Infosys clarifies ‘forceful’ layoffs: Freshers get 3 attempts to clear assessment
Infosys has issued a clarification on reports of layoffs at its Mysuru campus, stating that its hiring policy includes a mandatory assessment that freshers must clear to continue working with the company.
This comes after media reports mentioned that nearly 700 trainee employees were being laid off. Infosys responded to the report by explaining that the assessment process is not new and has been in place for over two decades. The company said freshers undergo foundational training at its Mysuru campus and must pass an internal assessment to continue working.
“At Infosys, we have a rigorous hiring process where all freshers, after undergoing extensive foundational training at our Mysuru campus, are expected to clear internal assessments. All freshers get three attempts to clear the assessment, failing which they will not be able to continue with the organisation, as is also mentioned in their contract. This process ensures a high quality of talent availability for our clients,” Infosys said, as reported by PTI.
The move has been condemned by the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), reported The Economic Times.
About 400 employees were called in batches and issued ultimatum letters after failing to meet the minimum qualifying requirements, several employees told The Economic Times.
Nearly 2,000 graduates from that year’s batch faced delays in their onboarding process after Infosys extended offer letters for system engineer (SE) and digital SE positions, with annual salaries ranging from Rs 3.2 lakh to Rs 3.7 lakh, as per report.
“The company has deployed bouncers and security personnel to intimidate employees, ensuring that they cannot carry mobile phones and are left with no way to document the incident or seek help,” ET quoted NITES as saying.
“Today, in a completely undignified manner, Infosys has summoned these employees to meeting rooms at its Mysore campus, where they are being coerced into signing “mutual separation” letters under duress,” said NITES President, Harpreet Singh Saluja in a statement.
He said that the affected employees had been given an ultimatum to leave the company premises by the evening with no support or severance package offered to them.
NITES is filing an official complaint to the Labour Ministry Government of India regarding the matter and has urged the government to intervene and look into the matter urgently, as per the report.