In the first time ever kind of move, Infosys has provided an option to employees to go on a sabbatical and work for NGO’s for a year. For an employee to qualify, he or she should be with Infosys for at least 2 years. Employees will be paid 50% salary during this time and the rest can be recovered from the NGO’s they are working with.
This news caught my attention for two reasons. One is the salary cut element. The other is the non-governmental organization (NGO) and Corporate Social Responsibility element. When I go through my feeds or the newspapers, what I see is either the job cuts or salary cuts or both. This is in addition to the bankruptcy and the recession talk. The job cuts are mostly coming from global companies but, Indian companies are not far behind.
Labor laws are a little strict in India and protect the employees in the private sector to some extent. This restriction has forced companies to look at alternative ways for reducing cost and work force. For this they are employing innovative ways. Weeding out non performers, firing over fudged bills and threatening to terminate are the things we have seen so far. But, 50% salary cut and going on a sabbatical is very new, innovative and takes the cake.
Coming to the second element which is working for a NGO element, drives the discussion to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The BS report states that, it is Narayana Murthy’s dream and has been on the cards for a while. It is the way one can give back to society. The details of this are still being worked out. It is purely voluntary and left to the employee to opt for it. I only hope more companies would follow Infy. I wish my company was offering this.
I would like to believe the reason is more to do with the CSR element rather than the cost cutting element. But, the timing of the move has coincided with turbulent times. Only time will tell if this was a strange coincidence.
3 comments:
Well life's full of crests and troughs. The last 5 years proved to be the highest amplitude crest and everyone took advantage of it. Now its time for the trough. No one knows what its magnitude is going to be but we ulitmately we have to face it heads on!
Nice article.
Great article and a thoughtful process of giving back to our society, but its for the bravehearts who are not worried about their carrier graphs, nor mind the minimal returns earned via the NGOs. Short term deals may be a good idea and sound good, else these tough economic times take a toll on our thinking too!
Thanks for sharing John Manoah.
Taking into account the flamboyance of certain filthy rich folks in India and their disregard for the society Infosys is definitely a great contributor to this nation. Sorry to say, if onl Amitabhji, sharukhji, Tendulkarji, rajnikanthji,mallayaji could share a little of their fortunes to setup schools, orphanages and hospitals for the poor.....
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