Due to the poor performance, Infosys Technologies has given pink slips to 2,100 of its employees across the country, after an annual performance appraisal exercise concluded mid-March.
"The tolerance for non-performance has come down to zero," said TV Mohandas Pai, Head of the company's HR. "The appraisal was conducted for 60,000 of our employees. At the bottom, some 3.5 percent of the people were either out-placed or left the company. It is an annual scenario after every performance assessment. In fact, normally the bottom size is 5 percent," he added. Trainees were not part of this exercise. Outplacement means off-loading excess/unwanted staff to another employer.
Infosys currently has an employee base of 1,05,000 which includes 45,000 trainees. During quarter ending December 31, the company had a total headcount of 1,03,078. Infosys had said a quarter ago that it would hire 26,000 people during fiscal 2008-09, more than what it had projected in the beginning of the year. During the third quarter, the company made a gross addition of 5,997 with the net intake being 2,772.
Infosys has made offers to around 20,000 engineering graduates for the current year. Infosys' earnings for 2008-09 will be out on April 15.