Wipro's annual performance appraisal leads to pink slips for 600 employees

Homegrown software services company Wipro Limited, which has been positioned as a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Managed Workplace Services, North America, is reported to have fired 600 employees based on its annual performance appraisal.

Bengaluru-based Wipro, till last month, had a workforce of over 1,70,000, serving clients across six continents. The company claimed to deliver winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience, and a 360-degree view of 'Business through Technology'. Wipro helps clients with a combination of digital strategy, design, analytics and product engineering approach.

As reported by PTI, the company said that it undertakes rigorous performance appraisal process on a regular basis to align its workforce with business objectives, strategic priorities of the company, and client requirements.

"The performance appraisal may also lead to the separation of some employees from the company and these numbers vary from year to year," it added. The PTI report further clarified that the company did not comment on the number of employees that have been asked to leave.

Wipro follows a comprehensive performance evaluation process, comprising mentoring, re-training and upskilling of employees.

India’s Net Employment Outlook has now dipped by varying margins for five consecutive quarters, and opportunities for job seekers are expected to be considerably weaker than they were a year ago at this time, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook 2017 Survey. The survey of 4,389 employers across India indicates that the hiring activity is expected to remain steady, but slow, owing to the the automation in the IT sector and lack of talent for niche skills.

AG Rao, Group Managing Director of ManpowerGroup India said, “The government is putting efforts towards creating jobs and making India a manufacturing hub. Budget 2017 is further expected to favour more foreign investments in India and initiatives like 'Make in India' should drive global companies to set up manufacturing facilities in India.”

Wipro was in news last month for the opening of an Automotive Engineering Center (AEC) in Detroit, US. The centre aims to drive innovation in connected vehicle concepts - design, product engineering, digital customer-vehicle experiences, artificial intelligence, and sensors-driven advanced vehicle data analytics.

With AEC, Wipro envisions to build a global network of delivery centres that offer engineering and IT services, augmented by automotive domain and digital solutions. The centre will serve as a hub to support the automotive engineering and IT requirements of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier-I suppliers, based in North America.