of onsite employees will be hiked by an even lower amount of just 2 per cent.
The coming of Vishal Sikka looks not to have changed the Infosys appraisal system much as last year too the salary hikes were restricted to single-digits – between 6-8 per cent.
To stem the high attrition rate that Infosys has been suffering, especially at the senior level, Vishal Sikka had deployed a scheme that offered a 100 per cent variable bonus payout for the December quarter – attrition had at one point reached over 20 per cent.
While attrition has been high, Infosys has been hiring too, having added 13,154 (gross) and 4,227 (net) employees during the October-December quarter, with its headcount adding up to a total 169,638 at the end of December 31, 2014.