Verizon starts layoffs in Indian units

Forum for IT Employees claims that over 1,000 employees have been affected but Verizon has not confirmed anything yet

Communications giant Verizon has begun rationalising its staff at its India units in Hyderabad and Chennai, with a body representing IT industry employees claiming that over 1,000 people have been laid off by the company.

Verizon confirmed the layoffs in its IT workforce, including in Verizon Data Services India, but the local arm did not disclose the number of people asked to leave their jobs. The firm has a unit in Bengaluru also.

“As Verizon consolidates its strategy, we can scale, compete, and continue to be successful. Verizon’s IT, including Verizon Data Services India, is transforming into an engineering-centric, technology organisation. The transformation entails rationalising roles, which has an impact on headcount,” said a Verizon spokesperson.

The layoffs at Verizon had been anticipated by industry watchers since the merger of Verizon, AOL, and Yahoo! earlier this year. Media reports at that time had suggested that up to 15 per cent of the employees of the merged entity would be affected globally by layoffs.

The merged entity was looking to lay off people in duplicate or redundant roles. It is not clear as to which employee roles have been affected in India.

Verizon, however, said it was doing role rationalisation not to meet a specific number but to match the talent with the requirements of the business. 

“The market reality is marked by fierce competition,” the firm said in a statement.

The Forum for IT Employees (FITE) condemned the “illegal terminations” and has said that it received over 1,000 calls from Verizon employees across the country. 

Currently, the FITE has received complaints from the Hyderabad and Chennai offices of Verizon. 

As of November, at least 2,600 employees had been affected by Verizon’s layoffs globally, with most of them in the media arm “Oath”.

It is not clear if the fired employees belong to the former AOL and Yahoo! units.

Verizon's push to rationalise its staff comes at a time when there is a revival of captives by global companies in India. These captives are hiring people for newer roles such as digital, analytics, and cloud, as the parent firms are looking to build capacity in-house to meet regulatory requirements while keeping costs low.