Wipro, a provider of information technology (IT) services, has reportedly urged its employees who have completed its velocity training programme – Project Readiness Programme – to undergo additional training or face termination.
Indian IT firms are delaying the employment of new graduates in order to reduce costs in light of layoffs. Wipro, an Indian IT company, has introduced the Project Readiness Programme (PRP) for recent graduates who have awaited induction for more than 15 months. Those who fail the final exam with a score of at least 60 percent will be dismissed from the programme. As part of their training, candidates will be required to take a PRP assessment test with a negative marking of 0.25 per question.
In February, Wipro reduced the salaries of these new hires from Rs. 6.5 lakhs to Rs. “If they wanted to test us, why did they hire us in the first place?” complained a new employee who had already completed a training programme prior to onboarding.
Wipro announced in February that it will not deliver the previously pledged high pay offers to new hires. The IT giant previously offered a salary of Rs 6.5 lakh per annum (LPA) to those who effectively completed their ‘Velocity’ training programme.
Instead, the company asked whether they would accept a salary of Rs 3.5 lakh per year. These candidates were reportedly awaiting employment. In January, the Bengaluru-based company dismissed over 450 trainees for consistently failing the company’s internal examinations.
Harpreet Singh Saluja, the president of the IT employee organisation Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), described Wipro’s behaviour as “unethical, unfair, and unjust.”
According to industry analysts, IT companies overhired during the swine flu pandemic and are now experiencing a decline in demand, resulting in enormous bench sizes and difficulty onboarding new employees.