In Pune, IT unions have filed cases with the office of the additional labour commissioner against companies for what they said was forced resignation or separations. (Representational) Amid a fresh cycle of job cuts in major IT companies due to the recession, delayed joining of campus recruits is a cause of concern that the IT sector wants the Maharashtra government to look into.
Pavanjit Mane, a member of the Maharashtra state IT committee, said they have requested Pune’s guardian minister and Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil to look into the matter.
In Pune, IT unions have filed cases with the office of the additional labour commissioner against companies for what they said was forced resignation or separations. The office of the additional labour commissioner said they routinely received four to five cases per month about such forced resignations. The cases are referred to the labour court in case the attempts to reconcile fail.
Mane said the top-tier companies have the habit of mass recruitment from colleges of third-year or final-year students. Such freshers are issued post-dated joining letters. Engineering colleges flaunt the names of big companies that come for campus recruitment as badges of honour, while attracting new students.
However, Mane said these companies have now started delaying the joining date inordinately.
An internal survey among IT employees showed that 96 per cent of around 200 employees were given a joining date but were asked to wait for a new date.
“The HR keeps pushing the joining date and fresher candidates end up waiting endlessly,” he said.
Most candidates prefer to wait in hope of them eventually being absorbed by the company. The average wait period can be anything between six months to one year and there are cases in which the companies have eventually rescinded the offer letter.
Being freshers, Mane said the candidates are either reluctant to take action or do not know what recourse is open to them. They lose out on career betterment in comparison to their colleagues who end up joining midscale companies eventually. “Our survey can best be described as the tip of the iceberg. We do not have any resources to conduct a state-wide survey,” he said.
In this regard, Mane and others had contacted Patil’s office to request him to direct the labour commissioner to conduct a state-level survey. “This is an issue which needs the government intervention,” he said.