Wipro salary cut for Turbo freshers raises alarm bells for Elite candidates

On February 21, Wipro asked the candidates hired under the Turbo programme at Rs 6.5 LPA if they would be interested to join the company at Rs 3.5 LPA

After Wipro offered a Rs 3.5 lakh per annum (LPA) package to freshers hired earlier at Rs 6.5 LPA, those hired originally at Rs 3.5 LPA have raised their concerns, a report in Moneycontrol (MC) said. 

The company hires freshers under two programmes, Elite and Turbo. In Turbo, candidates are offered Rs 6.5 LPA. In Elite, they are offered a salary of Rs 3.5 LPA. Elite candidates have to go through the company's Velocity programme to qualify as Turbo candidates.  

On February 21, the tech giant asked the candidates hired under the Turbo programme at Rs 6.5 LPA if they would be interested to join the company at Rs 3.5 LPA. The Elite candidates have not been told anything about joining yet. 

The Elite freshers are questioning why the Turbo candidates are being given priority and if their salary would also be slashed. 

MC cited candidates as saying that those hired under the Elite programme have been waiting to join since the first phase of hiring in December 2021 to January 2022. The candidates are also worried about the gap between their graduation and their first job. 

"It has been 1 year and 1 month since I accepted the offer letter. They have created a gap in my career. They frequently mailed us the updates before, but now are silent for months," one such fresher Shyam (name changed) told MC. 

While applying for other jobs, these candidates are being asked the reason behind the gap in their careers.  Wipro has reportedly onboarded 1,500 more candidates in the last week of December

"If they have openings for Elite, they should onboard the thousands of Elite candidates who are waiting. This is how they are cheating Elite candidates by not onboarding even though there are openings, and Turbo by revising their offer from Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh and filling the openings with less pay," another such fresher told MC.

The company has reiterated that it will honour all outstanding offers that it has made. However, no timeline has been given.