Pay cuts, job cuts unnerve IT employees

Techies are in a state of shock over large-scale retrenchment of their colleagues in IBM and TCS, the information technology giants. With rumours flying fast and thick, IT employees find themselves worried about their future.

Websites and blogs of techies reflect a state of uncertainty and insecurity. With a rising rupee and slowdown in the U.S. economy taking their toll, employees of IT companies do not know when the situation will change for the better.

An IBM employee told The Hindu that about 1,500 employees have been shown the door in the past month. Pampered with fancy salaries and cushy working conditions, these employees find the developing situation deeply disturbing. Pay cuts, as in the Tata Consultancy Services now, are virtually unheard of. “Though the company has the right to deduct the ‘variable component,’ we are worried at an impending downsizing,” says Ravi K. of TCS. Twenty per cent of the variable pay of all TCS employees has been deducted.

In an attempt to assuage fears, the IT majors, however, say such sackings are routine and part of their “quality control exercise.” While IBM confirmed the axe has fallen on employees, it does not reveal how many have been given the sack. TCS, which is reported to have sacked 500 employees at different management levels, maintains that it was a routine exercise and that the pay cut was temporary.