Sikka seeks staff view to improve operations

Vishal Sikka, the first non-founding chief executive officer (CEO) of India's second-largest information technology (IT) services company Infosys, is going all out to understand and overcome the challenges surrounding the company as well as to establish a strong bond with the 160,000-odd employees there.

After spending time at several of the company's delivery locations in India over the past week and holding town hall discussions with employees, on Monday Sikka wrote to the company's staff seeking their views on how to improve Infosys.

"…we will launch a survey, across the whole company, to identify areas where you believe we can improve operationally. How we work. How we hire. How we develop software. How we engage with clients. Anything and everything that can help us deliver our absolute best to our clients who count on us to do so," Sikka who joined Infosys in August this year, wrote in the email.

According to company sources, Sikka had spoken about such a survey during his visit to Infosys' delivery centre in Pune last week. While he had told the teams in Pune that the survey would be launched last week itself, in Monday's email, he said it would be launched on September 10, 2014.

"Please participate and make your thoughts count. When we relentlessly execute, when we tirelessly look for better ways of doing things, our perspective gets wider, richer. And you can say it like you see it," he added in the email.

He encouraged employees to mention whatever they think is limiting the company and not refrained from sharing any opinions. "I invite you to clearly identify those bits of Infosys - those bits of us - that must change."

All the suggestions that are made through the survey would be taken into consideration, he said, adding the company is committed to decentralised work and empowering people. Experts believe such efforts from Sikka could, in certain ways, help Infosys tame its attrition level, which was at an all-time high of 19.5 per cent in the April-June quarter.