Infosys kicks off long-awaited pay hike for employees ahead of holiday season: Report

IT major Infosys kicked off the holiday season 2023 with much-awaited salary hikes as a "large number of employees" got their salary revision letters earlier this week, said a report. The pay hikes, which are typically effective from April 1, will now be effective November 1, 2023 instead.

"We are pleased to revise your compensation in acknowledgement of your commitment and performance with effect from November 1, 2023," stated an internal email to employees as accessed by The Economic Times.

As per the company, the compensation review programme is for the year 2023-24. Entry level workers of Infosys, however, are not covered in annual hikes this year, the publication reported citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. As per these sources, the average hike is likely to be less than 10 per cent.

"Several employees have received hikes in single digits while some are also in low double digits. The average hike is likely to be under 10 per cent," the sources were quoted as saying in the report.

Hikes, effective from April 1 this year, were delayed by the management in 2023. Traditionally, Infosys rolls out annual salary hikes for employees below senior management in April, with other people receiving their hikes in July. In 2023, the company delayed salary increments due to business optimisation measures taken to address industry headwinds.

Infosys Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nilanjan Roy said during an investor call that salary hikes were delayed to address inefficiencies within the company. "Like I said, we had a good quarter two. And as I explained in my margin walk, we nearly had a 50 basis points improvement from our project Maximus on cost optimization," Roy said. He will stepping down on March 31, 2023.

He added that the company is aiming to reduce inefficiencies through improving utilisation, decreasing workforce strength and forgoing the campus placement drive for the current year. During Q2 of FY24, the company reported a net loss of 7,530 employees in its headcount. Infosys has over 3.28 lakh employees on its roll as of September 2023.

The company had over 3.36 lakh employees in its previous quarter, as per the company's quarterly results. The headcount also dipped on a year-on-year (YoY) basis as the company reported a net loss of 16,454 employees compared to the same period in the previous year.

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