Satyam Computer is likely to sack most of itsnon-billable staff of up to 8,000 working in marketing, HR and administrationwings, after Tech Mahindra takes charge of the company from June 1.

A Satyam official said there is no doubt that there will be large-scalesacking mostly of the support and non-billable staff (other than hardcoresoftware engineers) once Tech Mahindra (the new owner of the company) directorscome on board from June 1.

The surplus staff is about 10,000-12,000 and the 'least painful' ways ofsacking is asking the bench, non-billable and support staff to go.The companyspokesperson, when contacted, said that at the moment these are merespeculations.

Sources also said the outsourcer may opt for "virtual pool" sackingmethod whereby the company would ask some of the staff to take 75 per cent ofits salary and take one-year off and look for a job elsewhere with the fragileassurance that they would be recalled, if required.

Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar, who will also come onboard of Satyam from June after it acquired fraud hit company last month, hadsaid last week that Satyam has about 10,000 surplus staff and "we arelooking at the least painful ways to tackle the problem".

Satyam has already called back most of its onsite staff to avoid further costsand most of them may be asked to quit, said the official.About 3,000 people areon the bench and there is a surplus manpower even in the R&D andengineering units, sources said.

Dwindling revenues are the primary reasons for Tech Mahindra to opt for such acost-cutting measure, Tech Mahindra official said.