Layoffs have become a common phenomenon in such a time of crisis. Every other day, we get news about small and big organizations laying off employees as the coronavirus pandemic is drying up revenues and companies opt for tough cost cutting measures to stay afloat.
In recent news, diversified financial services firm Indiabulls Group has asked nearly 2,000 employees to resign from the company. However, the company calls the measure a part of its annual attrition cycle and claimed that these are not layoffs.
An official statement released by the company said,“The company typically sees an attrition of 10-15 percent of its workforce every year during April-May in the normal course of business. This year we waited till we got clarity from the Supreme Court and MHA. There are no layoffs other than in the normal course of business due to attrition and as per the performance trend of the entire year and not just a couple of months.”
Although the group did not disclose any specific numbers, based on media reports, the number is close to 2,000 employees or more. As of FY2020, the group employs more than 26,000 people and the company claims to have added more than 7,000 new members.
Impacted employees of the group’s housing finance arm Indiabulls Housing Finance claimed that they were asked to resign from the company by their reporting manager on May 15, 2020, with their last working day as May 31, 2020.
Employees have now taken to social media websites to bring attention of the authorities to the matter. Even if this is a part of the company annual process, the timing for the development is not at all right. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi had repeatedly asked organizations to not lay off staff in times of such an unprecedented crisis.
Using the hashtag, #Indiabullsresign or #Indiabullsfiring, many employees on social media claimed that they were not being allowed to serve the three-month notice period.
“Our appointment letter mentions a notice period of three months from both parties. We had requested them to let us serve the notice period so that we can look for a new job,” said one employee.
The company’s spokesperson, however, said the notice period will vary as per the contract of employees.
Calling out harassment by the company, some employees of the company have claimed that they received a transfer order as they have not submitted their resignation.
“I am currently in Noida and the company has transferred to the southern part of the country. They want me to report to duty from the new location from May 25, 2020. How am I supposed to reach there?” said another employee who shared the transfer order issued to them on Twitter.
However, the company spokesperson said that the company is continuously having a dialogue on the issue with the employees.
Some angered netizens have even called out the company hypocrisy on the issue. The company had earlier donated ₹21Cr to the PM-Cares Fund and that did not go well with the impacted employees.
Last month, there were also reports that the company had cut employee salary to 20-50%, effective April 1. The development came just days after Indiabulls announced that its senior management has voluntarily opted to take up to 35% pay cut for the fiscal year 2020-21.
The company’s chairman Sameer Gehlaut had decided to forgo his salary, while vice-chairman, managing director and CEO Gagan Banga, had also opted to take a 75% salary cut for 2020. The development was confirmed by the firm in a filing to exchanges.
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