Anand Mahindra Apologises After Clip of Techie’s Firing Goes Viral

In the audio clip, a techie can be heard pleading with an HR executive against Tech Mahindra’s decision to fire him.

File image of Anand Mahindra. (Photo: Reuters)

Mahindra Groups's Chairman Anand Mahindra, on 8 July, tendered a public apology over the manner in which an employee of Tech Mahindra was asked to quit.

Tech Mahindra top brass also apologised after an audio clip went viral, which purportedly involved a conversation of an HR executive of the company asking an employee to put in his papers by next morning, as part of corporate decision.

In the clip, the techie can be heard pleading with an HR executive against the decision. Anand Mahindra took to social media to apologise for the incident

We have become aware of the incident involving a conversation between an employee and a company HR representative. We deeply regret the manner in which the discussion took place and have taken necessary corrective steps to ensure that this does not happen again in future

Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman, Tech Mahindra in a note

The note was tweeted by CP Gurnani, Tech Mahindra's CEO.

Tech Mahindra ranks fifth in the tally of Indian IT firms by revenues. As of the end of December 2016, the company had over 1.17 lakh employees.

The audio clip comes at a time when Indian IT firms are facing challenges in the business environment and stricter work permit regime in countries like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

There have been also been reports of mass layoffs by various companies, including Tech Mahindra, even though the industry has consistently denied the allegations.

The companies have termed layoffs as part of normal business decisions, but many believe that these are directed more towards controlling costs.

Interestingly, IT firms are under pressure to hire local American workers instead of taking Indian employees on work visas to client sites as US hardens its stance on outsourcing. Higher on-site hiring also impacts their margins.

IT companies have been one of the largest recruiters in the country. Apart from the impact of stringent visa regime, increasing automation of processes would also lead to reduction in hiring in coming years.

(With PTI inputs.)