Wipro Introduces 'Extended Bench Period' - Employees will be on 'Loss' on Various Fronts!

IT major Wipro has introduced an "extended bench period" where few identified employees will be on loss of pay for three months. 

During these three months, Wipro clarified that these employees will only receive insurance coverage, while discretionary bonus and quarterly performance linked compensation (QPLC) shall cease to exist during the loss of pay period. 

Highlitening about the bench process in IT companies - it is a reference to employees who do not have billable projects to work on. That number currently tends to be 5-7 percent of total employees. Also, IT services firms mostly have thousands of employees who will be on the bench at any point.

As per Times of India (ToI) report, Wipro's latest change will affect those who are already on the bench and those who have been rated poorly in the latest performance assessments. Also, after extended three months, if the employee still does not have a billable project, he or she may be asked to leave. 

Meanwhile, TOI has seen a copy of the email where Wipro states that: “You may choose to avail your available and accrued leave balance during the period. Upon exhausting your earned leave, you will be placed on loss of pay for the remainder of the extended  bench period.”

This new move seems to be the first major action by new CEO Thierry Delaporte, these changes are part of a new allocation and deployment policy. ToI further reports that the policy of the company reserves its right to initiate action, including termination, if an employee fails to join a suitable billable project within the timelines prescribed. 

Even when TOI asked Wipro about the concerned issue, the company in a statement said; “The allocation and deployment policy for India covers those who are not engaged in assignments and have remained unbilled for an extended period. The policy is applied upon receiving the employee’s consent  and will extend for three months. During their period of leave, while awaiting their next assignment, Wipro is committed to helping these employees reskill themselves.” 

Looking into Wipro’s performance matrix; it has five ratings which are:
- outstanding contribution
- exceeds expectations
- highly-valuable contribution
- more contribution expected and unsatisfactory contribution. 

“During the pre-pandemic days, Wipro used to put a lock on the profiles of those who are in the bottom-rung on the performance stack. These employees aren’t given projects despite them finding one with some internal contacts,” said an employee on conditions of anonymity to ToI. 

Meanwhile, a key area of focus in the current environment in India is to protect jobs, Wipro said. They also described the extension of the bench period as a one-time exception to support and protect jobs. However, Wipro chairman Rishad Premji reiterated in the recent AGM stating that the company has maintained that it has not done any retrenchments on account of the pandemic induced crisis.

This is not the first case in India; recently, several hundred Cognizant employees were affected due to bench and performance-related actions in India. Amid this crisis, all IT companies have seen their growth rates collapse due to the pandemic.