HYDERABAD: Techies who were ‘illegally terminated’ from MNCs in the city are fighting financial stress, job insecurity and anxiety. Recently, two more techies from Tech Mahindra escalated their case from State Labour Commissioner’s office to the Hyderabad HC, failing to get any help from the former.
Speaking to the New Indian Express, the duo, who were once Senior Software Engineers at Tech Mahindra, said they no longer would have the same respect and identity in society after losing their jobs. “The so-called tech companies will not understand but people at my village in Anantapur district will no longer value me. They will categorise me as jobless and I will lose reputation,” lamented Raghav Reddy.
Ravi Dharmavarapu, another software professional who recently moved HC challenging his termination, moved into a single bedroom house from his previous 2BHK apartment. “I could no longer afford to pay `12,000 as rent for the apartment and because of that, I had to move to this small home. My savings are being exhausted paying EMIs. Selling my wife’s gold jewellery is the only option now,” he said.
Reddy rued that while the MNCs conduct many rounds of selection procedures to recruit a candidate, they do not follow the same in terminating someone. “Starting from a telephonic interview to a personal interview, the HR managers are so particular in choosing the right candidate, but why do not they do the same while terminating?”
Speaking on the effect of lay-offs on the mental health of professionals, psychologists warn that the techies should not blame themselves for the loss of jobs. “Sudden job loss is certain to increase insecurity. Acute stress and even suicidal thoughts can be manifested if they do not take care,” said P Madhurima Reddy, psychologist at Continental Hospital. Uttering positive self-affirmations, besides exercising regularly and unconditionally loving oneself are a few measures to deal with the ordeal, she added.
Online campaign receives huge support
An online campaign on Change.org, asking companies to pay 12 months’ salary or give notice period before termination, received support from 8,949 people. It will be soon submitted to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for consideration.
Techies protest at Labour Commissioner’s office
IT employees in Hyderabad, who are fighting against their job termination, staged a protest at the labour commissioner’s office demanding holding of speedy conciliation meetings which is otherwise taking longer than anticipated. The protest started after a conciliation meeting between an employee of Tech Mahindra and the Human Resource team of the same company, failed to resolve the conflict. The Tech Mahindra team who allegedly sorted for a three week extension to look into the issue irked the techie and thirty others who had similar such experiences over the past few months.
According to Forum of IT Professionals (ForIT), an IT employee organisation, close to 180 people have filed petitions at the Labour department of which 30 are women. The forum pointed out that only 10 conciliation meetings were held till now and urged the department to enforce authority vested in it. “Though it is up to the commissioner’s discretion whether to have a conciliation meeting or not, but the few which were held did not prove fruitful,” said Praveen.