Infy edict to work on a weekend day signals backlog

Infosys, India's second-largest IT services firm, has asked its employees in India to work on a weekend day this month. In an internal mail issued to all employees, it has asked them to work next Saturday.

"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 internal note, reviewed by Business Standard.

The company will give the employees who work on March 9 an additional day of leave, to be credited to their account in April. When contacted. a spokesperson of the firm declined to comment.

While such a move is not very common in India's IT services sector, this is not the first time that Infosys has asked its employees to work on weekends. In 2011, it had announced two Saturdays (November 19 and December 10) as working days, in 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), had affected the project delivery of many companies. This could be one reason 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 while there had been a few instances of IT companies asking their employees to work on a few weekends, based on demand, it is usually communicated verbally, instead of sending official mails.