Most TechM exits ‘above project manager level’

The country’s fifth-largest IT services company Tech Mahindra is learnt to have let go of about 1,500 employees for reasons ranging from poor performance to technology shifts.

Multiple employees BusinessLine spoke to said that most of the exits have happened in the P1 Band, which is in the project manager and above levels. Most of those who exited the company were rated ‘L’, which is the lowest of the three categories. These employees were given two months severance pay with about 70 per cent of it being at the time of the resignation and the rest during the final settlement.

A spokesperson for Tech Mahindra said the company has added 1,700 associates in the ongoing quarter. “Our endeavour is to build a digital workforce of the future. We will continue to focus on re-skilling and right skilling our employees to keep pace with the changing technologies and dynamic market needs. As a policy-driven company, We adhere to global standards and processes pertaining to our human resource,” the spokesperson said.

Zero tolerance policy

She said the company is deeply concerned with attempts at speculation and misrepresentation of facts in the media relating to their employees. “Tech Mahindra has zero tolerance policy on such matters, we are cognizant of our responsibilities and pledge to continue to create awareness among the masses regarding such falsehoods.”

But an affected employee told BusinessLine on the condition of anonymity as he feared that it will impact his final settlement: “On June 4, I was called for a discussion as a part of the appraisal process and they told me that my performance was not good. On June 7, I was informed that two months salary will be paid and I had to resign.”

Interestingly, this employee claimed that he was rated “extraordinary” for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017 and worked with clients such as BT and Orange.

Tech Mahindra has 1.15 lakh employees and as an industry practice, around 3 per cent of the workforce is graded as poor performers.

Another employee who works as a ‘Solution Architect’, said that he was shown the door after working in the company for a year.

“I joined the company in 2017 from another top five software exporter with a lot of hope,” he said.

When asked why they had asked him to leave, he said: “I was informed that my solution was not appreciated. This was not communicated to me at any point by either my manager or HR head,” he said, adding that he was just getting ready to get married when he was asked to leave. This employee was working on the AT&T account and also works in the P-band, which has employees with 7-8 years experience. He has, however, not resigned from the company so far. Another employee, who has been with the company since last 11 years, said he was consistently rated high and he had not been given any reason for the current poor rating.

All these developments are coming at a time when Tech Mahindra, which in 2017 fiscal had revenues of $4.3 billion is undergoing transition, in an effort to keep pace with its peers in the industry.

Last year, an HR official asked one of the employees of Tech Mahindra to submit the resignation by giving one-day notice. This audio conversation was leaked and went viral on social media. As result of this, Mahindra Group Executive Chairman, Anand Mahindra apologised on twitter. “I want to add my personal apology. Our core value is to preserve the dignity of the individual & we’ll ensure this does not happen in future,” he tweeted.

‘Did Labour Dept know?’

The New Democratic Labour Front, which has taken up the cause of the affected employees of the company, told this paper that it wanted to know whether Anand Mahindra was aware of the developments at Tech Mahindra. “Don’t they know Industrial Disputes Act is applicable to IT employees and IT companies have to follow due process for any employment-related issues? Is this planned lay-off intimated to the Labour Department and permission obtained according to the law?,” a spokesperson for the Front said.

The affected employees also pointed out that they were not put into a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which is a standard employee improvement performance plan, followed by the industry. But the company spokesperson said that a grievance cell has been set up for employees to seek counselling whenever they need.

As some sections of employees grapple with their future, Tech Mahindra has been struggling to grow its revenues.

In the 2018 fiscal, revenues grew by 5.6 per cent in 2018 fiscal, lower than Nasscom estimates of 7-8 per cent.

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