Airtel’s office in Chandigarh (Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images)The once-thriving telecom sector, now facing uncertainties will continue seeing employee counts drop over the next two or three quarters. THis is expected to take the total count of job losses to around 80,000-90,000, says a report in The Hindu BusinessLine.
The recently-troubled sector has been witnessing uncertainities in profitability that can be attributed to the increased competition and lower margins. It has witnessed large scale lay-offs resulting in the job scenario being stuck in a limbo, said a report by CIEL HR Service. The report was based on a survey conducted among around 100 senior and mid-level employees of 65 telecom companies as well as software and hardware service providers.
The report says that since last year, around 40,000 jobs fell vacant and predicts the trend to continue on for the next six to nine months. Increased speculation is due to employees worried over the uncertainty of the sector.
High cost of loan servicing, aggressive competition for market share, uncertainty of mergers among others have been hindering further investment by telcos resulting in layoffs. Salary hikes have been muted compared to other sectors and about 69 per cent got annual salary hike of 7 per cent, while almost one-third of them received less than 5 per cent hike.The CIEL HR report
Most employees leaving their jobs also leave the telecom sector as well, highlights the report. The sector too, is not hiring fresh heads unless there is a critical need and vacancies remain unfilled.
The report also says that one-fourth of those who leave their jobs don’t have another one at hand while around 96 per cent feel that they would be able to find another job.
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