Birlasoft refutes report on staff cut

BANGALORE, INDIA: Birlasoft (India) Ltd today denied a news report published on Wednesday that it had asked more than 100 of its employees "to seek other avenues."

In an emailed statement, Rajiv Saxena, senior general manager - Corporate Communication - of the Noida-headquartered global IT services arm of the $1.4 billion C K Birla Group, raised his protest against the news report.

Terming the report as baseless, he said, "Birlasoft is ramping up its operations. The 4500-strong company plans to have more than 6000 IT professionals by the end of 2008-`09."

The report had caused serious damage to the company’s reputation and had affected the morale of its employees, the email added.

Saxena further said that the quote attributed to the spokesperson in the earlier report was taken out of context.

“We have asked only some of the employees whose appraisal had been rated ‘poor’ to seek other avenues. This is a normal appraisal cycle, which is done every year. Close to five per cent of our employees are churned during the appraisals. We do not ask the employees to leave if their performance is proved ‘poor’ for the first time, but however when there is no consistent improvement, then they are asked to seek other avenues,” the report had quoted.

Meanwhile, sources said that the company, in an internal email, had asked team heads to identify non-performing employees in their respective departments, a normal practice in the industry.

In a separate email, Saxena said a new 1000-seat facility was coming up in Noida while moves were afoot to augment the staff strength in its Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad facilities.

"The last three years have also witnessed Birlasoft enhancing its business operations significantly, more than doubling its revenue, winning prestigious accounts and spreading its global footprint by entering new geographies," he added.

Birlasoft was included in the 2008 Global Services 100, a list of the top global providers of technology services brought out by Global Services magazine and management consulting firm neoIT.