GTech dumps Gentlemen’s Agreement
By Kerala IT News

GTech, the Group of Technology Companies in Kerala, has announced the dumping of the Gentlemen’s Agreement which restricted hiring of IT professionals within Technopark. V K Mathews, President, GTech, told the media that the need to ensure better mobility for IT professionals to further their career prospects within the State has prompted GTech to annul this agreement.

Mr. V K Mathews, who announced the news while interacting with the media on May 5, 2010, hoped this would prevent the migration of Techies to the IT hotspots like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. “There has been a sea-change in the employment scenario and the profile of Kerala’s IT industry over the last 10 years”, he added.

The Gentlemen’s Agreement was an informal understanding between the member companies of GTech, when it was the Group of Technopark Companies, to avoid poaching of resources. The agreement required a would-be hire to produce a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from his previous employer in Technopark to join another company in the campus. The NOC was issued only if the techie had worked for three years in the company and served the mandatory notice period (after resignation) as per the offer letter.

IT professionals often saw this as a restrictive practice. On many occasions, this agreement was followed on the contrary and smaller companies were on the receiving end. Bigger companies which have offices in multiple locations used to ask such resources to join them in another location and then transfer them to Trivandrum after a month or so.

Meanwhile, GTech is contemplating setting up of an Employees Forum and a Women’s Forum for grievance redressal.

(In Syndication arrangement with Keralaitnews.com)