Infosys has a new 'no regret' policy when it comes to employees

• Infosys temporarily froze hiring, promotions and appraisals in view of the Coronavirus pandemic.
  
• It will onboard all the campus and lateral hires to whom they made job offers.
  
• However, Pravin Rao, COO at Infosys, did not hint of any furloughs or layoffs.
  
• The company said that all the 6,000 trainees will now continue their training remotely. “There are assessments, certifications and other online training to facilitate remote programmes,” Rao added.
  
• Rao said that the company is planning to make more than 35,000 offers in FY21.

Infosys, in its latest earnings call, said that it has temporarily froze hiring, promotions and appraisals in view of the Coronavirus pandemic, calling it a ‘no regret’ move. For IT giants wages, employee costs and campus placement drives make up for over half of its operational costs.

‘We will honour all offers made — freshers and lateral hires’

Infosys however said that it will onboard all the campus hires. With this, it joins the likes of Accenture, Tata Consultancy Sevices (TCS) and other tech giants who will honour all the job offers made in the last financial year. A large number of companies have rescinded campus job offers forcing even IITs to hold a second placement drive in late July and August.

“We are yet to onboard only a small percentage of campus hires we made offers to so far,” said Pravin Rao, COO at Infosys. The technology multinational made 18,000 job offers the last financial year.

It said it will also onboard the lateral hires. “We will honour all the commitments made to campus hires — freshers as well as lateral. As far as onboarding timelines are concerned, we have already hired a few lateral employees, while in lockdown,” he said during its Q4 earnings call.

Employee count decreases by over 1,000

There has been a decrease in the employee headcount — by over 1,000. The employee count at Infosys stood at 243,454 during the third quarter ending in December 2019 — higher than 242,371 as of March 2020. “We should not read into the fall in employee count, it is not a secular trend,” Rao said.

He did not hint any furloughs or layoffs, given the Coronavirus chaos. Going forward, Rao said that the company is planning to make more than 35,000 offers in FY21.

“In the near term, there will be a demand-supply mismatch because we were already geared for high volume in the first quarter. We have to ensure that the utilisation rates go up,” said Nilanjan Roy, CFO at Infosys.

Remote assessment for nearly 6,000 trainees

Infosys claims to have a strong digital footprint. The company said that all the 6,000 trainees will now continue their training remotely. “There are assessments, certifications and other online training to facilitate remote programmes,” Rao added.

In fact, as much as 93% of the employees at Infosys are now working from home, thanks to the lockdown. The focus is on employee safety. “We will revisit as the situation evolves, keeping the safety of employees a priority. We will also take initiatives like temperature check etc,” the company said. However, as a new normal emerges after the lockdown ends, just like TCS, Infosys also plans to retain work from home.

See also:
TCS, Cognizant, Capgemini and other top giants who are not letting go of their new hires

Capgemini India, Cognizant and others who are giving salary hikes in times of Coronavirus