Trending @Infosys; Hello Infoscians, I recently left Infosys. Here’s my rant regarding that

I wouldn't say I'm an overachiever, but I've certainly done a fair share of good work at Infosys. I joined Infosys as a fresher with a salary of 3.75 LPA in January 2021. At that time, things were manageable with work-from-home and lower costs. But once I started working from the office, I had additional expenses like rent, which was around 7K a month, plus food and some extras. The unfortunate part is that despite my hard work, until last month, I didn't get any considerable salary hikes—only the cost of food seemed to go up! When I left, my salary was 4.4 LPA, which felt really disappointing. It even made salary negotiations tough with other companies, given my low starting point.

I got three appraisals during my time there (excluding my first year, as I wasn't eligible then). Out of these, I received two "commendable" ratings (4/5) and one "outstanding performance" (5/5). Yet, I didn't see any hike for those efforts. To add to it, last year I lost my hike because I joined Infosys just four days late. It’s frustrating when you can’t even say your salary proudly.

Some might ask, "Why not try internal job postings or bridge programs like Aspire or ACON?" I tried looking into them but lost interest after seeing that the increment was only marginal (7-9 LPA at best), with expectations that seemed unrealistically high. So I decided to focus on learning and prepare for new opportunities outside Infosys.

Honestly, I felt like Infosys was pushing me to switch jobs, and they didn’t value loyal employees. They were hiring laterals at twice or thrice my salary, who ended up doing the same work as me.

And here’s a funny thing—once I put in my resignation, my manager offered me a 30% hike, a promotion, and even a written onsite opportunity. This was the same request I made earlier and was told it was not in their hands. It just felt like they only consider you when they fear losing you. So, I turned down the offer since I was getting a better hike and a more competitive salary with my new organization.

To top it all off, my replacement was hired as an Associate Consultant at a salary of 15 LPA. I’m not saying I should’ve been paid that much, but I expected at least a fair market-standard salary.

That’s it for my rant!