Satyam staff still worried over layoffs

CHENNAI: Corporate India might be cheering the speed at which Satyam Computer is being put "on the road to recovery", but the IT giant's 50,000 employees aren't still entirely at peace.
"We were really anxious till the day before the announcement of Tech Mahindra buying the stake in Satyam. Now, we are confused - there are rumours about a complete restructuring of Satyam," said Ram Kumar, who works in the marketing team in Chennai.
Employees' worries range from layoffs to whether the company will continue to have an office in Chennai."We need representatives from the management or the new owners to come and talk to us about the sale," said R Shankar, who has been with Satyam for over four years.
They're also worried whether their work culture will match the buyer's. Tech Mahindra is a telecom company and "some of our North American clients had never heard of Tech Mahindra before the buyout," Shankar said.
Satyam has two kinds of employees - billable and non-billable associates. Billable associates are employees who are working on projects; non-billable associates are on the bench or between projects. Then there is the support staff like arketing and finance teams. "The new owners may want to cut down on this section as they are not needed on projects," said Kumar.
"Support staff don't bring in revenue directly, so I don't know if we will be included in the restructuring plans," said Radha Shyam. "A report said 12,000 people would be laid off once the takeover is over. We're quite anxious," she said.
"I think the takeover is very good for Satyam. And, for me, if my job is intact, then the move is good," said Kumar.