Tech giant Infosys laid off an estimated 400 trainee employees from its Mysuru training facility on Friday, February 7, with reports suggesting that more terminations are likely in the coming days. While Infosys claims the employees voluntarily signed their release agreements, those affected describe the process as coercive and intimidating.
The News Minute spoke to four terminated Infosys trainees who confirmed that they were summoned for a meeting regarding failed trainee assessment results on February 6. 400 of them were dismissed the following day and an email instructed them to maintain confidentiality and not discuss the matter with others. Some of them had waited nearly two years to be onboarded.
The trainees claimed, upon entering the Infosys campus for the ‘confidential’ meeting, security guards, dressed in army fatigues, confiscated their electronic devices and bag. They were then escorted to a cabin where an HR staffer allegedly pressured her into signing a “mutual separation agreement.”
“I signed it unwillingly. This was my dream job, but they forced me out,” one of them claimed. Infosys offered just Rs 25,000 as compensation. Employees were then immediately escorted off campus. “It was a humiliating and traumatic experience. They showed no consideration and ordered us to leave immediately. We were thrown on the road,” said another terminated trainee.
“Some people fainted and had mental breakdowns after the meeting. They had to be taken to the hospital.” the report stated
Many trainees allege that the assessment system was deliberately designed to fail employees, enabling the company to reduce costs under the pretence of poor performance. “It is not possible to cover the entire syllabus in the time given. Besides, they asked us to read up some of the topics by ourselves,” another trainee alleged.