IT industry giant Infosys has announced that it will offer promotions to eligible junior and mid-level staff members by September. Infosys is taking this initiative to retain talent and service clients on the back of strong deal wins from global customers.

Over 2.4 lakh employees in Infosys may become eligible for promotions, these account for nearly half of the entire workforce of the company. Originally these promotions were planned in April but got delayed because of the disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Economic Times.

Infosys has predicted growth of 0-2% for the fiscal year 2021. It is now looking to consolidate its inhouse talent pipeline as the company is returning to a high-growth trajectory. The company will offer promotions for Job Level (JL) five and below which consists mostly of employees with less than ten years of work experience, according to the daily.

Krish Shankar, group head for human resources at Infosys, told the daily, "Some of the promotions, we are going to start (this quarter). Promotions are also linked to where there are (vacancies)".

Disruptions caused by COVID-19 have led to many companies delaying promotions for their employees. Infosys will be the first Indian IT company to offer promotions to its employees on such a large scale amid COVID-19 pandemic.  However, some analysts have said that promotions promised by Infosys are to retain talent and not all promoted may see an increase in salary, according to the daily.  

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder, Teamlease told the daily, "Companies may not hire more, but business needs to continue and hence the promotion. The pattern of doing it for certain levels and below is a trend across most sectors. But, most promotions are not backed by increment."

Meanwhile, for senior-level employees, Infosys said that it will offer promotions as the business situation evolves.