Wipro announces salary hike for 80% of eligible staff, second in CY21

IT services major Wipro on Friday announced salary hikes that will impact at least 80 per cent of its employee base. The salary hike will be effective from September 1, 2021. This is the second salary hike that the company is giving its employees in this calendar year.

“Wipro will initiate merit salary increases (MSI) for all eligible employees up to Band B3 (Assistant manager and below), effective September 1, 2021,” the company said. In January 2021, the company announced salary hikes for employees in this bands, who form 80 per cent of the company’s workforce. 

Wipro further added that all eligible employees above the C1 band (managers and above) will receive pay hikes effective June 1. “On average, the increments will be in the high single digits for offshore employees while it will be the mid-single digits for onsite employees. The company will reward top performers with substantially higher increase,” said the company.

The company, post its Q4FY21 results, stated that it will do all that is required to retain talent at the company. During Q4, Wipro had an attrition of 12.1 per cent. Saurabh Govil, CHRO, Wipro while sharing his views on retention said: “We are also giving out skill based bonuses for the people with right skills, and it is already underway.” To keep its supply side strong, the company will be going to the campuses as well. In FY21, Wipro hired 10,000 freshers from campuses, though it did not give the hiring target for FY22, experts said IT companies will have to hire more to keep up with the demand. 

Wipro becomes the second IT services player to give second salary hike in same year. Earlier, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) too had announced salary hikes in short durations. The first salary hike at TCS was given in the third quarter of FY21 and the second hike was announced in April 2021. Within a gap of six months, TCSers received two hikes, taking the average increment to 12-14 per cent in a six-month timeframe.

For an industry sector that is dealing with high attrition, this could well be a norm going ahead.