IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
They have their loyalty for the beleaguered IT company on one side and concern for the future of their livelihood on the other 4Ps B&M’s Naresh Nunna steals a look at the plight of Satyam employees caught between a rock and a hard place...
Tiny ancient temple of Lord Venkateswara in Chilukur village on the banks of Osmansagar lake at the outskirts of Hyderabad is being thronged with devotees, following the ‘confessions’ of Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju. Are majority of the devotees Satyam’s investors? Promoters? No, they are Satyam’s employees! Seeking God’s super personal generic exemplification during testing times may not a surprising gesture. But, why Chilikuri Balaji? Because Chilukuri Balaji, is considered to be IT-friendly. Most of the techno-savvies have been seeking divine intervention of Chilukuri Balaji in getting jobs, particularly overseas visas.
“Satyam episode is definitely a bolt from the blue, as IT sector is concerned. It flared up the existing market upheaval, caused by world-wide recession,” facilitator and consultant, Challa R. Phani told 4Ps B&M. With the global slowdown already putting the brakes on India’s $50 billion IT industry, jobs were difficult to come by, he added.
Besides the lavish lifestyle they lead in posh localities like Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, the home and other loans they have taken put them under tremendous tension. Thus, scores of employees had begun sending out their resumes to job portals and to other software firms. It is known that about 15,000 employees of Satyam have sent their CVs to placement companies and job portals during the last two days. Fearing trouble, more than 200 employees have also resigned during the last 3-4 days. A project manager at an international IT services firm said he had received about 4-5 frantic calls from Satyam managers, asking for jobs.
The shell-shocked employees inside the premises of company’s sprawling headquarters at Hyderabad were discussing in groups on the awful developments, the uncertainty and future plans. But they avoided the media on the instructions of their higher-ups. “How would you feel if you were in my position?” said one employee, while being reluctant to speak to the media, which is creating ‘mountains out of molehills.’ They are not only furious with the media for its ‘cock and bull’ stories, but also on off the cuff remarks made by IT bigwigs, like Infosys’ Narayana Murthy, who ascribed Satyam and its employees tainted, while ruling out the possibilities of taking over it. “We sincerely feel we are being subjected to such a harsh action out of no fault of ours,” an employee told 4Ps B&M, protesting the comments of Murthy.
Sudheer Pakanati (name changed) had prepared to settle for a smaller pay packages. “In fact, I applied for Wipro long back to the events of ‘horrifying magnitude. I was offered an annual package of Rs.4.5 lakh. But, now they asked me to join for 40% lower than it,” he told 4Ps B&M. And, if I stay with Satyam there will always be nagging worries about their salaries and their future, he said. A selected trainee- programmer, who has been waiting for his date of joining, felt happy with the developments. “I would have been tied in this fraudulent company because of the bond. There would have been no option left for me. Thank God I am saved,” he said with a sigh of relief. Others too are choosing to pursue different options: a developer who has been with Satyam for seven years said he had been planning on taking a break to do a Ph.D. Some of the stunned employees of Satyam are venting their frustration over the situation and future prospects in portals like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter.
But according to echelons of Satyam, the situation is not that bad, as being portrayed. Besides an amount of Rs.2,500 crore to get from clients, new projects worth more than Rs. 2,000 crore from Railways and BSNL are presently in Satyam’s kitty. “If the employees go with the business, I reckon 55-60% of the employees will find work,” an echelon told 4Ps B&M under condition of anonymity.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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