The renowned IT major Wipro is doing its rounds on the news after reports of firing hundreds of fresher employees on the basis of poor performance over internal tests.
While the employees who have been fired by the IT biggie, term the event as a ‘ convenient lay off’ stunt, Wipro has a different reason for such vast numbers of fresher terminations.
One of the top five IT giants in India, Wipro has fired almost 800 fresher employees, a Business Today report noted, however, the IT major has responded to the agency’s email, stating that it has rather fired 452 freshers on account of poor performance in assessments.
Wipro Fires 452 Freshers
The company said, “We had to let go of 452 freshers after they performed poorly in assessments repeatedly even after training.”
It further said, “At Wipro, we take pride in holding ourselves to the highest standards. In line with the standards we aim to set for ourselves, we expect every entry-level employee to have a certain level of proficiency in their designated area of work.”
The evaluation process includes assessments to align employees with the business objectives of the organization and the requirements of the company’s clients.
The systematic and comprehensive performance evaluation process triggers a series of actions such as mentoring and retraining and in some cases separation of certain employees from the company, Wipro said in the email.
While Wipro has termed the reason for firing such a large number of freshers as poor performance in internal assessments, the fired freshers believe that the whole stunt is just a cover up for lay-offs.
“I had got an offer letter in January 2022, but after months of delay they onboarded me. And now they are firing me giving the excuse of the test?” said a laid off fresher.
Another such employee said that it was just a convenient excuse for them (Wipro) to fire people.
Further, Wipro in its email has also mentioned that it has waived off the amount of Rs 75,000 that freshers were liable to pay back to the company as they spent on training them.
The termination letter sent to employees noted, “We wish to inform you that training cost of Rs 75,000 which you are liable to pay, will be waived off.”
NITES Terms This Unethical
Reacting to this development, Harpreet Singh Saluja, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate NITES said,
“Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate NITES strongly condemns the unethical layoffs done by Wipro. The employees who were given offer letters in & before February 2022 were awaiting onboarding date have been sent an email that their last working day is 20 January 2022. For an year these employees were struggling to join the company despite clearing interviews, trainings, assessments & internships. The company has not paid a single rupee to these employees and fired them illegally. We will be submitting a complaint to the Labour Authorities to conduct an enquiry.”
We will keep you updated as more details come in.
