HYDERABAD: Techie Pogaku Harshini’s suicide on Wednesday indicates how panicked the professionals are about losing their jobs due to layoffs, especially those working in the IT sector.
Experts say that employees are laid off for various reasons, and it is often communicated to them in a very harsh manner. Moreover, employers are focusing on skill development and process improvement training, but this incident shows that training and exposure to life-changing aspects are the need of the hour.
Meanwhile, employee associations have demanded that the employer should pay a salary advance for six months, and also extend insurance benefits for a year so that an employee does not slip into depression. Geeta Goti, independent director, National Small Industries Corporation Limited said that industry is already investing in several skill-building and stress-relieving programmes for employees.
However, when it comes to laying off, employees do not get much support from the employer. Sandeep Kumar Makthala, founder and president, Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) stated that earlier the number of employees who were rated with worst performance would be around seven per cent, but has gone up to eighteen per cent.
Such employees are placed in the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), and they have to prove their performance to avoid being laid off. Employers are maintaining their voluntary attrition rate, and are forcing employees to leave by themselves. Such employees can always approach labour court, but due to the fear of background checks, many abstain, added Sandeep.