Infosys chairman NR Narayana Murthy is spreading some New Year cheer among its 1.58 lakh employees. The company plans a salary increase in April, unlike last year when it gave increments in July and the year before that in October.

“Our desire is that we should get back to the April cycle. That’s what Shibu (CEO S D Shibulal), BG (president BG Srinivas), Pravin (president U B Pravin Rao), Rajiv (CFO Rajiv Bansal) and I are working on. It’s still work in progress, so we cannot comment. Our desire is to get back to the old cycle,” said Murthy in an investors’ call on Friday.

Last July, the company announced an 8% increase in salaries for employees effective July 1. Employees based in other geographies were given an average increase of 3%. The global sales team was given an 8% increase effective May 1.
The year before that, salary increases were given in October when the company came under pressure from industry peers. Infosys then gave a 6% hike to offshore employees and 3% to onsite employees. “Most stable organizations have a consistent pay cycle that sets the right expectations. Murthy is sending out a strong signal and building consistency and predictability in the compensation plan,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder, TeamLease Services.

Infosys’s attrition rate was at a high 18.1% in the December quarter, higher than the 17.3% in the September quarter and 15.1% in the year-ago quarter. This, combined with improved performance in recent quarters and competitive pressures, is likely to make a salary increase inevitable.

Murthy also said he wants to make Infosys an attractive company on university campuses. Infosys’ offer letter was once the most sought after, but not anymore. Asked how he could achieve that coveted position again, Murthy said, “At one point in time, you’d throw out offer letters from our competition. That’s our aspirational target. It’s very difficult to give a clear deadline but every working hour, the leaders in this room are concerned about making Infosys the aspirational company it once was.”

He said the company would leave no stone unturned to make sure it happens. “There are many work-in-progress initiatives in the company and therefore cannot talk about it. I hope they will all yield the results we all want,” Murthy said.