Syntel: Were salary cuts restored?
By Sohab Mirza

Over the last eight months, Techgoss had published a series of exclusive reports giving details of all that was happening inside the BPO, KPO and IT divisions of Syntel.  One report showed how that in the recent past Syntel BPO was overly reliant on couple of key clients.  Techgoss had also reported on the exit of the CEO and senior HR people as well as recent salary hikes.

Syntel had appointed Mr. Prashant Ranade as its President and CEO in early February, 2010 after its previous CEO Keshav Murugesh left to head WNS.  A Syntel employee has emailed Techgoss the following description of the new CEO Prashant Ranade’s first Town Hall

“
It was the month of Feb, 2010 when the hard working employees of Syntel were efficiently finishing the tasks for the day.  Suddenly, in popped an email from the HR Department into their computers regarding a town hall by Syntel's new CEO Prashant Ranade. It was only then that many employees realized that Syntel had changed their CEO.

The email announced that Mr. Prashant Ranade was to conduct a series of town halls in Pune in a couple of days with the employees. Two Town Halls were scheduled on the same day – the first at 3.30 pm and the following one at 9.30 pm.  Not surprisingly, the first Town Hall was packed with a good number of employees of Syntel IT and KPO.

The 3.30 Town Hall started with a speech by Syntel founder Bharat Desai.  Soon, the new CEO Prashant Ranade took the mike. Prashant admitted that there was a lot to do to improve the appraisal system and make it more transparent and credible. Mr. Ranade also said an in-house gym was in the works and the CEO himself planned to use it in the future.

The employees were itching to ask the hard questions, and to his credit the new CEO Prashant  listened and answered them patiently. Every question against the management by any employee was applauded by the rest showing their support and also indicating the morale of the employees.

It must be borne in mind that the previous CEO of State Street Syntel Services Ltd used to limit the scope of the Town Hall by announcing "no questions about transport and canteen facilities would be entertained". Limiting statements like these used to make the town halls a pretty one sided affair. The new CEO  of Syntel seems to be a lot better wherein he is at least prepared to listen to an employee’s viewpoint.

The most interesting question was to come at the end of the town hall when an employee of IT had a chance to ask her question. For some time everyone had been observing that this particular employee wanted the mike to ask her question. Her anxiety and agitation could be appreciated when everyone heard her question: “I was an employee of IT and was working with Syntel for the past few years. In 2008, due to recession many IT employees, including me, were moved out from Syntel IT to Syntel KPO and their salaries were slashed.  Subsequently,  in 2009,  after almost one year the employees were later again moved back to IT with the same slashed package.”

Hearing this question and the clarification, it became clear that these employees were not even eligible for appraisals in 2010,  and according to the questioner, new employees who joined the IT Department later were getting better salaries and were also eligible for appraisals. She went on to add that she is not asking for much but at least the company should restore their previous salary and perks, and they should also be eligible for appraisals in 2010.She had already raised this issue with the HR, Managers and other top management but she had not got any solution.

Once this brave young girl had finished her question, there was thunderous applause by her colleagues to show their support.

The new CEO who was listening to this promised he would look into the issue,  to which the employee replied that she has already got such diplomatic answers from the rest of the management and it is not just one but there are 60 employees in total facing this unfair situation.

Her courageous clarification received another round of loud applause.

The CEO told her that he was hearing about this issue for the first time, but he would investigate it and reach a fair and just decision.

The employee went on to tell CEO Prashant that Syntel was the first company she had joined.  To which the CEO replied that “I shall ensure that we can convince you to stay with us and have a long career.”

If all the 60 IT employees were under performers then the company should have sacked them in the first place.  But Syntel decided to move them to the KPO signaling they were worth retaining within the company. If they did not have the requisite technical skills for the IT Department, why were they moved back to IT after a stint at the KPO”

It does seem to me that these 60 employees were treated unfairly.
“

Can any Syntel employee tell Techgoss readers what is the fate of these 60 IT employees who were moved to KPO and then bought home to the IT Department? Have they been given back their original salaries? Your anonymity is guaranteed. 

(Techgoss had published the following on April 26, 2010)

Syntel: Sal rise figures
By Pulkit Sharma

Over the last six months, Techgoss had published a series of exclusive reports giving details of all that was happening inside BPO Syntel.  One report showed how that in the recent past Syntel was overly reliant on couple of key clients.  Techgoss had also reported on the exit of the CEO and senior HR people at Syntel.

A tipster emailed Techgoss with details of  a Town Hall in Mumbai conducted on April 15,  2010 by the CEO of State Street Syntel Services Private Ltd.(KPO) V.S Raj .  The popular CEO announced that salary hikes would be given at the end of April 2010 and the lowest hike percentage for all their hard working KPO employees would be a two digit figure.

While the salary raise for the hard working men and women at Syntel KPO was announced on April 15,  the exact date on which the new salary figures would be finalized was still up in the air.  Then came news last week that the salary rises would be announced on April 26, 2010.

Techgoss can now exclusively report on the well deserved salary rises for the hard working men and women at Syntel KPO.  Anyone who has the top rating of ‘A’ would be given a 16% hike this year.  ‘B’ raters get 14% and ‘C’ raters will be given 10%.

(Techgoss had published the following on April 23, 2010)

Syntel sal rise by Apr 26
By Pulkit Sharma

Over the last six months, Techgoss had published a series of exclusive reports giving details of all that was happening inside BPO Syntel.  One report showed how that in the recent past Syntel was overly reliant on couple of key clients.  Techgoss had also reported on the exit of the CEO and senior HR people at Syntel.

A tipster emailed Techgoss with details of  a Town Hall in Mumbai conducted on April 15,  2010 by the CEO of State Street Syntel Services Private Ltd.(KPO) V.S Raj .  The popular CEO announced that salary hikes would be given at the end of April 2010 and the lowest hike percentage for all their hard working KPO employees would be a two digit figure.

While the salary raise for the hard working men and women at Syntel KPO was announced on April 15,  the exact date on which the new salary figures would be announced was still up in the air.  No longer!  A Syntel insider rang Techgoss to say that the exact figures of the upgraded salaries would be announced in the next 3 days.

But there is still some uncertainty in Syntel about the Joint Venture with State Street.

(Techgoss had published the following on April 16, 2010)

Syntel KPO salary smiles
By Sohab Mirza

Over the last six months, Techgoss had published a series of exclusive reports giving details of all that was happening inside BPO Syntel.  One report showed how that in the recent past Syntel was overly reliant on couple of key clients.  Techgoss had also reported on the exit of the CEO and senior HR people at Syntel.

On Feb 2, Techgoss had reported on how the ex-President and CEO, Keshav Murugesh, left Syntel BPO after all his good initiatives to strengthen and expand the company were blocked a number of times. WNS has snapped up Keshav to head their BPO operations. Keshav Murugesh started work as CEO and Board Member of WNS on Feb 19, 2010. WNS is among the top 3 BPO’s in India.

On Feb 8, Techgoss had done an exclusive news report on how the highly regarded global HR Head of Syntel, Swaminathan, had resigned after being cut out of the loop on certain issues. He preferred to walk rather than compromise his high standards.

On March 17, 2010, Techgoss had exclusively reported on the how the highly regarded IIT graduate Bharat Desai who co-founded Syntel in 1980 may have been slightly embarrassed after Dr. Vasant Raval was forced to put in his resignation from the Board of Directors.

Now a source close to Board tells Techgoss about Syntel’s strategy to reduce staff turnover in its KPO. The attrition level in Syntel has been quite high over the past few months. The target level of attrition for a new process, called Project Helium, which was recently setup in the month of November 2009 was 15% for the year.

However, according to management reports, the attrition target for the process has already reached 15% by April 10, 2010. In the month of March itself 15 employees of the Project Helium process have quit the company.

To their credit,  Syntel management has swung into action to fix all issues causing angst to some of their employees.

A tipster emailed Techgoss with details of  a Town Hall conducted on April 15,  2010 in Mumbai by the CEO of State Street Syntel Services Private Ltd.(KPO) V.S Raj .  The popular CEO announced that salary hikes would be given at the end of April 2010 and the lowest hike percentage for all their hard working KPO employees would be a two digit figure.

This is very good news for the employees of Syntel KPO.