Wow, Infy!

I normally refrain from using the phrases akin to "Hats Off!" looking at the deeds of men, women and organizations they run. But this one deserves something to that tune. Indian Express reports the following with the headline, "Infosys airlifts its employees out of Houston jam":

With Hurricane Rita hurtling towards the Texas coast, Indian IT major Infosys has evacuated over 86 people including employees and their families from Houston on a chartered flight.

The evacuation on Thursday night (IST) was ordered after a specially set up Infosys Rita watch panel, Task Force Rita, indicated danger for employees in Houston, Texas.

There are nearly 100 Infosys employees working in the region. Infosys officials at the company’s headquarters in Bangalore said that the decision to charter a plane for the evacuation of employees and their families was made after reports that roads from Houston were blocked as scores of people attempted to flee.

This is really worth a praise, probably more than just a praise. I have worked for Infosys; these guys are masters at hospitality. I mean they really know how to take care of their employees, clients, and shareholders. May be that is why they are a loved company. Even though the nature of work they do, as I've blurted at other occasions, is not the best one could do after engineering, but that is more of an industry characteristic than Infy's.

I was in the first trainee batch which was supposed to undergo a fast track training (Mysore, August 2002), and rather than expect us to find a place to live in the town, Infosys opened the executive resorts for us (which were normally reserved for the C-level execs coming to train at the Infosys Leadership Institute within the Mysore Campus). I'm not sure how many companies would exhibit this level of "Corporate Care". And, yes, we're talking about the company behind Infosys Foundation, which is doing many-a-noble things all the time.

So, here's to Infy's commitment to employee care , "Hats Off!".

PS: Cynical as this may sound, this move of Infy may have a secondary motive of garnering good press, but then, that's just fine, as long as stranded employees were helped.