Infosys cuts variable pay

Infosys has cut the variable pay for employees, with the cuts being deeper at the higher levels. For senior executives, the variable pa
y, which constitutes nearly 50 per cent of their total compensation, has been slashed by 58 per cent.

“Some boardroom executives have even taken a 70 per cent to 85 per cent variable pay cut,” said T V Mohandas Pai, head of HR in Infosys. The company's hiring has been steadily declining.

In Q4, it added (net) only 1,772 people, compared to 2,772 in Q3, and 2,586 in Q4 of 2007-08. In the whole of 2008-09, it hired (net) 13,663 people, down from 18,946 in the year before.

The company maintained that it will not seek to trim its payroll by laying off software professionals. There will, however, be no salary hike this year, as the company plans to keep its operational costs under control.

“We are not laying off anybody and there are no such plans,” said Infosys Technologies HR-director, TV Mohandas Pai.

Infosys plans to hire 18,000 professionals in the current fiscal, including almost 16,000 fresh graduates and experienced hires. It will also recruit around 1,000 non-Indians outside the country to increase the number of foreign professionals in its workforce.