Attrition rate hits Infosys hard

Bangalore, Oct 11 (UNI) Despite offering one of the best compensation package to its employees, IT bellwether Infosys is facing a high rate of attrition at 12.9 per cent during the last 12 months, one per cent up from the corresponding previous period.

Listing out the reasons for the high percentage of professionals switching jobs, company HR Head T V Mohandas Pai said this had been a major problem faced by IT majors world over.

Speaking to newspersons during the announcement of the company's results for the second quarter, he said the major part of the people leaving the company whether voluntarily or involuntarily was the new entrants with just one to two years experience. ''First year, the rate will be highest when compared to employees who have put up more than five years of service. Beyond six years, they generally don't leave,'' he added.

The company, with a gross addition of a record 10,795 people during the quarter, took the total number of employees to 66,150.

Out of the 12.9 per cent people who had left, 2.9 per cent were new recruits who were sent home as they failed to live up to the desired standards. ''Nearly 600 professionals either left during the last one year as they either wanted to pursue studies or went abroad.

Ofcourse, for a portion of those who left, even the Infosys pay was not attractive enough,'' he said.

Those who leave despite putting more than five years of service were generally disgruntled with the incentives and promotions offered by the company, he added.

Mr Pai said Infosys was one among the few companies that spent the highest portion of its income on employee remuneration. It was spending as high as 52 per cent on employee compensation and related expenses.

Infosy also announced a long-term retention bonus plan for senior employees. Under the plan involving 170 employees, Senior Vice-Presidents working abroad would be paid US Dollars 1.25 lakh as bonus per annum, while those in India would get one lakh Dollars.

For Vice-Presidents, it would be half the amount. The first year's payment would be made at the end of the second year. However, appraisal was yet to be done, he added.

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