Pink slips hit Hyderabad techies hard

Estimates put 4,000 software job cuts in Hyd, 10,000 across country

​Hyderabad: Though ‘hire n fire’ is a common phenomenon in the IT sector, the latest jolt is creating tremors in the domestic software segment, more particularly in the country’s third largest IT hub here. Unofficial estimates put the job loss in less than two months at 4,000 in Hyderabad and 10,000 across the country.

IT companies unilaterally showing the doors to employees regardless of higher points in appraisals, criticises Forum for IT Employees (FITE). For instance, the latest headcount trimming exercise at Cognizant landed in Labour Commissioner’s court.

Experts attribute the reason for the latest jolt of sacking to companies to their obligation to hire locals in the US. The sacked staff were given lower points that would be detrimental for future job prospects, alleges Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA).

“Citing the reasons of Trump’s restrictions on H1-B, IT companies have taken up indiscriminate firing. Generally, hiring and firing is a common feature in the technology industry. Of late, automation is the major factor that’s resulting in job cuts.

Now, IT companies prefer to hire Americans in the US operations and this will reduce domestic jobs in the offshore projects in Hyderabad and other cities in the country. IT companies are taking undue advantage of Trump’s policy to reduce the headcount considerably,” Y Kiranchandra, one of the founding members of FITE, informed The Hans India.

FITE has filed a petition on ‘layoffs’, alleging that Cognizant was illegally terminating thousands of employees by forcing them to resign. The Telangana Labour Department on Thursday held a meeting with officials of Cognizant and representatives of employees, who are apprehensive about their jobs in the US-based IT firm.

FITE and TITA also took part in the discussions.

According to Joint Commissioner (Labour) R Chandra Sekharam, eight employees of Cognizant along with representatives of various IT employees unions approached the department expressing apprehensions over job terminations, though none of them have been terminated or issued notices.

The official further said that three of them had resigned with notice period and wanted to rejoin the company. Meanwhile, Cognizant has sought two-weeks time from the Labour Department to come up with a reply on the issue of ‘resignations’ by some of the employees of the company.

After discussions for long hours, Labour Commissioner assures employer-friendly measures and policies in the State, then who’ll take care of employees and workers, questions, Kiranchandra. In a bid to ease the situation, TITA has submitted its piece of advice to the State government, employers and employees in order to find out a win-win solution for all the stakeholders.

Sundeep Kumar Makthala, TITA Founder & Global President, said: “The situation for employees is indeed distressful, but this phase could be dealt with if proper measures are taken. We suggest six-months salary as compensation instead of two months.

We also demand for extension of health and life insurance policies for one more year after retrenchment. The sacked staff should be allowed to avail of in-house learning facilities to enhance their skillset. The State government or labour department must ensure that ousted employees are accommodated in the state run IT programs.”