Infosys plans to bench 1,250 BT workers

[dwarakesh]

Infosys is planning to bench 1,250 employees out of 1,500 working with its largest client, British Telecom, by March.

At the end of last year, around 200 employees were benched from BT, blaming the economic slowdown as the reason. Talks are also on about increasing shift lengths from 9 hours to 9 hours 45 minutes. One of the employees commented, "Everything is bearable so far as BT does not move away from India."

Working conditions have deteriorated and workers are complaining that electricity, including lights and air conditioners are being switched off and cab use is being reduced, to curb expenses.

Perhaps to compensate, Infosys has arranged for a musical event to cheer up the ones sitting on the bench. On being questioned by IT Examiner, an Infosys corporate PR replied, "We do not comment on individual client engagements as part of the Infosys corporate policy. This is also the Infosys silent period."