BENGALURU: French IT services firm Capgemini, which has 1.2 lakh of its over 2 lakh employees in India, has taken some extraordinary steps towards employee welfare in these tough times. It has rolled out high single-digit hikes for 70% of its India staff, or 84,000 employees, effective April 1. The rest of the organisation will get increments effective July.
It is providing up to Rs 10,000 as cash allowance to those employees who are stranded without a paying-guest accommodation. It is retaining its employees on the bench (those without billable projects) and paying their salaries without putting a timeline around it. These were decisions taken at its first virtual leadership meeting in mid-March.
Many companies give a grace time of no more than 60 days for those on the bench to find a billable project, and are asked to go if they don’t. IT companies, on an average, have 6-8% of their total workforce on the bench.
Capgemini India CEO Ashwin Yardi said irrespective of client furlough periods and bench time, employees will get their salaries. “This is a black swan event and at this point it’s not a question of timeline, but how our business will evolve. And we have a clear view as to what our economic model is going to look like and we don’t see any reason to discontinue this approach,” he said.
The company has extended its shift allowance to employees working from home. Today, 95% of its workforce has been enabled to work from home compared to 15-20% prior to the Covid-19 fallout. Promotions scheduled for April will be effective July 1 and will be announced in June. The company has made variable payouts to all eligible employees along with the March payroll.
Asked if the leadership team is contemplating a pay cut, Yardi said, “All employees at A and B grades (84,000 employees) have got their hikes and others will get increments in line with our plan. There’s no discussion within the leadership of Capgemini India for a pay cut,” Yardi said.
Yardi said one of the key things is to ensure employees have the trust of the leadership. “And it’s not just talking about it, but demonstrating it. In these difficult times, people will look to us to see what actions we’re taking in building trust. We will have some cost-containment measures, but there are many other levers for that,” he added.
Capgemini India has also set up a 25-million-euro (Rs 200-crore) benevolent fund, the proceeds of which will be used for medical emergencies for any of the employees who need it beyond their medical insurance or for their families.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
