Trending: Infosys non-compete clause and why it is causing a stir

In a bid to arrest record high attrition India's second-largest software firm is enforcing an age old 'non-compete clause' which is causing a furore among workers. The clause which has been in place since 2007 restricts resigning employees to join 'named competitors' for 6 months. Named competitors include TCS, Wipro, Accenture, HCL Tech, Cognizant and IBM. 

Raising a voice against this a Pune-based IT employees union has written to the labour ministry and stated that non-compete clauses in the employment agreements offered by IT major Infosys to its IT as well as BPO employees are “illegal”.

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Infosys, in its statement, said that it is a standard business practice in many parts of the world for employment contracts to include controls of reasonable scope, duration to protect the confidentiality of information, customer connection, other legitimate business interests. 

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So what does this non compete clause really comprise of, here is a look: 
For the period of six months after leaving Infosys, employees will not

• Accept any offer of employment from any customer, (with whom I worked) in the twelve months immediately preceding my termination.
• Accept any offer of employment from a Named Competitor of Infosys, if my employment with such Named Competitor would involve me having to work with a Customer with whom I had worked in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the termination of my employment with Infosys.

The Indian IT sector has been seeing record highs in attrition numbers, in the Jan-March months Infosys saw 27.7% voluntary attrition. The company plans to hire 50,000 freshers in the current year to combat the problem. 

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