Infosys, India’s second-largest software services exporter, on Friday said it would raise the salaries of onsite employees two to three per cent and promote about 9,000 employees in the quarter ending March. As on December 31, 2012, 24.6 per cent of the company’s staff worked at client sites, while the rest were offshore employees.
“We are planning to increase wages two to three per cent in the fourth quarter. We added a gross 7,500 employees this quarter (quarter ended December). The net addition was 977. We are also giving promotions to some of them this quarter,” Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director S D Shibulal told reporters.
Last year, Infosys had deferred salary increases, citing an uncertain business environment. However, it had promoted 20,000 employees. Most information technology firms raise wages in April.
At the end of the third quarter, Infosys had a total staff strength of 1,55,629. During the quarter, 6,522 employees left the company (both voluntary and involuntary attrition).
New CEO for BPO arm
The company also said it had started the process of finding a new chief executive officer (CEO) for its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm. Infosys BPO's current CEO & MD, D Swaminathan is due for retirement in July this year.
“We have a retirement policy in the company. Swami will be retiring somewhere in July. So, we have to find the next CEO. We have started our process in this regard,” said V Balakrishnan, director on the board of Infosys who is also in charge of BPO, Finacle and India business for the company.
At the end of the third quarter, Infosys had total staff strength of 1,55,629. During the quarter, 6,522 employees left the company (both voluntary and involuntary attrition).
“We maintained margins, despite the average wage rise of six per cent to offshore employees in the third quarter. The onsite wage rise would impact our margins by about one per cent in the fourth quarter(January-March),” said Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal.
On the company’s hiring plans for 2013-14, Bansal said Infosys was yet to set any target, though it had made about 6,000 campus offers. Its attrition stood at 15.1 per cent in the quarter ended December, compared with 15.4 per cent in the year-ago period. Shibulal said the company’s attrition had declined to 4,435 in the third quarter. “In the second quarter, it stood at 5,255 people. These numbers do not add up. In absolute terms, it has come down compared to the second quarter,” he said.
The headcount numbers reflected the company’s business needs, he said. “We have adjusted our clients, based on our business needs. So, today, our utilisation is 75 per cent, while our optimal utilisation is 78-79 per cent. We are clearly carrying a bench of about seven to eight per cent more, which actually impacts our margins in two ways. We have adjusted our recruitment, based on these factors,” he added.
