IT giant Tech Mahindra is set to hire about 2,200 people in the United States this year after the US government has made it clear that it would like companies to hire locals, instead of bringing in employees from other countries. Apart from this, the brand has explained that some of the processes require local employees.
"Last year, we hired around 2,200 people and we expect to do the same this year as well," Press Trust of India quoted Tech Mahindra President, Strategic Verticals, Lakshmanan Chidambaram as saying. "That has happened because the message from the US government is very clear that they would like us to play a bigger role here (in terms of employment)."
When Chidambaram was asked if the US hiring has anything to do with the reported layoffs in India, he said: "For sure no. There is no connect".
The Mumbai-based company has about 6,000 employees in the US, working for over 400 clients, and is known to hire freshers in the last four years. Tech Mahindra operates in 28 US cities and also 16 development centres in the country.
While the brand may be bringing some cheer in the US with its plan to get more workers on board, Tech Mahindra has been making quite some headlines in its home country as well, but not for the right reasons. It was recently reported that an unnamed employee was asked to leave the firm with immediate effect and his recorded conversation with the HR representative went viral online.
The HR representative asked the employee to resign by 10 am the next day and said that the layoff was a part of the company's restructuring plan. Even though the employee requested the representative to give him some more time, the HR told him that he needed to leave with immediate effect and cited the condition in the employment contract, which says that the employer can ask an employee to leave with immediate effect.
"Cost optimization is happening at the company and your name is part of that list. If you can put in papers we will be treating it as a normal exit with June 15 as last working day. If not, we will be sending you a termination letter and don't expect anything from the company including an experience letter or basic salary," the HR rep is heard saying.
After the conversation went viral, Mahindra Group's executive chairman Anand Mahindra apologised for the way the employee was fired from the organisation.
"I want to add my personal apology. Our core value is to preserve the dignity of the individual & we'll ensure this does not happen in future," Mahindra tweeted, along with an CEO CP Gurnani's apology, which said: "I deeply regret the way the HR rep & employee discussion was done. We have taken the right steps to ensure it doesn't repeat in the future."
A few days later the Hyderabad High Court admitted a writ petition filed by four laid-off employees of the IT firm. The court also issued a notice to the IT giant asking it to explain the unlawful job cuts. Not just the firm, Justice M S Ramachandra Rao has also issued notices to Telangana and its labour department officials and they now have three weeks to respond to the same, reported the Times of India.
