HCLTech reverts to pre-pandemic policy on bonus pay

ET has reviewed a copy of the email to employees stating the policy change. Employees have been informed that this change is effective from April.

This applies to employees in the categories E0-E3 (freshers to project manager levels). The EPB is typically 3-4% of total compensation and is paid out monthly based on the employee’s performance in the previous quarter.
The average payout is approximately 80%, said a company spokesperson.

HCLTech has always offered an EPB as part of its total compensation package up to the E3 band, the spokesperson added.

“Our employment contract identifies EPB as performance-linked variable pay, and this is governed by company policy. To support employees during the pandemic, the company made a policy exception and paid 100% EPB irrespective of performance. Post-pandemic, the company is reverting to the original policy,” said the spokesperson.

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Employees across some geographies like Latin America and a few European countries will continue with older EPB policies, said the communication to employees. Employees who are not tagged to a project or are on the “bench,” will not get EPB.

Some sections of HCLTech’s employees, such as those represented by Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), have raised concerns about these changes to their compensation.

Under the previous policy, HCLTech assured employees that the EPB would be paid at a fixed rate monthly, even if employees were on the bench, said NITES, in a note.

“This guarantee provided a sense of stability and security to the employees. However, the company has abruptly altered the policy, implementing a quarterly performance review process to determine EPB payouts,” said NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja.

The new policy bases the EPB payout on employee ratings, which range from 80-90% for top performers and a mere 30-40% for the lowest performers, said Saluja. The union filed a complaint with the central labour ministry on Friday, urging them to take appropriate action on the issue.

Last week, ET reported that IT services major Wipro rolled out 80.25% variable pay for its employees for the fourth quarter ended in March, while Infosys rolled out 60% variable pay. Both companies had cited “market conditions” as one of the reasons for such payout.