A year on, Satyam has 50% fewer staff

Declining numbers

From 53,000 in September 2008, the number fell to 28,000

About 7,000 in virtual pool

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K. V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Sept. 22 Nearly one year after Satyam Computer Services prepared its second-quarter results in 2008, the number of employees at the crisis-hit company (now, Mahindra Satyam) is put at 28,000, including 4,000 in subsidiaries.

The number, however, excludes 7,000 employees who are still in the Virtual Pool Programme (VPP). The staff in VPP get some pay for a few months and would part ways with company later on. Apart from this, about 500 were put in the ‘corporate reserve’ after the new management did away with ‘redundancies’ in work.

This puts the total staff number at about half the 53,000 the company claimed to have had in September 2008. Unofficial figures put the total number some thousands fewer.

Ever since the Rs 7,136-crore fraud broke out in January 2009, the issue of the exact number of employees continues, with conflicting figures put out by different quarters.

While the company continued to harp on the September 2008 figure of 53,000, the CID probing the scam told a Hyderabad court that the number was inflated by at least 25 per cent, as Mr Ramalinga Raju had manipulated the books.

Though there was no official word on the number of employees Tech Mahindra took over, the Government-appointed board had maintained that there were about 45,000-48,000 in April 2009 when the company changed hands.

Month-wise figures

As of March 28, 2009, the standalone Satyam had 41,622 associates. The figures for the preceding three months ended December 31, 2008, and for January 31 and February 28, 2009, were 46,115, 45,049 and 44,120 respectively.

As of January 17, 2009, its subsidiaries had 4,088 employees, including 2,519 at Satyam BPO. As of February 28, the company’s key subsidiaries (Satyam BPO, Satyam Venture, Satyam China and Satyam Egypt) had 3,828 employees.

Many left, sacked

While a good number of them left the company in the first few months of the crisis, it is alleged that a significant number was sacked. “People are still either leaving or getting the marching orders,” a Mahindra Satyam executive, on condition of anonymity, said.

Though they took about 1,000 staff back from VPP, the fate of the remaining 7,000 and those in the ‘corporate reserve’ still hangs in the balance.

‘Bring it on’ initiative

The company, however, claimed that the worst is over and that there would be no more additions to the virtual pool. “Instead, we have started several initiatives such as ‘Bring It On’ to encourage talent,” the spokesperson said.

The talent recognition programmes included paid holiday packages for those who completed 10, 15 and 20 years of service, beginning October 1.