Satyam's virtual pool staff to get no pay after Dec 18

The company has a total of 34,000 employees globally.

Satyam Computer Services, which has been rebranded as Mahindra Satyam, has said that it will not pay salaries to employees in the virtual pool after December 18. Earning reduced pay at present, the employees in this pool will have the option to stay on the company’s rolls without pay till March next year.

The company, which was tainted by the near Rs 8,000-crore fraud perpetrated by its founder Ramalinga Raju, had put 10,000 employees, which it calls associates, in the virtual pool in June because there was not enough work to keep them busy. They were to get reduced pay and stay on the company’s rolls till December 18. The company has a total of 34,000 associates globally.

In an email to the associates, the Satyam management stated: “We continue to recall, based on need and project requirements. However, it does appear that we may have constraints to reinstate all of those who are on VPP. Under the circumstances, we have informed our associates on VPP that we are constrained by this reality and have extended the option for them to continue on our rolls, albeit without any pay (should they choose to do so) for a further period of three months — that is, from December 18, 2009 to March 18, 2010.”

During this period, the VPP staff will continue to have access to VPP services, including virtual learning and outplacement services. Additionally, the ‘loss of pay’ status would also be considered for their service period, the company said in the email.

A spokesperson said the company, till date, has recalled over 1,200 of the VPP associates and would explore the option of recalling the remaining associates during the extended time till March 18, 2010, “if any requirements emerge”.

“We will continue to leverage the VPP pool for all our future requirements and consider cross-skilling and re-skilling before any external hiring is initiated. We would like to reiterate VPP identification and actions thereon were indeed a one-time programme and what was communicated to associates on VPP earlier this week, is in line with the requirements under the terms and conditions of employment,” the company said in a release today.