Infosys lines up 5.11 lakh equity shares for top-performing employees as reward

Infosys ended Q4FY23 with 3,611 fewer employees than the preceding quarter

IT major Infosys allotted more than 5.11 lakh equity shares to eligible employees in two schemes on May 12 as a reward for their contributions to the company's growth and to expand their ownership in it, according to an exchange filing.

The purpose of the schemes is to retain and motivate talented and critical employees and to increase shareholder value as a reward for their performance.

"This is to inform that the Company has allotted 5,11,862 equity shares on May 12, 2023, pursuant to the exercise of Restricted Stock Units by eligible employees," Infosys said in an exchange filing on May 14.

Of the total shares allotted to the employees, 1,04,335 units have been allotted under the 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation Plan and 4,07,527 equity shares have been allotted under the Infosys Expanded Stock Ownership Program of 2019.

The move also comes amid high attrition rate in the IT giant. Infosys ended Q4FY23 with 3,611 fewer employees than the preceding quarter, the company had announced. The company’s headcount growth for the year was 29,219, down 46 percent from last year’s net addition of 54,396.

With this, Infosys' headcount stood at 3,43,234 as of March 31, 2023. It was the first time since the Covid-hit quarter of FY21 that Infosys ended a quarter with fewer employees than it had at the end of the previous quarter.

Despite rising attrition, Infosys has committed to invest in talent. Fuelled by its learnings from the pandemic, the IT major's HR roadmap is focused on flexibility, talent creation and a positive employee experience, the company's HR head had mentioned.

The purpose of the 2015 Stock Incentive Compensation plan of Infosys is to attract, retain and motivate talented and critical employees, along with encouraging them to align individual performance with company objectives.

The Infosys Expanded Stock Ownership Program, 2019, on the other hand, plans to increase shareholder value, by expanding employee ownership of the company, in order to incentivise, retain and attract key talent through this performance based stock grant program.

The 2015 incentive compensation plan has replaced the earlier Restricted Stock Units (RSU) Plan of 2011 at Infosys. Back in 2019, Infosys had announced stock incentive option to its mid-level 6,949 eligible employees in the form of RSU.

Also Read: Infosys Q4 results: Revenue rises 16%, profit up 8% YoY, but miss Street estimates