Tech company sacks 80 workers

Small IT companies are struggling with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Across Hyderabad, employees of multiple such companies are either being laid off or face salary cuts.

Selectsys India Private Limited, a company with an office in Jubilee Hills, with around 300 employees, has sent emails to several employees telling them they have been fired. An employee who had received the mail said at least 80 others received it. The employee said that the company had been unable to offer them a work-from-home option and work had come to a standstill since the lockdown began. “Like most others, I got the email on Sunday, a non-working day. Some others received it on Monday,” he said.

He rued that he was unable to speak to the management to negotiate a severance package or even collect a relieving letter. “It will be at last 5-6 months before we can look for a job again. I have no idea what to expect until then,” he said. The email, sent by a HR professional, blamed the Covid-19 crisis for the layoffs. “As we all know Covid-19 has impacted the whole world and our business too is not an exception [...] we have no choice but to lay off some employees by April 6 [...] So you have been laid off [...] We could hopefully rehire you at a later date once everything comes to normal,” it read.

Phone calls to the company’s landline went unanswered. Emails to the company’s director, Vijaya Lakshmi, and CEO, Kalyan, are yet to be answered.

Another city-based company is facing issues because of the pandemic. The Panjagutta-based company, which has less than 50 employees, has sent emails to its employees that they would be paid only 20 per cent of the ‘basic’ component of their salaries.

Mr Vinay Kumar Pyaraka, head of the Information Technology Employees Association (ITEA), said his organisation has been receiving a flood of emails in the past few days from IT employees, not just in Hyderabad but all over the country. “Almost all companies are looking to cut costs. In fact, it is not just the small ones, even the big MNCs are doing it,” he said.

He said ITEA was looking into the legalities of what could be done to provide relief to the laid-off employees.