Patni Computers laid off close to 400 employees

In the IT industry, there is nothing scarier than appraisal. Following the American practice of “fire and hire”, if an employee slips up badly on appraisals, then he is liable to be thrown out. The company is also able to justify the firing on grounds of “non-performance” and avert any untoward trade union scenes.

The year began with TCS firing about 500 employees on grounds of non-performance. This was followed by IBM, which laid off 700 freshers. And the latest to announce lay-offs is Patni Computers, it has laid off close to 400 employees. The company has bent over backwards, stating that it was non-performance and not a slowdown, which would then have tantamounted to retrenchment. Patni has stated that it continues to recruit and has targeted new recruits of about 2000.

But those in the company state that non-performance is just a pretext. People have been on the “bench” (an IT terminology used for those not having any project on hand) for long time now and it is these people who have got the axe. Postponement or cancellation of projects also gets more people on the bench, than what the company has earmarked. Is that the case here? For the first quarter ended 31^st March 2008, the company’s net profit QoQ, slipped 17% and fell 25% YoY. OPM and NPM have also slipped considerably.

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Thank God I made good decision not to join this company..
No moral no respect to the employees, and from my
experience I can surely say Not at all professional HR's
out there..
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