It was a difficult day for several Air India employees on March 12 when they received a Good Bye notice from the airline. After offering two rounds of Voluntary Retirement Scheme for its legacy employees, Air India has sacked around 180 employees across different departments.
In response to CNBC-TV18’s query, Air India said these employees in the non-flying functions didn’t have a suitable role in the organisation and they were given options to take voluntary retirement but they chose to not utilise the offer.
A Voluntary Retirement Scheme gives employees a choice to take retirement on a voluntary basis or continue working with the company.
“As part of the fitment process, employees in non-flying functions have been assigned roles based on organisational needs and individual merit. A comprehensive process has been followed to assess the suitability of all employees over the past 18 months. During this phase, there have also been multiple voluntary retirement schemes and reskilling opportunities offered to employees. However, for less than 1% of our employee base who have not been able to utilise VRS or reskilling opportunities, we have to part ways. We are honouring all contractual obligations during this process,” Air India said in a statement.
Air India had about 13,000 employees when the Tatas took over the airline, that number has now grown to around 18,000 with the airline hiring new talent.
Making Air India a leading global carrier has been the new management’s key target and fulfilling that goal requires the right talent which matches the airline’s global rivals.
Employees from canteen services, hygiene and AC equipment services are some of the employees who were asked to leave.
“It’s sad to see these employees go like this, they were given just a day’s notice to leave,” said a senior executive.
On March 12, around 53 Air India employees from the northern region were told to leave as part of the retrenchment exercise with their separation date mentioned as March 13, as per the HR department’s communication accessed by CNBC-TV18.
These employees will be paid compensation equivalent to 15 days’ of average pay for every completed year of continuous service or any part thereof in excess of six months, as per the HR department’s notice.
As part of its privatisation criteria, the government had asked Air India to retain all employees for at least one year and offer VRS to those who will be terminated from second year onwards. The employees laid off are the ones who didn’t take VRS and didn’t have any role in the current organisational structure.
“They should have opted for VRS, it would have given them a decent amount to manage their expenses until they would have found an income source,” said another employee who opted for VRS.
Omprakash Tiwary is a business writer who delves into the intricacies of the corporate world. With a focus on finance and economic landscape. He offers readers valuable insights into market trends, entrepreneurship, and economic developments.
