MANY staff at India’s Satyam Computer Services tried to put up a brave front yesterday, hoping things would return to normal soon and their jobs secured even as the outsourcer fights for its survival.
Huge banners with messages from some of Satyam’s 53,000 staff and their hand imprints have been put up at the fraud-hit firm’s sprawling complex in the southern city of Hyderabad.
Stand-in CEO Ram Mynampati has admitted the company, which is also listed in New York, faces a crisis of unimaginable proportion following chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju’s admission of years of accounting fraud.
“There is still enough truth for us to be united,” one employee wrote on a banner that has “spirit of Satyam” written in bold at the top.
“Good times will be back again,” read another message. “United we stand, divided we fall,” said another one. There was even some sympathy for disgraced chairman Raju, who quit on Wednesday (January 7) after detailing fictitious assets and saying profits had been inflated over the last several years, revelations which have sent the share price to 11-year lows.
“Raju, we feel sorry for you,” wrote one employee.
A Satyam spokeswoman said the initiative was planned by employees to show solidarity with senior management.
“We just thought of getting together and doing something to lift our morale,” said an employee, who declined to give his name as he was not allowed to talk to the media.
Analysts see little reason to be optimistic, saying the future of the company is in doubt, and not all employees seemed prepared to wait for a resolution.
“In our interactions with several of Satyam’s employees across the organization they showed utter frustration,” consultancy Forrester said in a report.
“Many employees told Forrester that it’s too early to comment, but they will weigh their options almost on a daily basis.”
Headhunters say a large number of the outsourcing firm’s staff are scrambling to send their resumes to job portals and other firms, but Satyam’s interim CEO Ram Mynampati said on Thursday (January 8) the company was not seeing significant exit of staff.
