Entry level employees at Satyam are not only reeling under concerns of losing their jobs as well as salaries but are also losing their sleep over the princely sum of Rs 2 lakh that they deposited as ‘‘bond money'' with the company. What seems to have irked them the most is the fact that Satyam charges the highest bond money in an industry where such a practice has become common.

While Wipro asks its freshers for Rs 75,000 for a period of 15 months, Infosys charges Rs 50,000 for a year. TCS, the first to introduce this practice among the leading software giants, asks for the lowest bond money of Rs 50,000 for two years. When freshers join Satyam, they are required to deposit Rs 2 lakh with the State Bank of India so that the latter can issue a ‘‘bank guarantee'' to the IT company. If an employee breaks the contract and leaves before the stipulated two years, the guarantee is revoked and the amount is forfeited to Satyam.

In other firms such as TCS employees open a fixed deposit in their name and the company keeps a receipt with it. "The receipt is our claim to the bond money in case an employee leaves before the bond period," says a TCS spokesperson. When contacted, Satyam refused to divulge any details about their contractual agreements with their employees. A spokesperson said, ‘‘The company is not willing to give you any details about their contractual agreement with their employees.''

An estimated 15,000 Satyamites (which again wasn't confirmed officially) are still in their bond period having signed the contract with the firm in 2007 and 2008. They say they are in quite a predicament as the bond is preventing them from looking for other jobs even as they are neither sure of their job security nor receiving salaries. Not only that, even the fear of whether or not they will get their hefty amount of Rs 2 lakh back is high among these freshers.

Regards

Pamidi