Beyond Layoff

Answer to a recent question from an online forum Here is an image that perhaps summarizes the Indian IT Industry All of us have a viewpoint on what’s ailing the IT industry ( link ) Large software service companies employ nearly 200,000 people each. The rate of voluntary attrition is at historically low percentages. Assuming some sort of a bell-curve grading continues, and companies expect 5-10% of the bottom-rung people to ‘voluntarily’ leave, we are still looking at 10-20,000 people (each) leaving. The global software services market has slowed down. Most of the large software-service firms are projecting slower yearly growth. Thanks to Trump’s Executive actions, Indian firms are promising to hire tens of thousands of American workers. One could include other factors like increased automation and productivity gains that are being touted by IT leaders. Factor in the slowdown in American work-visa (H1) issuance, protectionism in Australia, England and elsewhere that less...

Information technology firm Cognizant said around 400 of its senior executives have accepted its voluntary separation package which will help the multi-national corporation save around $60 million dollars annually, PTI reported on Sunday. The company had offered some of its senior staff up to nine months of salary. Wikimedia Commons The international company had pitched the package, which offers up to nine months of salary, to some of its senior executives based in the United States and India in May. The firm has not specified how many of the employees were based in India, which accounts for a sizable number of its 2.56 lakh workforce. “Of the $39 million (approximately Rs 248 crore) of realignment charges, $35 million was for the roughly 400 associates who accepted our voluntary separation package,” Cognizant Chief Financial Officer Karen McLoughlin said at a recent investor call. The CFO said the step will help increase profits. The firm’s staff strength was reduced by aro...

There is a is a recent article from NDTV   titled "Reskill Yourself, Hiring Specialist's Message To Mid-Level Indian Techies" The advice seems logical, and timely. As a matter of fact, most 'management gurus' and IT leaders are are parroting  the Reskill Reskill Reskill  mantra However, What to reskill on and How to go about it is unclear, perhaps even to the 'Gurus' Read rest of the article: Mid-level positions in India's IT sector are most at risk as the industry grapples with changes in the technological landscape and stringent visa regimes in many overseas markets, according to a top executive of staffing firm TeamLease. There have also been reports of layoffs by many IT companies, even though the industry has denied the allegations. "The nearly 1.4 million mid-rung employees, who typically have 8-12 years of experience, are now at the centre of reskill and restructuring conversations happening across the sector," says Alka Dh...

Three of India's top IT companies saw significant reduction of their workforce in the quarter ending June, according to a report in HT Mint . "The $154 billion Indian information technology (IT) sector, once India’s largest creator of jobs, is now struggling to even add to its workforce. For the first time, three of the five largest IT companies saw their workforce shrink in the quarter ended June 30. The five firms, which together employed 878,913 people at the end of the June quarter, saw their workforce shrink by 1,818 people." According to Economic Times , E-commerce major Snapdeal on Monday revealed that it is facilitating a major layoff in the company, with an agenda to cut down 80 percent of its employee strength. A senior official of the company told ANI that the management has given verbal instructions to their department heads to prepare the list.  Additionally, the official also revealed that the owners of the firm have reversed the merger which was t...