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Vaidik Trivedi
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OpenAI announced Friday afternoon that CEO Sam Altman has departed the company, saying the executive “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
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Vaidik Trivedi
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Vineet Nayar, former CEO of HCL Technologies, in a conversation with Business Today said that the delay in the onboarding of freshers at Indian IT companies is not a new thing and has happened before.
Nayar said, “This, delay in onboarding, has happened multiple times when there are twists and turns in the demand environment. This has happened before as well when there is an opportunity turn for the negative or the positive.”
Business Today has previously reported that Indian IT services companies Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, along with international companies like Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others have delayed the onboarding of new recruits by over a year.
The former CEO of India’s third largest IT services company explained that employers are unable to predict the demand for talent accurately, which results in issues like delay in the onboarding of fresh recruits.
“Ability to predict a demand for talent really goes wrong. A new employee takes about six to nine months to get trained and be deployed on a project. And in the case of freshers, the offer is made on year in advance. Which means predicting at least 18 months in advance whether you would need that employee or not,” Nayar highlighted.
The delay in onboarding at these companies is mostly a result of a drop in business demand.
Infosys responded to awaiting job claimants in an email saying, “Please be informed that we are allocating DOJ based on our business requirement. We will send you a joining communication at least 2-3 weeks prior to your joining date.”
Capgemini also released a similar statement. It read, “We understand your grievance. Rest assured, we will be honoring all the issued Letters of Intent. Our onboarding process is aligned with client requirements & staggered over time to factor in project schedules while providing the right training to new joiners.
Also Read: Infosys, Wipro, now Mindtree. IT professionals blame company for delaying onboarding – BusinessToday
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After Wipro, IT company Happiest Minds has fired employees for moonlighting. The company said moonlighting is unacceptable as it amounts to a violation of the job contract. Moonlighting is a term to describe employees who while working for one company take up a second job. Many IT firms including Wipro and IBM have called it ‘illegal’ and ‘unethical’. In fact, it was Wipro chairman Rishad Premji who triggered the whole debate by calling it “cheating – plain and simple”.
Happiest Minds’ Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Anantharaju told news agency PTI that his firm has been quite clear with its people that dual job is something that the company will not accept. “…because when you sign a contract or employment offer, you are agreeing to work only for that company,” he said.
Anantharaju said moonlighting raises risks and questions around security, as well as the commitment of workers in devoting their time and attention to end customers and delivery outcomes. He said his firm had found instances of employees involved in moonlighting and they were fired immediately because it was a message the management wanted to drive across the company.
“Even if it is a few hours somewhere… because there is no way of really ascertaining that. So we have done that…we are clear, you can’t be moonlighting. If you want to do some voluntary activities in unrelated areas…maybe wish to go teach in a school over the weekend that is different. But for us you have to have all of your time dedicated to Happiest Minds and working out here,” he said.
The top leadership of information technology firms is currently divided with some openly against the trend while some have lenient views considering the rising cost of living and exposure the employees get while working on other assignments.
In a tweet in August, Wipro’s Rishad Premji said: “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.” Weeks after this tweet, Premji informed that his company had fired 300 employees found to be moonlighting.
Backing him, RPG Group’s Harsh Goenka said Wipro deals with Fortune 500 clients for whom data secrecy is sacrosanct. “If the customer finds even a remote chance of data compromise, it will not be tolerated,” he said.
Infosys, the country’s second-largest IT firm, too had joined the league warning its employees against two-timing and moonlighting. However, earlier this month, it took a U-turn and allowed its employees to take gig work with prior consent from managers and HR.
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Former HCL CEO Vineet Nayar, who recently said moonlighting was unstoppable, on Friday hailed Infosys for allowing employees to take up gig work with prior consent from managers. Nayar said Infosys by taking this move has thrown a challenge to other information technology firms in the industry, where dual employment is now becoming a trend.
Infosys has allowed employees to take up assignments from establishments that do not compete with the company or its clients or pose any potential conflict of interest. This marks a departure from the stand the company had taken on moonlighting just weeks ago when it said it did not back the trend.
Nayar said Infosys, the second largest software services exporter in the country after TCS, saw the moonlighting debate to be an avalanche that was unstoppable and reasonable. “It seems they figured out a way to let employees engage in gig work with prior permissions, thus taming the trend and turning it into a massive advantage for themselves,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
A massive debate has erupted in the IT industry over moonlighting with some calling it “unethical” and “illegal” while others backing the trend saying there is nothing wrong in taking up assignments if a contract with the current company is not violated.
The former HCL CEO said what is smart about Infosys’ response is that they have understood the difference between conflict of interest and gig work. “Both are not the same and have to be dealt with differently,” he said.
Nayar further said that he was sure Infosys employees would be happy that they now have a choice, they can engage in interesting exploratory work, and that their company is a first mover on a new trend. “Infosys will be happy that it gained many points on employee motivation while setting a process to ensure it does not harm its interests,” he added.
By allowing external gigs, the former top executive said, Infosys has thrown a challenge to others in the tech industry “and is a winner on this one”.
“Rest will follow when they had an opportunity to actually lead,” Nayar said.
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Amid heated debate over moonlighting, India’s second-largest IT firm Infosys has allowed its employees to take up job opportunities outside the company with the prior consent of their managers and HR on Thursday. In an email, the software services exporter said: “Any employee, who wishes to take up gig work, may do so, with the prior consent of their manager and BP-HR, and in their personal time, for establishments that do not compete with Infosys or Infosys’ clients.”
With this move, Infosys has become the first major IT company to allow its employees to take up gig work. The decision comes amid ongoing debates around moonlighting – a term to describe employees who take up a second job while being on the payroll of another firm – and employee rights in not just the IT industry but also in other professional work domains.
Infosys CEO Salil Parekh recently said that the company did not support dual employment or working on gigs that could be in conflict with their work at the firm. He said that the company already had a platform that allowed employees to do internal gig work on internal projects.
Infosys’ latest email to its employees nowhere mentioned ‘moonlighting’. It laid down guidelines assisting employees in taking up side projects that do not stand in direct conflict with their employment contract. The email said that Infosys counts on its employees to ensure that this does not impact their ability to work with the company effectively.
“In addition, as per Infosys employment contract, employees may not work in areas when there is a potential conflict of interest or by accepting dual employment,” it said as per the report. The email further said Infosys, being an organisation that values learnability, totally supports its employees to take up additional projects.
The whole moonlighting debate was started by Wipro chairman Rishad Premji, who in a tweet on August 20 said: “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.” After him, many tech honchos voiced their opposition to moonlighting.
RPG Enterprises chairman Harsh Goenka said moonlighting cannot be tolerated because of data, which is sacrosanct. “Moonlighting: Wipro vs Swiggy – they just can’t be compared. Wipro deals with Fortune 500 clients for whom data secrecy is sacrosanct. If the customer finds even a remote chance of data compromise, it will not be tolerated,” he said.
However, just days ago, former HCL CEO Vineet Nayar said moonlighting is unstoppable. He also questioned the top management of companies saying if their involvement in other companies as board members or as investors in startups amounts to moonlighting.
Also read: Wipro, Infosys, Capgemini: Freshers await offer letters for up to 10 months after selection
Also read: Which are India’s biggest tax paying companies? Find out here
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IT services giant Infosys has postponed the onboarding date of new employees for the fourth time in the past four months, job claimants told Business Today.
An aggrieved job claimant told Business Today, “The company has postponed my onboarding for the fourth time now in the last four months. My family is running out of patience as I do not have any options now.”
The job claimant said that their initial joining date was September 12, 2022. After four changes, it has been moved to December 19, 2022.
“First my joining date was 12 September. Then they sent an email and said that date has been postponed to October. Then again, they postponed it. This time it was supposed to be on 28 November, now they have moved it to 19 December. They have changed my onboarding date four times in last four months,” the IT professional told Business Today.
Another distressed job claimant had a similar plight. The candidate’s latest onboarding date was supposed to be December 5, but it was moved to January 2 as per the latest communication received from the company.
The job claimant said, “My onboarding date is also being continuously postponed by Infosys. My latest date was 5th December but now they have given me new date of 2nd January. Till when will they keep delaying onboarding, many of us are sitting at home jobless and incomeless for around six months.”
Many such IT professionals are now fearful that their offer letter might be revoked.
“After waiting for so long, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and so many companies have cancelled offer letters. My only fear is that even Infosys will cancel my offer letter,” the IT worker said.
Business Today previously reported that Wipro and Tech Mahindra had recalled offers of employees after they waited for months to be onboarded.
Some of these IT professionals are looking for other options while waiting for an onboarding date from Infosys. A job claimant awaiting a joining date said, “I have started trying to look for other IT companies. But the worst thing is, all other IT companies are also delaying onboarding.”
Business Today also reported on the delay in onboarding at other IT companies like Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Accenture, Capgemini, Mindtree.
In an email communication with the IT workers awaiting a joining date, Infosys said, “Please be informed that we are allocating DOJ based on our business requirement. We will send you a joining communication at least 2-3 weeks prior to your joining date.”
During its earnings call on Thursday, the company reported an 11 per cent rise in profit at Rs 6,021 crore.
Salil Parekh, chief executive officer of the company, said during the earnings call, “Our Q2 performance was strong with year-on-year growth at 18.8% and sequential growth at 4% in constant currency.”
He further added, “Growth in constant currency in the first half of financial year ‘23 was 20.1%, compared to first half of financial year ’22. This momentum is accompanied by a strong pipeline of large deals and the highest large deal value in the last seven quarters of $2.7 billion, 54% of this was net new. ”
When asked by a financial analyst from JM Financial about the delay in onboarding, Parekh agreed that the hiring of freshers in the first two quarters had surpassed the yearly target.
He said, “Yes. So we are — like I said, we will be at 40,000 in H1. And yes, we will be above the 50,000. Of course, we’ll get back later on what the number is, but we will go above 50,000.”
Business Today reached out to Infosys with detailed queries on the matter. The company said that they clarified their position on the same during their recent earnings call.
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