Retrenchment connecting to Business Ethics

Retrenchment can't be UNETHICAL 

                One of the most notable companies; 'Tech Mahindra Company' was alleged with unethical conduct of command when they formed a retrenchment decision in 2017. 

Summarising the conductivity of the Topic

                      An audioclip was found on SoundCloud uploaded by a person named M S Ramchandra Rao, which runs a conversation of an HR Manager of 'Tech Mahindra Co.' and it's employee M S Ramchandra about Ram's sudden retrenchment, which was quoted illegal by Mr. Ram. Basic Idea of writing the blog was to put the reader in every sectors shoe and help decide if the scenario was ethical or unethical. 

Introduction to the Company of Interest

                      Tech Mahindra Limited is an Indian  multinational  subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, providing information technology (IT) services and business process outsourcing (BPO) to companies in various vertical and horizontal markets. 

Anand Mahindra is the Chairman of Tech Mahindra Company, headquarter of which is at Pune and has its registered office in Mumbai.

Sum of attributes of the scenario

                         M S Ramchandra Rao was a Techie in the 5th largest IT Company, Tech Mahindra Company (Hyderabad's Office), was forced and threatened to resign in a day's notice or to get fired the next day by his HR Manager. The HR Manager told him over the phone that, it was a retrenchment policy taken by the company for cutting costs. Ramchandra said, "The retrenchment was a shock to me. I was working just fine , was going to office in time and never even took an untold leave. If they had given me even a month or two's time , then I would look for a job and resign. But sudden resignation or termination of a person adds a negetive vibe to his/her CV. So, I was puzzled." - His statement clarifies most of his side of defense against the incident happened. After resigning he filed a case and court was looking into his petition on hold. But yet 'Tech Mahindra' fired Ramchandra. Then afterwards the company was sent notice and warnings by the court. 

Let's Get Into The Situation

                        Any existing company can't be properly explained from outside because of it's internal factors conserving internal informations. So, the whole blog goes on hypothetical factors and possible management policies & Business Ethics.

Possible Scenarios
(Delegating Tech Mahindra Company)

                            1st Scenerio: Let's assume that, the authorities holding the power to make policies in Tech Mahindra are very cautious about thier employees further work life. So, when they had to take a decision of retrenchment, they made the HR Managers call the employees describing the situation and the decision. As directly terminating an employee would leave a scar in one's career life. But later on they had to threaten Ramchandra of termination as Ram wouldn't understand their situation for taking such a policy in hand. And then let's say, as he filled a case which hampered company's reputation, he was fired. 

                           2nd Scenario: It's also possible that, Ram didn't had a bad working record or any other indiscipline and so the company thought that terminating him would be a questionable decision. So, they forced him to resign. As he didn't and filed a case , the company fired him.

Possible Scenarios
(Delegating M S Ramchandra Rao)

                         3rd Scenario: On the perspective of Ram's statement, it shows him having a feeling of injustice. His records as a employee was good, according to him. If Tech Mahindra made the policy that, 'Tech Mahindra Company has made a retrenchment policy for cutting costs. The employees are given 2 months time to resign and find a job. An amount of rendition would be paid to the employees retrenched.'- then their wouldn't be a problem to Ram. As then he would get time to look for a job and resign from Tech Mahindra. 

                      4th Scenario: Maybe the Retrenchment Policy of the company was just fine. On the other hand, M S Ramchandra Rao was abiding by the companies decision for his moral thinkings. As morally, he would think that getting a job is hard these days and he would have to stuggle atleast a month or two to get a job. 

Ultimate Analysis & Results of The Event

                     Having a glimpse at all the possible scenarios by adding up the possible aspects, it seems that the 'Procedure of making a Policy' wasn't assured while making the retrenchment policy by Tech Mahindra Co. The policy should have contained a given time period to the employees coming under the policy (as assumed in 3rd scenerio). An amount of rendition could be an optional but giving the employees time to get a job would be ethically supported. Ramchandra did file a case by seeing which 3 more employees of Tech Mahindra facing the same situation gathered with their petition too but still was fired from the company. Later on , the court sent a notice to Tech Mahindra Company warning them about this incident and to be subtler while making policies.

                      On the same track, Tech Mahindra Co. isn't the only companies facing allegations like resorting retrenchment and unfair termination. Companies like 'Cognizant' , 'Wipro' , 'Syntel' etc also has faced such allegations. The Forum of IT Employees (FITE) has been fighting cases on behalf of employees facing the same situation. The cases are also viewed by Principal Secretary, Labour And Employment Department, Government of Telengana, Joint Commissioner of Labour Mr. Ranga Reddy. Also, Mr. Satyaprasad who's advocating FITE addressed the court that, this action of Tech Mahindra is a direct violation of Sec47(2) of Telangana Shops and Establishments Act. Since the exemption from this provision of the act to IT companies given by the state government vide G.O. MS No. 22 has been stayed by the high court itself in another petition, the senior counsel sought a direction to the JCL to act in reinstatement of the petitioners, pending conciliation proceedings. 80 more petitions have been filled in last 2 years in the Labour Commissioner's Office and Development Commissioner's Office. 

Poser Clarification: Of the Analysis and Results

[ ]            The company did an unethical termination in the name 
                of retrenchment policy for cutting costs
[ ]            It was unfair towards MS Ramchandra Rao and any 
                likewise employees.
[ ]            Retrenchment is a actual thing that can be done by 
                companies to prevent facing possible or upcoming loss . 
                But for that there are certain procedures that should be 
               followed and acts to be kept in consideration.

          Retrenchment can't be unethical. If the termination or resignation request isn't proper then that's unethical or forced termination , not retrenchment. Even Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, apologised to the treatment meted out to the former employee of the company from the audio tape (M S Ramchandra), saying that the firm's core value was to preserve the dignity of the employee. And he added that hopefully, this type of inconvenience won't occur in future. This apology of the Chairman shows that the company's authority realized that the retrenchment policy processing was a mistake. But as a hurt on their reputation and dignity the company still did fire the employees. More or less the employees even wouldn't have proper hardship to their job even if they were re-recruited, as they were marked once. So, further recruitment of those employees wasn't an option either. So, companies should be careful while making policies and have to be very subtle about taking decisions. Cause if the Ethics in a Business is lost, then the reputation of a company dissolves.

[[[[[[[Do add up opinions in the comment and let me know your different perception. Also can ask me questions in the comments too]]]]]]]]

FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

# Did Ramchandra uploaded the audio clip knowingly?

Answer: Yes . Ram said in his one statement that he uploaded the audio clip in the SoundCloud so people would know about this unfair mean. He wanted to alert others about such things in the corporate world.

# Usually the private companies have this written in their terms and condition that the company holds the right to terminate any employee anytime. Did Tech Mahindra had such a term ? If yes , was then terminating Ramchandra wrong?

Answer: Any Company does hold the right to terminate their employees anytime. But their should be specific and strong reason for terminating the employee. If in case the reason of terminating an employee is shut down , loss or retrenchment policy of the company, then there should be subtle steps taken and the declaration should be soft towards the employees.

# Did Tech Mahindra Co. fired M S Ramchandra Rao using thier privilege because of money whereas there was a case in the court?

Answer: Tech Mahindra Co. fired Ram because of one mistake he had made. He filed the case after resigning whereas, case should have been filed without resigning. So technically the company didn't terminate Ramchandra, he resigned. 

# Why did Tech Mahindra Co. recieved just a warning notice?

Answer: Usually, when this type of situation occurs, the employees resign instantly being under pressure of having a termination scar in their career. As so did the sufferer former employee of Tech Mahindra. The court couldn't throw any charges or fine to the company and had to give them just a warning. As resignation letter is an evidence which shows that the employee left with their own will.

# If thought ownself as a businessman, then which is more important; Concerning only about the organization or Concern for the employees?

Answer: Moral comes from values. Some people might be brought up with the concept of valuing only ownself. But in business moral doesn't play a role. A Business runs on Ethics. So, a person will definitely have concern for his organization but the employees should also be taken care of. Keeping moral aside and ethichs in consideration.