At a time when the IT industry is witnessing macroeconomic uncertainties and muted hiring, and when large companies have either deferred or skipped their annual increments, midcap firms have offered gifts and freebies to their employees.
From cycles, suitcases, iPads, discount on gym memberships to more than 120% variables have been offered to employees.
Kirthan Dsouza, head of HR strategy and transformation, Tata Elxsi, said, “In addition to physical fitness, we also support the emotional wellness of our employees with complimentary access to a confidential employee assistance programme that provides 24/7 contact to professional counsellors, thereby empowering them to handle any emotional challenges that they may face.”
Another midcap IT company Persistent Systems, which reached a $1-billion revenue mark recently, celebrated the milestone by gifting items like exercise bikes, ear pods and travel accessories to its employees.
The Pune-based company said in its recent analyst call, “We achieved $1 billion in annual revenue in FY23 and it was only possible because of continued support by our customers, partners and employees. We had organised events across the globe to commemorate our journey with them and express our gratitude for their support. The total one-time expense for these events and employee gifts amounted to `48.6 crore, which impacted the margin by 2.1%.”
Coforge, another mid-tier IT company, gifted Apple iPad to each of its 21,000 employees as it crossed the $1-billion revenue milestone in its Q4FY23 earnings. Coforge had 21,815 billable employees as of March 31 this year, excluding sales and marketing personnel and others.
Hexaware Technologies recently announced a 100%+ variable payout for its valued employees, ranging from 100% for employees who met expectations during this appraisal cycle to 120% for high performers who have demonstrated exceptional performance for two years.
Vinod Chandran, COO, Hexaware, said, “We know it’s our people who make the difference. They bring passion, creativity and drive to our daily work. In fact, on the variable payouts for associates with non-KPI variable payouts, our average payout was 103%, which is significantly higher than our peer set. Our determination to go above and beyond in our variable payouts is a testament to our belief that when we support our team, remarkable things happen.”