Infosys Bangalore has worst HR?
By Bala Shah

Infosys is publicly labeling 2100 juniors that it sacked as ‘non performers’. Senior managers whose variable pay was cut were not labeled ‘non-performers’. Like the laws of the jungle, only those who cannot fight back are labeled ‘non-performers’. Now comes news that may lead many to believe that this mass sacking was a cost cutting exercise rather than culling deadwood.

Business Standard is reporting:

“
Non-Bangalore employees duck Infy axe
 
The lack of tolerance for non-performance at Infosys Technologies Ltd appears to be confined to Bangalore so far. The layoffs and outplacements of some 2,100 staff in mid-March by the Bangalore-based IT firm comprised 3.5 per cent of the 60,000 people who were put through the annual performance appraisal exercise. Of this, just about 0.4 per cent comprised employees based in non-Bangalore centres, according to information given by the company.

“Employees who have been consistently demonstrating poor performance were counselled out. Less than 1 per cent of our 11,250 employees in Chennai and 11,496 employees in Hyderabad have been impacted. As for the Thiruvananthapuram centre, less than 1 per cent of the 1,800 employees were impacted,” said Mohandas Pai, member of the board, director, human resources, Infosys Technologies, said.
“

So this would mean that most of the Infosys ‘non performers’ are from Bangalore.  High time the Infosys HR staff at Bangalore who hired so many people who had to be sacked, face closer scrutiny of their hiring policies.

You only have to pick up any Indian newspapers today to see the Infosys PR machine in overdrive.  Most newspapers have some new positive news about Infosys.

(Techgoss had published the following story on April 16, 2009)

Infosys: variable PR spin
By Bala Shah

We had earlier reported on this uniquely Indian phenomenon where local tech companies like Infosys can sack 2100 young men and women for ‘non performance’ and then publicly humiliate the youngsters without reflecting on  what is wrong with their own HR policies that hire such freshers in the first place.  Infosys, unlike any successful western tech company, sacks as many as 5 percent of such youngsters for ‘non performance’ every year.

Naturally, all the public boasting of sacking ‘non performers’ is restricted to only junior staff.   Infosys did all it could to protect a senior manager when he was accused of sexual harassment.  Only when it became inevitable, was this manager sacked. 

More proof of this double standards.  Yesterday, Infosys HR boss, Mohandas Pai, put a positive spin on the reduction of variable for senior employees.  Mr Pai was reported as saying that the variable pay for senior executives has been slashed by 58 percent.  Some boardroom executives have even taken an 85 percent variable pay cut.

Notice, Mr. Pai did not name the person/s who had taken an 85 percent variable pay cut.  Also, no specific details about how many rupees would be saved with this across the board variable pay cut.  It is easier to make it seem like positive news if you can control what is released to the media.

And finally, Mr. Pai, why did you not tell the Indian media that Infosys had reduced the variable pay for some ‘under performing’ senior management?

Why are juniors labeled under-performers and sacked while some seniors who did not perform get the courtesies due to every human being?

(Techgoss had published the following story on April 13, 2009)

Infosys: humiliating fired techies
By Bala Shah

No other country has this system of publicly humiliating ex employees.  No other industry in India follows such blatant heartlessness.  Even in India, most tech companies deal with exits in a sensitive fashion. But many Indian tech majors are guilty of such public chest thumping.  Last week, Infosys HR Head, Mohandas Pai, told media on how non-performers were sacked.

On April 11, Infosys told Indian media that 2100 employees were sacked after negative annual performance appraisals. Infosys HR Head, Mr. Pai was quoted as saying: "The tolerance for non-performance has come down to zero. The appraisal was conducted for 60,000 of our employees. At the bottom, some 3.5% of the people were either outplaced or left the company. It's an annual scenario after every performance assessment. In fact, normally the bottom size is 5%”.

45000 Infosys trainees did not go through this annual appraisal exercise.  As you can imagine, these sackings and public humiliation have put the fear of God in them.  Managers who have the power to determine their sacking (or not) next year will be treated with fear rather than as team mates in arms working collectively to deliver quality tech projects.

Someone should tell Infosys that many a time youngsters (like business houses) make mistakes and are guilty of bad judgment in the early years of life.  Have they forgotten that even Infosys had to struggle for its existence in the first few years of its life?  Letting go someone because there is a ‘skill/talent mismatch’ is acceptable, publicly shattering the self confidence of a 21-year old is not.

Someone should tell the company that that there is something wrong with Infosys HR policies if you are hiring so many wrong people that as many as 5 percent have to be sacked every year.  Infosys is one of the veterans of the industry and so perhaps you should look at firing some of your own HR people first for hiring so many ‘non-performers’ year after year.  Infosys seems to be blaming young men and women for some shortcomings in its HR Department.

Why is there so much chest thumping when it involves junior employees?  When Infosys had to fire a senior US based manager charged with sexual harassment, why was the company so muted in its public response? Is it because senior managers can fight back as opposed to juniors who have just started their working life?

If Wipro, Satyam, TCS or Infosys fire a large numbers of employees every year,  many would question if this is a deliberate policy to save money by not offering redundancy packages to employees no longer needed for projects that have finished or did not eventuate.  Firing is always cheaper that redundancy.

And lastly if this was the right way to do things why don’t the industry behemoths like Microsoft, IBM and Oracle indulge in such public humiliation of ex-employees?   Perhaps it is because they realize it is not the best course of action.

Infosys has built up a very respectable brand based on its professionalism and financial transparency.  Most Infosys employees have a good word for their managers especially Mr. Murthy.  Perhaps, it is time for Infosys (as well as other tech companies) to open their hearts to employees who have been let go.  A public flogging of a 21-year old still finding his/her feet in life is seriously bad karma.