Telecom mass layoffs: 75,000 employees lost jobs in one year
What's the story
Thousands of people working in India's telecom industry are grappling with massive job losses. The sector lost a fourth of its three-lakh workforce in the last 12 months.
This means, 75,000 workers lost their jobs with the telecom operators, tower businesses, and vendors looking to consolidate and survive in the highly-competitive sector.
More mass layoffs in the sector are on the cards.
Here's more!
Vacancies
Telcos aren't refilling vacancies anytime soon
Manpower in the telecom sector accounts for 4-5% of the costs. As the companies now need to harness expenses, workers will be the first victims, as telcos continue to shut down, downsize operations, and cut jobs.
Search firm Ema Partners' A Ramachandran said 35-40% of the 75,000 layoffs were seen in the sector's vendor companies while operators saw 25-30% of the job losses.
Risk?
Middle and senior level jobs at risk
According to experts, even the remaining 75% of the telecom workforce are not safe as the "turbulent" period has already started; more job cuts would be seen once the mergers are complete.
Those having niche skills would be the most affected as they find it harder to shift to other industries.
The middle and senior-level employees, especially, will have insufficient opportunities.
Mid-segment
People from mid-segment not employed by telcos anymore
ABC Consultants' Executive Director, Vivek Mehta, stated, "About 50% of the employees in the telecom sector are middle managers and at least 25-30% of them who quit or were asked to go belong to this category."
Headhunters India Chairman Kris Lakshmikanth said senior-level hiring in the telecom sector has witnessed a 10-15% decline while the overall recruitment decreased by about 25-33%.
Numbers
1.5 million jobs lost in four months: CMIE
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said India saw as many as 1.5 million job losses between January and April this year. This means that overall employment in the country has decreased and those trying to shift from telecom will have fewer places to go.
Vikas Mehta said there would be another 15% reduction in telecom workforce after the mergers are done.
Reliance Jio
Jio Effect: Telecom sector in trouble since last year
The Indian telecom sector, burdened with Rs. 5-lakh-crore debt, has been witnessing a decline in revenue, profits, and cash flows since Reliance Jio's entry in Sep'16.
It has since been on a "consolidation spree" with Vodafone-Idea merger, and Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Telenor India and Tata Teleservices.
Reliance Communications decided to shut its wireless business while Aircel is focusing only on a few circles.
Details
Telcos reaching out to outplacement firms
Recruiters have seen a 35-40% rise in telecom employees looking for jobs in other sectors. The workers are even ready to take pay cuts and move to FMCG, e-commerce, transport, and logistics.
While some telcos have given severance packages of 3-6 months' salary to those, who have been asked to leave, while some have approached hiring agents to outplace their employees.
Quote
Hiring demand from telecom infrastructure companies
Employment services provider TeamLease Services' EVP Rituparna Chakraborty stated: "The last one year has been almost lull for us from the operators' side, but we expect hiring demand coming in from infrastructure and tower companies as investments pick up…and towers and fiber-cables are laid down."