BANGALORE: For the first time in nearly two years, top managers at Wipro have been promoted to become vice-presidents at different business units and functions, as India's third-biggest software exporter plans to offer more growth options for mid-level managers and retain key staff.
Coming out from an economic recession during 2009, when customers shelved software projects and tech firms like Wipro, Infosys and TCS were forced to freeze promotions and even trim payrolls, the challenge now is to ensure that key staff don't get poached by rivals offering lucrative posts and better salaries. Earlier this month, Infosys, the country's secondbiggest software exporter, handed promotion letters to dozens of its mid-level managers and promoted three of the company's next-gen leaders to the board.
According to at least three people familiar with the developments, Wipro will now have 30-40 vice-presidents, more than double the 15-odd managers it had at this level until two years ago. Rishad Premji , Wipro's chief strategy officer who joined the company as a business manager in 2007 and was promoted to become general manager two years ago, has also joined the vice-presidents' club.
"Good to see people talk of promotions now, after months of restructuring and bad press," said one of the managers who was promoted. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Sunita R Cherian, Supriti Bhandary, Priti Rajora and Isaac George are among the general managers promoted to become vice-presidents in Wipro's human resources division.
Ashok Tripathy , who heads Wipro's PC business, has also been promoted to the vice-president level along with Durga Prasad, who heads Wipro's Saudi Arabia unit.
As top customers such as Citigroup and BP increase outsourcing of IT and back-office projects, Wipro needs to promote its managers to handle bigger, more complex roles. "In the past few years there have been few promotions as there was the downturn and there wasn't too much longterm visibility. But this year a lot of general managers have been promoted to the vicepresident level and vice-presidents have become senior vicepresidents," said an official on condition of anonymity.
"There are several reasons for this - the market has opened up and there is buoyancy. Even peers such as Infosys, TCS and Cognizant have rewarded employees well, so in a way they are keeping up with the industry. Also, now that the restructuring is almost complete the company has a longterm view and wants to reward those who have done well," the official added. Wipro's appraisal process kicked off in April and ended on June 15. Employees have started getting letters and the process will be completed in the next few days.
"The total number of promotions is definitely higher. It's also an outcome of the fact that overall we have grown; we have added 20,000 employees in the past few years so the number will be higher. The promotions have been good across the board and there is also a feel-good factor," another company official added. Experts say as demand picks up companies like Wipro will reward team leaders.
"Companies are rewarding employees at the operating level (team leaders, projects managers, etc) because the opportunities for them in the market are much higher. While compensation is good, there is more sanity compared to the 2006-07 levels," said Ajit Isaac, managing director & chief executive officer, IKYA Global.
Earlier this year, Wipro announced 12-15% hikes for its offshore employees. The company also standardised its appraisal procedure, fixing the first quarter of the year as the appraisal cycle. The wage hikes are effective from June 1. TCS announced 12-14% hikes, while Infosys gave out increments of 10-12% earlier this month with retrospective effect from April.
Coming out from an economic recession during 2009, when customers shelved software projects and tech firms like Wipro, Infosys and TCS were forced to freeze promotions and even trim payrolls, the challenge now is to ensure that key staff don't get poached by rivals offering lucrative posts and better salaries. Earlier this month, Infosys, the country's secondbiggest software exporter, handed promotion letters to dozens of its mid-level managers and promoted three of the company's next-gen leaders to the board.
According to at least three people familiar with the developments, Wipro will now have 30-40 vice-presidents, more than double the 15-odd managers it had at this level until two years ago. Rishad Premji , Wipro's chief strategy officer who joined the company as a business manager in 2007 and was promoted to become general manager two years ago, has also joined the vice-presidents' club.
"Good to see people talk of promotions now, after months of restructuring and bad press," said one of the managers who was promoted. He requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Sunita R Cherian, Supriti Bhandary, Priti Rajora and Isaac George are among the general managers promoted to become vice-presidents in Wipro's human resources division.
Ashok Tripathy , who heads Wipro's PC business, has also been promoted to the vice-president level along with Durga Prasad, who heads Wipro's Saudi Arabia unit.
As top customers such as Citigroup and BP increase outsourcing of IT and back-office projects, Wipro needs to promote its managers to handle bigger, more complex roles. "In the past few years there have been few promotions as there was the downturn and there wasn't too much longterm visibility. But this year a lot of general managers have been promoted to the vicepresident level and vice-presidents have become senior vicepresidents," said an official on condition of anonymity.
"There are several reasons for this - the market has opened up and there is buoyancy. Even peers such as Infosys, TCS and Cognizant have rewarded employees well, so in a way they are keeping up with the industry. Also, now that the restructuring is almost complete the company has a longterm view and wants to reward those who have done well," the official added. Wipro's appraisal process kicked off in April and ended on June 15. Employees have started getting letters and the process will be completed in the next few days.
"The total number of promotions is definitely higher. It's also an outcome of the fact that overall we have grown; we have added 20,000 employees in the past few years so the number will be higher. The promotions have been good across the board and there is also a feel-good factor," another company official added. Experts say as demand picks up companies like Wipro will reward team leaders.
"Companies are rewarding employees at the operating level (team leaders, projects managers, etc) because the opportunities for them in the market are much higher. While compensation is good, there is more sanity compared to the 2006-07 levels," said Ajit Isaac, managing director & chief executive officer, IKYA Global.
Earlier this year, Wipro announced 12-15% hikes for its offshore employees. The company also standardised its appraisal procedure, fixing the first quarter of the year as the appraisal cycle. The wage hikes are effective from June 1. TCS announced 12-14% hikes, while Infosys gave out increments of 10-12% earlier this month with retrospective effect from April.
