Infosys tells employees to take a sabbatical…………

India’s second-largest information technology services provider is  infosys technologies.
From these technology issued letters to its employees. In this letter company states that employee could opt for a one-year sabbatical to engage themselves in philanthropic activities.
They promise that they can give 50 per cent of their salary during these period. In the quarter ended September 30, 2008, Infosys crossed the 100,000-employee mark in India.

The company said that these move may have coincided with the global
financial turmoil and slowing growth rates of IT firms. It should be
perceived as a pure voluntary act by employees who are prompted by
altruistic motives and inspired by the example of NR Narayana Murthy, its chairman and chief mentor.

It siad that the policy came into force only a few days ago, the
company is working out the finer points like whether the employees will be
given any salary or emolument during the sabbatical. After it is
understood that the company is planning to pay some amount of the salary and while the rest the employees can earn from the NGO (nothing but non-governmental organization ) they are working for.

An Infosys spokesperson tells to press that “We introduced this
policy almost two months ago, which allows employees to go on up to one year
of sabbatical to engage in philanthropic activities. All employees have been
communicated the policy internally.”

After asking how much the employees will be paid during these period, the spokesperson said they will be given 50 per cent of the salary, while the other half will be given by the respective NGOs they work with. Again one of the source said that  “It’s a part of Narayana Murthy’s desire to give back to society, which is driven by the fact that many employees quit their jobs to pursue philanthropic activities. Even if they will be paid a small amount by the company, this would give such employees an option to pursue their hobby  still continuing with the jobs.  Even though the final details are being worked out by the company, the employees can go out with a cut in their salaries,”.

Infosys has a good deal of exposure to the sectors. These have been worst hit by the current global economic meltdown that is from  banking and financial services, telecoms and retail.