Software company TCS said that it has started its promotions cycle and has increased compensation by 12 to 15 percent for “exceptional performers” in a gesture that adds cheer to an otherwise sombre quarter. The price increases took effect on April 1.

“We have given a 12-15 percent raise for exceptional performers in our latest annual compensation review, and also commenced the promotions cycle,” Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad said in a statement.

In reality, the effect of pay increases had a 200bps impact on the company’s margins. Samir Seksaria, the chief financial officer, said in a statement that the company began rolling out raises on April 1 and that its operating margin, which is 23.2 percent, reflects the impact of the boost by 200 basis points. TCS experienced a 120 bps overall decline in operating margin, going from 24.5 percent last quarter to 23.2 percent this quarter.

According to the company’s annual report, TCS employees received a 5.11 percent pay rise on average in FY23.

The announcement of the boost comes at an intriguing moment because Infosys has postponed the raises it was planning to award to non-senior staff in the first quarter of the year because no one has yet informed them of them.

In a statement, Lakkad mentioned that the IT company is concentrating on getting workers back to the office, where currently 53% of the staff spends three days each week working remotely.

“We remain focused on developing, retaining and rewarding the best talent in the industry, and enhancing their effectiveness by bringing them back to office to foster our culture,” he said.

Additionally, employees logged 12.7 million learning hours to upgrade their knowledge in topics like generative AI, cloud computing, data analytics, and other related topics.