The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Satyam staff put on a brave face

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Thursday, Jan 08, 2009
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Satyam staff put on a brave face

Deepa Kurup

Some are looking for jobs

Interim CEO asks employees not to panic
‘We are worried, but don’t expect everyone to go’

BANGALORE: Once they got over the bolt from the blue, it was business as usual for the employees at the four Bangalore offices of Satyam Computer Services.

Savitha, a project manager at Hyderabad-headquartered IT company, said her colleagues were already edgy ever since the aborted $ 1.6 billion Satyam-Maytas deal, and the more recent disrepute in the form of the World Bank ban for data theft.

The 53,000-strong employee contingent was caught unawares even as the media was inundated with reports of their chairman Ramalinga Raju’s shocking confessional.

“Yes, we are worried about our jobs, and we may reconsider our long-term commitment to the company. However, we don’t expect everyone to be sacked overnight,” Ms. Savitha said.

Another Satyam staffer told The Hindu that several internal emails were zipping in and out of the inboxes all day. “There is no need to panic and work should go on as usual. There are some changes happening at the management level,” an official email from the interim CEO said. Employees were directed to convey the same to clients and “respond politely in case of panic from client side”.

The dreaded pink slips have not arrived and human resource team held several reassuring meetings even on Tuesday. Yet, cautious employees are looking for opportunities elsewhere.

“In December, senior and mid-level executives were seen unofficially hitting the panic button. But the recession-hit industry has no openings for them,” said an analyst with a recruiting HR firm. Almost all the top IT companies have put a freeze on recruitment.

In September, the company retrenched over 100 employees in its Bangalore offices under the pretext of “routine performance evaluations”.

An analysis posted on the website of Siliconindia, a professional network, claimed 10,900 Satyam employees had posted their resumes on top job portals last month. Of these, 4,714 resumes were posted last week following resignations by independent directors.

Going by these numbers, the panic in Satyam offices is bound to amplify over the next few days. However, with a rapidly declining job market, employees have no option but to stick on.

“There is no use panicking. Given that we have projects on hand, we don’t think that the management-level changes will directly impact us. And 50,000 people cannot vanish into thin air,” said another staffer.

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