Staff has a day of whispers, huddled discussions

Satyam employees were in for a rude shock on Wednesday morning, following chairman Raju’s confession of serial wrong-doing and resignation.

Much as the management led by interim CEO Ram Mynampati tried to reassure employees, it was as if hell had broken loose at the company’s facilities. For a good few hours in the morning, even the team leaders and project managers had no clue to what was happening.

“There is a sense of chaos... because there is no clarity,” said a programmer at Satyam’s Bangalore office. “However, projects are going on smoothly.”

Wednesday being a ‘non-delivery’ day (deliveries of work happen only on Fridays), people were crowding around in the canteen and elsewhere, discussing what information they had gleaned from the media and other sources.

It was no better at the Hyderabad office. A programmer said many employees were afraid some of the big clients would withdraw their projects, leading to mass layoffs. “Some were requesting others to buy Satyam shares to avoid a possible hostile takeover,” she said.

Mynampati sent out a letter to all the 53,000 employees, called ‘associates’ by the company, asking them to stay firm and continue to fight the battle together, and emerge stronger.

A project manager at the Bangalore office confirmed that all middle management employees had been briefed to guide their team members. “However, since junior members also talk extensively to clients, we have been told to be careful about how much we tell them.”

It was only around noon that there were reassuring talks, after a short video conference with Hyderabad. “The phrase used was ‘we will start from scratch’,” the project manager said.”