Sikka connects with Infy staff

For a company that was not very good at keeping employees from leaving despite two salary hikes in a year, the announcement of Vishal Sikka becoming the next chief executive officer appears to have worked wonders for Infosys.

Just a day after the Bangalore-based information technology services major announced Sikka’s appointment, employees of the company contacted by Business Standard said they were excited about the development.

On Thursday evening, the Bangalore-based company held a town hall for employees to meet and interact with their new leader. The place was packed with over 5,000 in attendance, reflecting the cheer at Infosys' Electronic City campus in Bangalore. Addressing his new colleagues, Sikka made a 'short and crisp' speech, which underlined the importance of learning and education.

“Employees asked him questions about the fact that he comes from a products background and how will he adjust to a services environment, and his answers were quite satisfactory,” an employee who attended the town hall said. “He displayed a great sense of humour and was very patient with all that the employees asked.”

Sikka also reached out to Infosys employees at all campuses through a video film that was played on Infosys TV, the company’s in-house television channel.

Experts believe it is extremely important for Sikka to connect with employees to gain acceptance at Infosys, which has had home-grown leaders so far.

“He connected with all the employees very well. He spoke to engineers in their language because he is a technocrat himself,” said another employee. “He was extremely inspiring and articulate, and in some ways he reminded us of (co-founder and executive chairman) N R Narayana Murthy.”