When Sistema Shyam CEO Vsevolod Rozanov saw the number of employees attending a ‘town hall’ meeting organised at the company headquarters in Gurgaon double this Monday, he was not surprised.
The heavy attendance was only to be expected, as employees were concerned after the Supreme Court cancelled the company’s licences in 21 circles. The company has four months to switch off and has nearly 3,500 employees directly on its rolls, the highest among new telecom operators.
Rozanov tried his best to allay all their fears. He assured them increments and performance-linked incentives — a substantial portion of pay — would come on time. He said annual appraisals would begin in February and vacant positions would be up for grabs for internal candidates before outsiders. And, the company would continue aggressive marketing to launch four new tariff plans in 30 days. He made it clear advertising spends would not be curtailed.
The company may appear to be putting up a brave face to keep its flock together. But, top managements across many of the eight companies whose licences were cancelled are spending a substantial part of their time to ensure their 7,500-odd employees do not panic.
Idea Cellular won’t talk, but Managing Director Himanshu Kapania wrote to employees on February 3, assuring them the judgment would have no impact on the continuity of services in the seven circles. However, he also warned them to be careful that the judgment had led to aggression from some competitors spreading misinformation to acquire their customers.
Some telcos have complained to the government that competing operators are creating panic among their subscribers.
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At Uninor, which has 2,000 direct employees, Managing Director Sigve Brekke sent an email to all employees, giving a critical assurance: they would not close shop. The emotional email said “we are not closing down” and “Telenor group” did not come to India to “quit” and just “walk away”. Over the weekend, around 1,000 Uninor employees have hit shops and distribution points, registering their presence in the market to comfort distributors and retailers. So that employees are assured directly by the top management, Uninor has run live interviews on its intranet, where employees’ questions have been taken up. Senior executives have conducted town hall-type meetings at virtually all its offices. “We are flashing tickers on the internal network, detailing daily business achievements. The message is clear. Uninor is here to stay,” said a spokesperson.
The company says the efforts have worked. Uninor has secured 300,000 new customers, more than it ever has in a weekend since the start of operations. “We are a tightly knit team and we are right now very motivated to prove a point,” said the spokesperson.
Sistema’s Rozanov shared with his employees the shareholders’ decision to bid for 2G spectrum coming up for auction, and win back its licences. “Of course, there will be concerns in the 3,000 employees’ minds. But, our message is clear: it’s business as usual. We have told our employees they should not allow rivals to take their market share. They will all be given higher targets to achieve and we will push new tariff plans to woo new customers in the coming months,” says Rozanov.
“Except for one or two markets, we are not seeing any unusual trend in offtake after the judgment. I don’t see the churn going up, as we have limited competition in the CDMA space,” he says.
Sistema today launched a new tariff plan. MTS customers will be able to make unlimited MTS-to-MTS local and national calls at rates as low as zero paisa.
Everyone is not positive, though.
A senior executive of one of the smaller operators whose licences were cancelled says on the condition of anonymity, “We had 300 employees; 200 have already left after a lack of bank funding forced us to reduce manpower. I am sure most of the 100 who remain will look for jobs voluntarily.”
Analysts say the cancellation comes at a time the job market is not buoyant, especially in telecom.