IT firms hike pay, dole out bonus to employees

With the market conditions improving and economy showing signs of recovery, IT firms such as TCS, Infosys, Mahindra Satyam, Google, NIIT and others, which are now seeing more business trickling in, have started reviving a lot of employee-centric policies.

Buoyed by a 29 per cent jump in profit for the July-September period, software exporter TCS said it would pay 150 per cent of the quarterly component of the variable pay to eligible employees in India pay roll. The company gave 100 per cent of the quarterly component of the variable pay in the first three months of the fiscal.

Earlier in the last quarter of the previous fiscal, it had frozen the variable pay due to the global  meltdown.

According to Gartner Principal research analyst Diptarup Chakrovorti, the focus has now shifted back to the people and retaining talent. Last year the IT firms had not given any pay hikes. “This year, as the market conditions are improving, two-digit pay hikes will be the norm,” he added.

Infosys Technologies, which has revised its full-year revenue guidance upwards and also managed to maintain its profit margins, has also announced pay hikes and promotions, he added.

The slowdown had hurt the IT industry in the past year as their customers, based mainly in the US and Europe, shelved projects, cut technology spending and sought lower rates for products and services. But now with the clients finalising their IT budgets and markets looking up, the companies are willing to pay back their employees and using this as an retention tool, IT industry body Nasscom said.

Google gave a surprise to its employees this October, by announcing a bonus after the company posted a better-than-expected results.

Mahindra Satyam has reinstated the variable portion of salaries of staff. Along with the variable pay, the company has also decided to reintroduce various benefits like ESOPs, etc. NIIT Technologies also said it will grant ESOPs to selected employees of the company.