As pink slips fly, joblessness rises

Jobs are tough to come by, especially to those given the pink slip

MUMBAI: In February, information technology giants Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IBM, and portal Yahoo flashed pink slips to hundreds of employees on the basis of “poor” performance.

Others such as Patni Computers followed suit. Banks, financial services and insurance firms, or the so-called BFSI players, have been discretely deleting non-performers.

Surabhi Mathur Gandhi, general manager, permanent staffing at HR firm TeamLease Services, says some companies have shipped out as much as 8-10% of their staff on the basis of sub-par performance in the last couple of months.

Companies in the IT and BFSI space, which recruit 6,000-25,000 people every year, are ‘rationalising’ workforce.

However, the real reason, say HR experts, is cost-cutting aimed at tiding over business slowdown.

The rationalisation continues, though not with the same intensity. The problem compounds for those sacked because another job has been hard to come by.
Take Samarth Rajan (name changed), for instance. The 28-year-old from Bangalore told DNA Money that after working for five years in an IT firm as a senior programmer, he was asked to leave mid-May.

Since then, he has been flitting across the city seeking an opportunity.
“Jobs are difficult to come by in this market and for someone who has got a pink slip, the scene is worse,” sighs the computer engineer.

He says the lack of a good reference and his relieving letter (which is not really overflowing with praise) are creating barriers in his search for a new job.
Rajan says if nothing comes by in the next couple of days, he may take up higher studies (such as pursue a MBA or MCA degree).

“Some of my ex-colleagues are also finding it tough to get jobs. We have even applied to BPOs and are waiting to hear from them.”

Satish Mhatre (name changed) is also sailing in the same boat. After working in a Mumbai-based insurance firm as a sales executive for the last three years, Mhatre says he was asked to leave in late June on account of poor performance.

Since then, he explains, he has been formatting his resume and approaching every firm on his way, be it in the area of insurance, sales, event management, call centres, etc.

“Though I was told that firing people on account of low performance is a normal exercise, I am sure another chance would have been given, if not for the slowdown,” says Mhatre.

Somewhat luckier is software engineer Kapil Bhat. Ejected by another top IT company three-and-a-half months ago, the Bangalore resident has nevertheless managed to get hold of an offer in a call centre with a monthly pay of Rs 30,000 or half his previous salary.

“I have no choice but to accept whatever comes my way,” he says.