Mahindra Satyam raises salary 7-12%

Hyderabad-based consulting, IT services and engineering solutions provider Mahindra Satyam has started doling out wage rises in the range of 7-12 per cent for employees across the board.

“The process began last week. The letters are being sent out in batches, and quite a few business units have already received them,” a Mahindra Satyam spokesperson, wishing not to be named, told Business Standard.

While declining to disclose the percentage of wage hikes given to offshore and onsite staff, the spokesperson said that the hike was effective from October 1, 2012. “The hike will be applicable to all the 33,000 associates (employees) who are on roster as on December 31, 2011.”

The company has 36,000 employees on its rolls as on June 2012. The average employee utilisation, both onsite and offshore, was at 76 per cent. The attrition rate in the June 2012 quarter was 13.5 per cent, as against 17.3 per cent a year ago.

This is the second consecutive year that Mahindra Satyam had delayed its salary hike by a quarter. Inciting fears of lay-offs, the company had pushed its salary hikes from July to October last year. In October 2011, the company had given wage hikes of 12 per cent for offshore employees and 2.5 per cent for onsite staff.

“Mahindra Satyam on its compensation and benefit is still running at about 70 per cent, which is one of the highest in the industry. Most other companies in the peer group are running between 55 per cent and 60 per cent on that cost,” C P Gurnani, CEO of Mahindra Satyam had said in a call in 2011. “So, within the budget available, it was more important to give a higher percentage hike than to give it for the full nine months of the balance year. And, we took a poll from our employees and most of them favoured the higher percentage hike than to get a lesser percentage hike for 9 months only. It was a consultative inclusive decision with our employees and I am happy that our employees have supported us,” he said.

Mahindra Satyam’s scrip is currently trading at Rs 114.45 on the BSE, up 0.13 per cent, over the previous close of Rs 114.30.