Freshers left stranded as offer letter from Mphasis expires amid delay in onboarding

Freshers waiting for a joining date at Indian IT company Mphasis face the possibility of losing the job offer because of the upcoming expiration date of the Letter of Intent between the company and the recruits, Business Today has learned.

A fresher job claimant, who received a Letter of Intent (LOI) in September 2021, tells Business Today that he has been waiting for a joining date at the company for over a year and the job offer made to him expires in March.

“I got selected as Trainee Associate Software Engineer for Mphasis in September 2021 only. They offered me a Rs 2.5 lakh salary and I accepted. For more than one year I have been waiting at home, with no timeline given for joining. But now that offer is about to expire in March, I feel very lost.”

Business Today has learned that all the job offers made to freshers for the position of Trainee Associate Software Engineer by Mphasis in late 2021 expire in March 2023. Furthermore, offers for the position of Associate Software Engineer made in late 2021, which promised Rs 4,00,000 CTC, will expire in April 2023.

Also Read: Infosys, Wipro, now Mindtree. IT professionals blame company for delaying onboarding - BusinessToday

“My offer will expire in April 2023, I got the job offer in September 2021 as Associate Software Engineer,” a techie said.

Another fresher awaiting onboarding said, “All the Trainee Associate Software Engineer offers will expire in March and Associate Software Engineer will expire in April 2023. This is a nice loophole, the expiration date in the offer letter. This way the company can avoid giving us a job after the expiration of the LOI .”

When these fresher job claimants write to the company, they get automated responses that say, “While we are eager to onboard you, we are compelled to defer the onboarding for a later day.”

Moreover, the automated responses do not forget to remind these freshers that their job offers have an expiration date.

“The letter of intent is valid until March 2023,” the email concludes.

Also Read: Wipro, Infosys, Capgemini: Freshers await offer letters for up to 10 months after selection - BusinessToday

“How can the company use this expiration date loophole? It is not like I or other freshers are avoiding joining. It is the company that is not giving joining,” a frustrated job claimant exclaimed.

Some freshers with the role of Trainee Associate Software Engineer were also provided the chance to bump up their annual salary to Rs 3,25,000 after completing a three-month training. The offer letters of those who took the training will also expire in March.

“I completed the Mphasis Learning Academy Training, it was very rigorous training and took 3 months. I did not receive any stipend for this training but the company promised in writing that my CTC would become Rs 3,25,000 post onboarding. Even after all of this, even my offer will expire next month,” the recruit said.

Many of these recruits were hired via campus placements. Some have tried to reach out to their campus placement committee, but to no avail.

Also Read: Infosys delays onboarding date again; job claimants say 'fourth postponement in four months’ - BusinessToday

“We reached out to the college placement cell also, but they have stopped helping. We are not their problem anymore they say, we have graduated,” a job claimant said.

Business Today also reached out to several campus placement cells where Mphasis had hired. None of them responded, but a placement committee member spoke to Business Today on the condition of anonymity.

“We cannot fight with the company. It is not like we are not aware. We know there is a delay in onboarding, not just at Mphasis but at many IT companies. But we can’t spoil our relations,” the placement committee member said.

He explained that the placement committee is avoiding getting in the bad books of the company because they want the company to keep hiring from their institute.

Also Read: Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra accused by techies for delay in onboarding

He said, “We want them to come to our college for future placement rounds. For a company, it will not matter, there are thousands of other colleges where they can hire, but if any big IT company avoids us, that will reduce the total number of placements in that academic session's final year batch which will in turn impact admissions for upcoming batches. All has to be kept in mind.”

Business Today has previously reported delays in the onboarding of freshers at TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Capgemini, Accenture, and other IT companies in India. The job claimants say that hiring across the industry has dampened.

“There are no jobs. It is not like we have not tried. We also realise we can’t wait around for one company. All companies have delays in onboarding, they have huge benches,” the job claimant said.

Some candidates are trying to upskill so they can switch industries.

“Many of us are trying to get other skills so we can switch industries. Don’t know what will happen to the IT industry,” a fresher said.

Business Today has reached out to Mphasis for a comment on the same. The copy will be updated with their response.

Also Read: Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech: Fresher hiring drops across major IT companies in Q3 FY23 - BusinessToday