Infosys’ Accelerate could be IT’s Solution to Moonlighting
In a bid to avert moonlighting and encourage employees to learn and engage in work beyond the ambit of their regular job, Infosys recently talked about its ‘Infosys Accelerate’, a ‘gig work’ platform that supports learning for its employees. At the FY23 Q2 earnings call, while explaining their view on ‘dual employment’ and ‘gig opportunities’, Infosys chief Salil Parekh said that they have been making sure that their employees have real attention to learning opportunities within the company. “In general, we have always encouraged our employees to have that sort of mindset,” he added, saying that over the last several years, they have developed a platform called ‘Accelerate’, where their employees can look at ‘gig work’ and work on various projects outside of their main profile. He also said that every year over 4,000 people on an average apply on the platform and about 600 are selected. But the question is what exactly is ‘Infosys Accelerate’? To answer this question, Analytics India Magazine caught up with Krish Shankar, executive vice president and group head, human resource development at Infosys, where he explained in length the objective, selection criteria, some of the projects listed on the platform and more. The Genesis Infosys’ Accelerate platform first surfaced in early 2016. Prior to that, the scenario was reactive and employees were quite underutilised. For instance, when people were on bench, they were asked to utilise their time by taking up training sessions, doing certifications, and such. This too, like any other training and certification programme, had its limitations and was not 100% effective. Ergo, Accelerate. Shankar said that Infosys Accelerate was launched as an internal marketplace for Infoscions to engage in short-duration gig work, especially when they are available between assignments. Further, he said, it has only two roles—gig creator and gig performer. “The platform provides employees with a rich job variety and an immersive learning experience beyond regular work projects and, at the same time, access to an organisation-wide talent pool for managers,” he added. Read: Indian IT Moonlighting: The Rant Continues Inside Accelerate Shankar said that any Infoscion can apply for a gig that is posted on Accelerate, based on their skills or areas of interest. On the other hand, the gig creators (managers) post work assignments on the platform and choose applicants based on their skills, experience, interest, and other similar parameters. Further, he said that there is a huge variety in the kind of gig work that gets posted on Accelerate. “The most popular include developing applications, automation, analytics, research, etc.,” he added. Incentives and promotions “Upon completion of their gig work, Infoscions get performance credits,” said Krish Shankar. He explained that they can redeem these credits for gifts! “Additionally, as Accelerate is a gamified marketplace, good performers and creators are visibly recognised,” he added. Besides visibility and gifts, do Infosys employees get to grow career-wise? To this, Shankar said Infoscions get to choose work based on their skills, interest areas, and availability. “Once completed, these projects get automatically reflected in their company profiles, helping them move ahead and get other opportunities,” he added. On the other hand, Infosys expects gig performers (employees) to leverage the marketplace to learn, engage and contribute productively. Read: Indian IT Finds it Difficult to Sustain Work from Home Any Longer The Outcome Shankar said that Accelerate has helped democratise and accelerate innovation. “Infoscions can reach out to a larger pool of diverse and skilled talent, for both idea generation (hackathons, etc.) and conversion of ideas into prototypes and solutions—encouraging a culture of innovation,” he added, sharing that currently the platform is consistently being used to fuel some of their organisation-wide initiatives. Moreover, this platform is also helping Infosys in preventing employees from getting into moonlighting or gig opportunities outside and promoting internal growth, both professionally and financially, alongside continuing the engagement, thereby reducing attrition. Commenting on the gig opportunities outside the company, the Infosys chief said that in the case of such opportunities in the external environment, they support the aspirations of their employees to learn beyond the scope of their work. “We will support the aspirations of our employees on certain gig projects after the prior approval of their managers,” said Parekh, sharing that they are working on developing more comprehensive policies that align with employee contracts and confidentiality clauses. He further clarified that they do not support dual employment. In the past, Infosys has let go of employees who were involved in working with multiple companies in violation of confidentiality norms. Meanwhile, Tech Mahindra said that it is working on allowing moonlighting for its employees. The company’s chief C P Gurnani said that the reliance in supporting moonlighting comes because it identifies itself as a digital company, and not a legacy firm.
Infosys Accelerate was launched as an internal marketplace for Infoscions to engage in short-duration gig work, especially when they are available between assignments.
Infosys Accelerate was launched as an internal marketplace for Infoscions to engage in short-duration gig work, especially when they are available between assignments.
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Amit Raja Naik, known as the 'AI Human,' serves as the editor at AIM Media House, where he leads a team of talented tech journalists who are driving and shaping technology conversations across India and around the world.