Showing posts with label Bad Practices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Practices. Show all posts

Thursday, December 18, 2008

EDS, MphasiS initiate 'Operation Verify'


Bangalore: If you thought that only an application for a passport necessitates a verification check, you are wrong. Global outsourcing provider EDS in collaboration with it's Indian subsidiary MphasiS, has decided to go all-out on an employee verification process on candidates who have joined the company before May 2007. Employees who have joined them post 2007 will also be covered if only reference checks have been carried out earlier. The process of verification of educational qualification and past employment records of the employees has been entrusted with a third party agency.

"With the economic slowdown looming ahead of us, such activities can only put us under even more strain. The fear of being laid off will be the uppermost thing in our minds even at the workplace," an HR executive of a leading BPO agency told Business Standard. On the other hand false educational claims and skill-set certifications produced by the employees can taint the very image and reputation of the entire industry as a whole.

However, an MphasiS spokesperson was quick to point out that this process is merely a routine exercise conducted periodically and should therefore not be linked to layoffs or mass-retrenchment schemes. Dismissing such fears in the near future, the spokesperson also said that those who had undergone reference checks by phone will need to undergo comprehensive background verification this time round.

EDS employees, who have been transferred to MphasiS after it's acquisition by Hewlett-Packard have been particularly critical of the move. Sources say that up to 400 employees at EDS-MphasiS, including senior personnel like delivery and project managers have been moved to the bench due to unavailability of newer contracts.

However in what could be a matter of utmost concern, the pulse in most leading consultancy firms is that this could be a godsend for organizations to carry out clockwork like precision lay-offs on the pretext of an economic slowdown. A good number of the staff is being benched from their existing projects, while some are being asked to take up projects that at best, provide a huge mismatch between the employee-skills and needed requirements. Also a refusal on the employees’ part to move to a 'less prestigious' project could very well lead to his/her termination from the company.

Organizations like the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and the Bangalore Chamber Of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) are only echoing their sentiments with a sense of gloom. "Bangalore is likely to witness a slew of lay-offs not only in IT but also in other industrial sectors, including textiles and engineering, whose consequences will be widespread and seen in sectors such as hospitality, housing and retail. It is imperative that the Government of Karnataka intervenes and considers implementation of certain measures in consultation with various industry segments", BCIC President NN Upadhyay said at a meeting last week.

"The global meltdown, credit crunch in our economy along with our dependence on western markets will only compound our already existing problems." Upadhyay said.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

IT firms send 11,000 Indians to UK every year

Forward by Sravanthi

London: Over 11, 000 foreign workers are being brought into Britain by Indian IT companies every year, prompting a trade union to question if the work permit system is being “abused” in the process

The Sunday Telegraph releases Home Office figures, which it says it obtained after a two-year battle under the Freedom of Information Act, showing that just six specialist Indian IT companies had recruited 11,644 immigrants to work for them in the UK in 2006, the most recent figure available.

The companies are Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra-BT, Mastek, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services.

Over a seven-year period these companies were granted work permits to bring 47,000 foreign nationals into the UK. Their annual total has climbed steadily every year since 2000 and has doubled since 2003.

The majority are thought to have been Indian nationals. The Home Office could not say how many have settled in the UK and how many have returned to their homeland.

Tata Consusltancy Services is the largest single sponsor of foreign workers. It secured permits for around 4,000 foreign workers in 2006 compared with less than 1,600 in 2000.

Much of the work of the six companies involves outsourcing, where British companies or public-sector organisations bring in a separate company to operate their computer system.

In some cases, companies have brought staff from India to Britain to learn about operations such as call-centres, before shutting down the British businesses and moving the staff back to India to replicate the operation there.

A British trade union, Unite, is questioning these figures. It says while it is possible that only foreign workers have the skills required for the specific jobs in question, the granting of work permits “should not be at the cost of resident workers”.

Unite is worried that the Indian companies may be “undercutting” British pay rates in the UK by securing work permits to foreign workers and paying them much less than what their British counterparts would earn in the same rank.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, British IT workers earned an average of £35,000 a year in 2006 while two-thirds of foreign-born employees in the same sector were paid under £30,000 a year. The figures include both employees on short-term and long-term work permits.

Peter Skyte, national officer of Unite, wrote in a report titled “The impact of the work permit scheme on IT professionals in the UK”: “The question needs to be asked whether the skills represented in these figures are not available in the UK, which would be a justifiable use of the work permit system, or whether these companies are bringing in non-resident work permit holders at below going pay rates in the UK, which would not.”

Sunday, September 21, 2008

,

Accenture, Gurgaon : Mass walk-ins but not interviewing candidates

Forwarded by Venkat
I recently had this experience with Accenture. I got a call from a consultant and was asked to appear for an interview in Accenture, Gurgaon. I went for the interview only to find that there are already a huge crowd waiting outside the office gate since the past 3-4 hours. There was no provision to sit, the place where the candidates were waiting was the area in front of the lift, without even a fan, forget an AC. The place was suffocating. And after waiting for such a long time, we were told to fill up a form with our details and that they will contact us later. I never received a call.


They might have as well asked us to just send our profiles over email! Whats the point? And these companies call themselves global fortune 500 companies!!!

I guess companies no longer look at employees as brand ambassadors! They just look at them as a shelf product that they can buy and sell when they want rather than looking at them as living people!