Infosys Announces 100% Bonus for All Employees

Infosys chief executive officer Vishal Sikka on Friday said the company is handing out 100 per cent bonus to all employees, a step that will boost the morale of its 1.65 lakh-strong workforce.

Infosys chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal said the company has given 100 per cent bonus after a very long time.

Analysts say the move is aimed to control a record-high attrition at Infosys. In the September quarter, attrition rose to 20.1 per cent from 19.5 per cent in the June quarter. That means one employee in five left the company during the quarter. (Read Infosys Q2 results)

Infosys has taken measures like wage hikes, regular promotions, and reducing uncertainty on take-home salaries on the monetary front to control attrition. In August, the company gave out-of-turn promotions to 5,000 employees in a bid to boost workforce morale. (Read)

Earlier, the company had announced 6-7 per cent salary hikes for offshore employees. However, that fell short of the 10 per cent hike that competitors TCS and Cognizant gave. (Read)

Infosys, once the first choice of young IT graduates, has steadily lost its charm as the company lagged behind in growth and lost its pole position as IT bellwether.

Infosys' current approval rating on Glassdoor, an employee-rating website, stands at 3.2 as compared to 3.5 for Cognizant and 3.4 for TCS. The good news is its new CEO has a strong approval rating of 94 per cent. Dr Sikka is the first non-founder CEO of Infosys.

The new CEO today said that he will transform Infosys into a next generation services company. (Read: What Vishal Sikka said in his first press conference as CEO)

"We can get back to consistent profit growth and look forward to become the bellwether of Indian IT industry again," Dr Sikka added. (Watch: Infosys Can Become Next-Gen Services Company, Says Vishal Sikka)

Shares in Infosys rose as much as 6.5 per cent to Rs 3,886.80 today and outperformed the broader markets. (Track stocks)