Wipro employees get 6-7% average salary hikes

BENGALURU: Wipro has given a 6-7% average increment to its employees for the year beginning June, according to a person familiar with the matter. This is similar to that given by larger rivals TCS and Infosys, but significantly better than Capgemini's 0.5-1%, which earned the French company much ridicule.

Wipro also said some of its employees may not receive increments this year and signaled to the workforce that routine legacy work will be viewed less favorably compared to digital functions and interest to re-skill. Those not getting pay hikes have been told to keep pace with change and move to digital engagements.

The company did not specify the number of employees who are not eligible for a raise. But in an internal memo sent by CEO Abidali Neemuchwala on Monday, he advised them to have an “open discussion” with their supervisor and HR manager “on how they can grow and contribute going forward.”

“Rotation to billable digital engagements will be key for them. Job rotations and upskilling are important levers for growth in the digital age. Inability to keep pace with change will leave you behind! Continuous learning and adaptability are critical,” Neemuchwala said.

A Wipro spokesperson said that on an average, the increments are in the high single digits for offshore employees while increments for onsite employees are in the low single digits." Top performers and those working on future focused niche technologies and domains have been rewarded with substantially higher increases."

Employees across bands and geographies who contribute to the digital ecosystem and are part of the DIDI (Digital, Innovation & IP, Domain & Consulting and Integrated Services) will get higher increments.

The company is acutely aware of the costs of not compensating high skilled employees well. “The cost of attrition is higher if we do not do the right thing,” president and chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil told TOI in April.

But the company’s overall performance has been hit hard by the bankruptcy of two of its clients, and the slowdown in some industry verticals. The relatively high salary increase in this environment poses other challenges. “Our efforts at cost optimisation are important to ensure we deliver margins in line with the industry, as salary increase this year is expensive for the company and we need to ensure we drive cost productivity to make up for the MSI (merit salary increase) and create headroom for next year,” Neemuchwala said. It had previously announced a lower variable pay out to senior management in the last quarter due to the weak performance.

Wipro Technologies (Wipro Ltd)