Infosys' Sikka promotes 5,000 employees to retain them

Promotions likely to be handed out before October

A week into his new job, Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka has promoted 5,000 employees, in an attempt to stop staff from leaving the Bangalore-based information technology services company.

Sources said the promotions, most of those on the delivery side of the business, would be handed out before October.

"One in seven employees in select bands will get a promotion," said an analyst with a domestic brokerage who did not wish either himself or his employer to be identified.

Confirming the development, an Infosys spokesperson said: "We announced quarterly promotions in February 2014 to enable our employees to uncover and accelerate opportunities for career growth. We have promoted close to 10,000 employees across delivery, sales and business-enabling functions over the past two quarters."

The promotions would be based on appraisals between January and March, sources said. Employees promoted earlier this year might get pay hikes, they added.

Infosys has completed its regular annual appraisals and has announced increments with effect from April 1. The company also offered its staff an across-the-board increment in the middle of 2013 after co-founder N R Narayana Murthy returned as executive chairman. Murthy, who is set to step down in October, had used this to lift morale in tough times that forced Infosys to defer pay hikes.

Despite the increments, Infosys continues to lose an unusually high proportion of its staff to the competition. Between April and June, Infosys' employee attrition rate touched 19.5 per cent, the highest in the company's 30-year history. The rate was 18.7 per cent between January and March. Infosys has also restructured salaries, reducing their variable component.