Wipro butchers its offer

Freshers' salaries shrink from Rs 24,000 to Rs 6,000, joining dates extended and bonds waived

Wipro butchers its offer

Freshers' salaries shrink from Rs 24,000 to Rs 6,000, joining dates extended and bonds waived

Freshers waiting to join Wipro for the last 18 months have had their salaries slashed from Rs 24,000 to Rs 6,000 and their joining date pushed to the year-end.

Sunil (name changed), an engineering student, was picked up by the IT major while still in college last year. He was promised Rs 24,000.
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"After one-and-a-half years, I got a mail saying I was to join as a trainee on a salary of Rs 6,000 and my joining date was November," Sunil told MiD DAY. "They said I would be on the bench and the salary would continue until I got a project. With this, I cannot survive in Bangalore."

Complacent in the knowledge that he had a job, Sunil didn't even bother trying in other companies. Then the recession started and there was a freeze on recruitment.

Wipro's denial

Wipro denied the story. In an email to MiD DAY, Wipro corporate vice-president, human resources, Pratik Kumar, said, "Short answer is 'Not True'."

But that hasn't stopped forums such as Wipro 2008-09 Community discussing the joining date and the meagre salary on social networking sites. The biggest fear is: How long will they be paid Rs 6,000? And what if, after the training, the company asks them to leave saying there were no projects?

Another point of discussion is the waiving of the bond which freshers were promised.u00a0u00a0

u00a0"Why has the bond been waived for us? The people who have joined before April have it and we who will join post-April don't have it. Why the discrimination? Is there something fishy," asks Kaushik on a social forum.

Alternatives

Some of the engineers who have been asked to join on December 29 have asked if they could work with the BPO arm till then.

"The HR department said that was not possible. We can try for Wipro BPO outside the campus but they will not shift us to the technical side. They said Wipro BPO and Wipro Technologies were separate entities," says Moukthika, in a comment on a social networking site.

Doing au00a0 Satyam?
Last month, MiD DAYu00a0u00a0 reported on a similar story (March 31. 2009)

After making them wait for a whole year, Satyam sentu00a0 6,000 freshers a brilliantly-worded letter that tells them to "explore alternate opportunities".

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels