HYDERABAD: On a day when the merger of Mahindra Satyam (MSat) with Tech Mahindra (Tech M) was announced, the management used unconventional posters to convey the message to employees besides a usual e-mail.
But the banners depicting a boy and a girl proclaiming ‘The Power of 1,’ erected throughout the Infocity campus left staf anxious and confused here on Wednesday. While the joke doing the corporate circles was of an unequal marriage between a poor boy (Tech M with a debt component of Rs1,300 crore) and a rich but distressed girl (MSat with cash reserves of Rs 2,500 crore), employees seemed shocked and concerned about impending layoffs.
“They (Tech M) have done that in the past immediately after they tookover. So may be they’ll look at downsizing some time later. I’m sure there will be changes in the senior level too,” a staffer said on condition of anonymity.
Another employee, who has been with MSat for more than 15 years, expressed disappointment over the management’s decision to move the headquarters to Mumbai. “We are shocked. We were aware about the merger proposal. But whether MSat will be merged into Tech M or if it will be a reverse merger was unknown. The fact that they now want to move the corporate office to Mumbai wasn’t conveyed at all,” he said.
However, some of the employees took comfort in the fact that MSat being a multi-national company, will not have any affect on their operations whether it is based in Hyderabad or Mumbai. “We have a pan-India presence. It doesn’t matter where you are headquartered,’’ said another employee.