Wipro: Employee union writes to labour dept over firm terminating offers of 452 freshers

NITES President Harpreet Singh Saluja said employees who were given offer letters on or before February 2022 and were awaiting onboarding, have been informed that their last date is January 2023. (Image Credits: SourceCon)

An employee union has written to the labour department for an inquiry on Wipro, days after the company confirmed that it let go of 452 freshers for performing poorly on internal assessments after delaying onboarding.

In its letter to the labour department, The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a union of IT employees, said it was 'seeking prompt intervention’ in the matter against Wipro. Earlier today, NITES had stated that it 'strongly condemns the unethical layoffs done by Wipro' and will be submitting a complaint to the labour department for an inquiry.

"These students and employees have rejected offers from other companies keeping their faith in Wipro that someday the company will hire them. Not a single rupee has been given to these employees by Wipro, who have devoted their time for a year to the company," added NITES, in the letter.

According to NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja, the joining of these employees was supposed to be completed in August 2022. However, Wipro kept postponing the joining or onboarding date.

Saluja, earlier also said that employees who were given offer letters on or before February 2022 and were awaiting onboarding had been informed that their last date is January 2023.

Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil said that while onboarding for freshers has been delayed, the company cannot offer a timeline on when it will happen. Govil had said that those with higher scores are onboarded faster and in some cases, there is retesting for those with lower scores. “It's a combination,” he had said.

A statement by Wipro last week said that it expects every "entry-level employee to have a certain level of proficiency in their designated area of work."

As part of their evaluation process, Wipro said it includes assessments, and the process and evaluation triggers "a series of actions such as mentoring and retraining and in some cases separation of certain employees from the company".

An email to those whose employment has been terminated said that they were put through a project readiness program, and an additional technical assessment if they did not clear the former. Following this, the employment was terminated as they did not meet the assessment qualifying criteria of 40 percent.

“As you may be aware, that as per the Offer Letter, either party may, terminate the employment by providing (30) days prior notice to the other party. Pursuant to the terms of the Offer Letter, we hereby wish to terminate your employment with us by serving upon you this notice of termination,” the email said.