IT services giant, Infosys sent salary revision letters to its employees on Tuesday, offering raises ranging from 5 per cent to 8 per cent for most of the employees, based on individual performance ratings, according to The Economic Times report citing sources familiar with the matter.
Top performers, though fewer in number, received double-digit salary increases, the sources added in the report.
The company implemented the salary hikes across three broad categories: "met expectations," "commendable performance," and "outstanding performance."
Employees rated as "met expectations" received a salary increase of 5-7 per cent, while those with a "commendable" performance were given a 7-10 per cent hike. "Outstanding" performers, a smaller group, were granted increases ranging from 10-20 per cent. Employees in the "needs improvement" category did not receive any raise, according to sources who spoke in the report.
The salary hikes applied to employees at both Job Level 5 (up to team leaders) and Job Level 6 (managers below vice presidents). Employees at JL5 will see the pay revision with retroactive effect from January 1, while those at JL6 will receive the increase starting April 1, the report added.
Previous Hikes
The pay hikes for employees were 5-10 per cent lower across the bands compared to the last pay revision in November 2023. The performance bonus (variable pay) payout announced by the company last week also saw a similar reduction, reveals the report.
The Bengaluru-headquartered software giant has around 323,000 employees. The pay hikes relate to the appraisal period from September 2023 to October 2024, for which eligible employees received their rating letters in December.
Employees had likely expected higher raises. One employee told ET, “On a day such as this, our MS Teams communicator groups are usually buzzing with chats. The groups have gone quiet this time as they probably expected a bigger hike. We are, of course, also aware the industry is passing through a challenging face.”
Infosys last implemented salary hikes effective November 1, 2023. The company had frozen salary increases in FY2022 to conserve cash but resumed its annual appraisal cycle in October 2023.
Chief Financial Officer's Comments
Chief Financial Officer Jayesh Sanghrajka mentioned last month that Infosys was considering a salary hike of 6-8 per cent in India. "Of course, the higher performers would get much higher, etc., and the overseas would be low single digit," he later added to analysts.
For the October-December quarter, Infosys posted stronger-than-expected results, reporting an 11.4 per cent increase in net profit to $800 million and a 7.6 per cent rise in revenue to $4.9 billion compared to the previous year.