From Cognizant to HCL, India Inc opens up purse for employee retention

HCL had announced a one-time special bonus of $90 million earlier this month to employees around the world as it crossed the $10-billion revenue mark

Employees of some top Indian companies were in for a pleasant surprise when they received a mail from their HR team announcing a hike in salaries and bonuses. 

Led by IT firms and start-ups, HR managers say that while some have offered cash and stock options, others are in a wait-and-watch mode and add the trend will pick up in other sectors.

For example, IT giant Cognizant — which had an attrition rate of 19 per cent in the December quarter — has established a $30-million employee retention fund in order to bring down the high attrition rate. This fund will be