Infosys asks employees to work on a weekend

Move aimed at meeting client commitments

Infosys, India’s second largest IT services company has asked all its employees in India to work on one weekend day this month, a move which is not quite common in the IT services industry in the country.

In an internal mail issued to all employees, the Bangalore-based company has asked them to work on the Saturday next week, to meet client commitments.

“In order to meet client commitments, we are announcing an additional working day on March 9. It is applicable to specific project delivery centres in India,” said the note that was reviewed by Business Standard.

The company, however, has stated the employees who work on March 9 will get an additional day of leave, which will be credited to their account in April. On being asked, a spokesperson of the company declined to comment.

This is not for the first time that Infosys is asking its employees to work on weekends (Saturdays). In 2011, the company announced two Saturdays (November 19 and December 10) as working days on lieu of which the employees were given compensatory leaves.

According to industry insiders and analysts, fewer numbers of working days in the quarter ended December 31, 2012 coupled with extended furloughs (temporary unpaid leave given to some employees due to special needs of a company or economic conditions) by some clients, had affected the project delivery by most companies. This could be one of the reasons why Infosys is planning to expedite some projects by adding one more working day, said an industry analyst on condition of anonymity.

Sources also said that while there are instances of IT companies asking employees to work on few weekends based on demands, it is usually communicated to them verbally instead of sending official mails.