A STUDY ON AWARENESS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND

FAIRNESS IN EMPLOYEES DOWNSIZING RULES AMONG IT

SECTOR.

A Dissertation Submitted to the SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY, Kattankulathur, 603203.
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree
of Bachelor of Commerce - Accounting & Finance
By

AKASH S

RA2031202010031

Under the Guidance of

Dr. M. Sivasankari

Assistant Professor
Department of Corporate Secretaryship & Accounting and Finance,
College of Science and Humanities
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Department of Corporate Secretaryship & Accounting and Finance

College of Science and Humanities

SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY,
Kattankulathur - 603203
Tamil Nadu, India
April - 2023
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Dissertation titled “A STUDY ON AWARENESS

ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS IN EMPLOYEES
DOWNSIZING RULES AMONG IT SECTOR” Submitted by AKASH S,
Reg. No.RA20312020100031 is a bonafide record of his research work carried
out by them under my guidance and supervision.

Signature of the Guide Head of the Department

Submitted for university examination held APRIL’2023 at SRM INSTITUTE

OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, SRM Nagar Kattankulathur,
Kancheepuram District, Chennai Tamil Nadu-603-203.

Date:

Internal Examiner External Examiner

 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Dissertation titled “A STUDY ON AWARENESS

ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS IN EMPLOYEES
DOWNSIZING RULES AMONG IT SECTOR.” Submitted by me is my

original research work. It does not form part of any previous dissertations,

thesis, or reports submitted to this University or any other University.

DATE: AKASH S

(RA20312020100031)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to the University for providing me with the opportunity to

pursue a degree in this prestigious Institution.

I would like to express my special thanks to the Chancellor,

Pro-Chancellor (admin), Pro-Chancellor (academic), Vice

Chancellor, and Registrar.

It is my great pleasure to extend heartfelt thanks to our dean

Dr. A. Duraisamy and Deputy Dean Dr. S. Albert Antony Raj, for their

support and encouragement in the submission of the project.

I record my sincere thanks to the Professor & Head of the Department

Dr. K. Selvasundaram.

I extend my sincere thanks to my Guide & Supervisor Dr. M. Sivasankari for

his continuous motivation in completing the project.

I would like to thank all the staff members in the department who helped

me in completing the research work.

AKASH S

(RA20312020100031)
 Declaration of Association of Research Study with SDG Goals

This is to certify that the research study entitled “A STUDY ON

AWARENESS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS IN
EMPLOYEES DOWNSIZING RULES AMONG IT SECTOR” carried out
by Mr. AKASH S

Under the supervision of Dr. M. Sivasankari, Head of the Department,

Department of Corporate Secretaryship and Accounting & Finance in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Under Graduation degree has
been significantly or potentially associated with SDG

Goal No ______________________________________________________

The study has clearly shown the extent to which its goals and objectives have
been met in terms of filling the research gaps, identifying needs, resolving
problems, and developing innovative solutions locally for achieving the above-
mentioned SDG on a national and international level.

Signature of the Student Guide and Supervisor

Head of the Department

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE NO.

I INTRODUCTION 1-5
II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6-12
III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 13-28
IV DATA ANALYSIS AND 29-52
INTERPRETATION
V SUMMARY OF FINDINGS,
SUGGESTIONS, AND 53-60
CONCLUSION
VI APPENDIX
 CHAPTER- 1

INTRODUCTION

1
 1.1 INTRODUCTION

Downsizing or laying -off employees results in the outburst of an

organization’s effectiveness or economic conditions to enhance their workforce
or a strategically planned elimination of huge numbers of personnel. Reduction -
in-Force brings temporary and immediate advantages such as creating new/fresh
relationships, avoiding bankruptcy, ruminating organization, and getting rid of
deadwood or disengaged employees. Followed by negative implications such as
reduced skilled workers, dismay, guilt, low morale, or even, envy. Moreover,
layoffs can reduce present employees’ satisfaction and commitment to the
business entity, which results in shallowed performance. IT Companies with the
guidance of Human Resources (HR) professionals and managers must effectively
control layoffs could layoffs on people. The immediate financial hardship of a
layoff could affect both the psychological and physical well -being of workers
while also causing offshoring, business closing, acquisitions, merger,
seasonality, as well as depression and severe illness. There might be an
experience of hopelessness when fired-off employee struggle to look for new
employment. Which results in a period of six months or longer. This article
provides an overview of fairness/ transparency in downsizing as well as its
impacts on employees in the IT Sector.

In addition, the paper briefs the role of IT personnel throughout layoffs, which ensures the
organization enhances its overall performance.

Employment Rightsizing became a fact of working life as companies hinder/falter to strive or

cut costs and adopt market demands. Employment downsizing is often
implemented/conducted during an economic downturn as a reactive tactical action. As a part
of their overall workforce business strategically uses downsizing. Management views layoffs
as an app to firms’ performance in a portfolio. Management initially benefits from this view
by enhancing the planned and targeted coaching.

2
 1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

▪ Termination of employees is addressed not mainly due to employees’ performance

instead several factors are indulged, for instance, company relocation, business
closing, seasonality, increase in technology advancement, project cancellation,
acquisition, and mergers as well as off-shoring.

▪ The primary intent of the study is to clarify the longitudinal relationship between
workforce reduction and financial performance to raise market capitalization growth
and revenue growth.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Depending on the needs of the business and its financial health, it may need to lay off
employees. This is usually because of a change to a company’s structure or overarching
strategies of the business and has less to do with the employee’s performance. However, it
can be helpful to be aware of the reasons an employer may lay off members of its staff so you
have more knowledge to prepare yourself for the possibility.

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

❖ To analyse whether the downsizing process is fair and unbiased.

❖ To find if employee morale is maintained.

❖ To analyse whether the downsizing complies with legal requirements.

3
 1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study is designed as a descriptive study conducted in PAN India based on both secondary
and primary data.
1.5.1 SOURCE OF DATA
• SOURCE OF SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data was collected from published books, magazines, journals, websites, reports,
periodicals, etc………
• SOURCE OF PRIMARY DATA
was collected from working employees in the IT Sector.
1.5.2 SAMPLE SIZE
Data were collected from 100 employees in the IT Sector.
1.5.3 SAMPLING METHOD
The method of sampling used is convenience sampling.

1.5.4 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The Technique of Non-Probability Convenience samples in order to collect the required
information from them.

1.5.5 RESPONDENT SET

Company’s transparency and fairness in employee downsizing rules.

1.5.6 DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Structured Questionnaire.

1.6 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

1.6.1 TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION

The required data for the study has been collected through a questionnaire.
1.6.2 TOOLS FOR DATA PRESENTATION
Tables, charts, and graphs are used for data presentation.
1.6.3 TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS
● Simple pie charts
● Bar diagrams
● Doughnut
● Line Graphs

4
 1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

An employer may choose to lay off an individual or a group of employees and it may be
a temporary or permanent decision.

COMPANY RELOCATION:

Stakeholders may decide to relocate the company to another country. Employees who are
unstable to relocate may be laid-off.

BUSINESS CLOSING:
Upon the dissolution of the business, the remaining employees may experience a downsizing.
COST REDUCTION MEASURES:
The company cut down costs as it could save money by eliminating some positions and
allocating those funds elsewhere, for paying off debt, fewer sales, and financial backing of
investors.
OUTSOURCING OPTION:
Hiring and retaining employees may be expensive among the costs of recruiting, training,
and providing benefits like health insurance, and perks. Some companies start to perform
layoffs if they outsource work to independent contractors to save money.
PROJECT CANCELLATION:
A company may go through massive hiring to support a large-scale project. However, if that
project is canceled, they may need to lay off employees.
OFF-SHORING:
Off-shoring is the act of moving your business operations overseas. Reasons include cost-

effective labor and tax breaks.

1.8 CHAPTER PLAN

The result of the study is presented in a project report containing the following chapters.

CHAPTER 1: Introduction.
CHAPTER 2: Review of the Literature.
CHAPTER 3: Theoretical Framework.
CHAPTER 4: Analysis and Interpretation.
CHAPTER 5: Summary of Findings, Suggestions, and Conclusion.

5
 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

6
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

• Gerald Pudgy of Rights Management (2009). Restructuring the growth,

Philadelphia, of Rights Management.
This study concludes that the brand management, marketing, and communication
scale. Which helps clients maximize the return on their Human Capital Investment.
• Dugan, I. J. (2009, July 6). Companies and workers tangle over the law to curb
layoffs. The Wall Street Journal.
This study explains big layoffs designed by WARN (Workers Adjustment and
Retraining Notification Act) for workers providing early warning could be unrealistic
due to the down-steams and turns in decades. Targeted workers are likely to get
dismissed based on no or prior work experience.
• Wayan, V. B., & Werner, S. (2000). The impact of workforce reductions on
financial performance: A longitudinal perspective. Journal of Management.
The primary intent of the study was to clarify the longitudinal Relationship between
workforce reduction and financial performance using a repeated measures design.
Later the results found a dramatic increase in Market Capitalization growth but a
short-term raise in revenue growth. Therefore, the Reduction in the workforce played
a positive role
• Bulkily W. M. (2009, Jan. 22). IBM employees report job cuts. The Wall Street
Journal.
The study consolidates Alliance @IBM, where workers slot out to be eliminated
under the subject of what IBM calls a ‘Resource Action’ specifically terminating
employees in software groups in Application development, marketing, etc.… to
organize the workers into a union for bargaining purposes. Citing numbers from
10000 to 16000 workers. Layoffs are similar to IBM makes every quarter push for
better efficiency and adjust to the changing market.
• Lee Hecht Harrison. Severance & separation practices: Benchmark study 2008-
2009. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
This study gives a detailed explanation of why employees’ severance is based on
years of experience as people change jobs in a single decade as they leave their steady
jobs for exciting start-ups. It reveals dramatic changes in policies and procedures. The
percentage of companies’ severance policies dropped from 79% in 2001 to 60% in
2008.

7
• Cameron, K. S., Freeman, S. J., & Mishra, A. K. (1991). Best practices in white-
collar downsizing: Managing contradictions. Academy of Management
Executive.
A leading US industry in its late times lagging global competitors which necessarily
not rely on blue-collar productivity, as it declined by 6%, its workforce rose to 15%
(nearly 21% of the overall workforce), by cutting shorting employees, it eliminates
functions and redesigns systems for controlling cost despite of perseverance.
• Zatzick, C. D., Marks, M. L., & Iverson, R. D. (2009). Which way should you
downsize in a crisis?
This study explains mitigates of potential negatives effect of downsizing rather than
forced reduction, and communication that is clear, candid, and inclusive. Downsizing
fairness and comparison.
• Cascio, W. F., & Wynn, P. (2004). Managing a downsizing process. Human
Resource Management Journal, Lavelle, L. (2002, Feb. 11).
This article identifies the gap between research and practice in the area of
employment downsizing. These are presented as examples of how to manage strategic
and interpersonal processes. One business downsized to avoid employees while the
other took creative measures to avoid employees downsizing, which protracts
enhancing downsizing efforts.
• McCracken, J. (2006, Sept. 15). Ford aims to cut union workforce through
buyouts. The Wall Street Journal, A rush to the exits. (2006, July 10).
This study on ford motors exclaims that they plan to often buyout 75000 North
American factories in order to accelerate deepening crises by restructuring their
workforce.
The analysis results ford will poster huge losses and burn more cash than in previous
years as expected.
• Redman, T., & Wilkinson, A. (2009). Downsizing. In T. Redman & A. Wilkinson,
(Eds.), Contemporary human resources management, London: Harlow, Pearson.
This study provides critical exploration and issues with HRM through extensive case
studies, exercises, or activities.

8
• Cascio, W. F., & Boudreau, J. W. (2008). Investing in people. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson. Manigault, A. (2009, July). We are planning to lay off some
workers.
The aim of this study was to apply the 14 criteria of Ulrich and Brockbank for the
assessment of the movement of a human-resource function from its current
development phase to a strategic business-partner role. A qualitative method, based
on the casing, was adopted as the research strategy. Data were collected from
members of the human-resource forum of an organization through semi-structured
focus groups and individual interviews.
• Appelbaum, S. H., Delage, C., Labib, N., & Gault, G. (1997). The Survivor
Syndrome: Aftermath of Downsizing. Career Development International, 2, 278-
28.
Crashes that the abecedarian case with commercial restructuring as
its rehearsed moment ‐ as an ongoing program indeed in
profitable moments, preferably than as an exigency shift ‐ is that it's grounded on
a defective unreality of what makes people and associations work
well. inordinate downsizing gests produce a new sickie-gregarious case the
“survivor pattern”.
Baruch, Y., & Hind, P. (2000). Survivor Syndrome’—A Management Myth?
Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Research has indicated that workers who remain within an association after
significant downsizing or delayering will witness adverse goods as profoundly as
those who have left. This miracle has been labeled the “survivor pattern”.
This composition, first of, all examines data from a hand opinion check in
a voluminous UK fiscal institution following successional and significant
restructuring..
• Cavico, F. J., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2014). Business Law for the Entrepreneur and
Manager (3rd ed.). Florida: ILEAD Academy.
Downsizing or laying off employees is usually the strategically planned elimination of
large numbers of personnel or workforce to enhance organizational effectiveness and
economic outlook. Downsizing has some temporary or immediate advantages such as
boosting profits, avoiding bankruptcy, creating new relationships, re-organization, and
getting rid of “deadwood” or disengaged employees.

9
• Cavico, F. J., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2013). Business Ethics: The Moral Foundation
of Leadership, Management, and Entrepreneurship (3rd ed.). New York:
Pearson.

Human beings are not perfect decision-makers and therefore need formal and
informal development opportunities. History has shown that very intelligent
professionals in the technical, as well as philosophical fields, have made huge
mistakes that have been very costly, i.e., the Chornobyl disaster. Doctors have
operated on the wrong leg of patients and consequently, the patients have lost their
good leg.
• Jordan, A. H., & Zitek, E. M. (2012). Marital Status Bias in Perceptions of
Employees. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.
Three inquiries proved goods of connubial status on comprehensions of workers or
prospective workers. In trial 1, actors rated
a wedded womanish job aspirant as lower able for employment than a single
counterpart. In trial 2, actors again perceived
a womanish job aspirant less positively when she was married; in discrepancy,
a manly aspirant was perceived more positively when married.
• George, J. M. (2014). Compassion and Capitalism: Implications for
Organizational Studies. Journal of Management.
In the United States, income inequality has escalated since the 1970s while millions of
workers and their families are suffering the devastation of long-term unemployment
or work that is insecure and unstable. Against this backdrop, a growing body of
literature focuses on compassion in organizations, primarily at the individual and
group levels of analysis.
• Latack, J. C., Kinicki, A. J., & Prussia, G. E. (1995). An Integrative Process
Model of Coping with Job Loss. Academy of Management Review.
Although the stress of involuntary job loss, is well-proven, the process through which
people manage and eventually acclimatize following this
stressful event needs explanation. This composition provides
a pivotal coming step by introducing a new proposition to explain how people manage
job loss. The process model developed in this composition incorporates constructs
from the managing proposition.

10
• Wolf, F., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2011). Sustainability in Service Operations.
International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector.

This paper aims to set the stage for the development of an index that measures
progress toward sustainability in the service sector. A review of the academic
literature reveals history and theories on the subject, while a look at the trade
literature describes what is happening in each of the 13 different service sector
industries.
• Petzall, B. J., Parker, P. E., & Stoeberl, P. (2000). Another Side to Downsizing:
Survivors’ Behavior and Self-Affirmation. Journal of Business Psychology.
The conceptual model suggests that layoffs have an impact on the induced
psychological states of the individuals affected. At play in the model is the
moderating variable of re-affirmation. This, in turn, will affect the attitudes and work
behaviors of those same individuals and their ability to maintain their self-image.
Specific recommendations to management, based on these findings, conclude the
study.
• Allen, G. (1997). Antecedents and outcomes of promotion systems. Human
Resource Management, 36, 251–259.
This study examines the promotion systems in Fortune 500 corporations across six
business sectors to test the Ferris, Buckley, and Allen model of promotion systems in
organizations. Associations between organizational traits, such as the degree of career
planning and affirmative action policies, and organizational outcomes, such as the
volume of grievances lodged, the industry's sales ranking, and employee perceptions
of advancement chances, have been discovered.
• Ferris, G. R., Buckley, M. R., & Allen, G. M. (1992). Promotion systems in
organizations. Human Resource Planning, 15, 47– 68.
Portions of a model of organizational politics perceptions (OPP) proposed by G. R.
Ferris et al (1989) were tested in 2 studies using samples reflecting considerable
variability on jobs, age, sex, education, and hierarchical level across 4 different
organizations.

11
• Bagdali, S., Robertson, Q., & Paoletti, F. (2006). The mediating role of
procedural justice in response to promotion decisions. Journal of Business and
Psychology.
In order to investigate the mediating effect of procedural justice in the links between
promotion decisions and organizational commitment and between promotion
decisions and intent to leave the organization, this study employed structural equation
modeling.
• Moscoso, S., García- Izquierdo, A. L., & Bastida, M. (2012). A mediation model
of individual differences in attitudes toward affirmative actions for women.
Psychological Reports.
A mediation model of attitudes towards affirmative action for working women was
tested in relation to gender. People's attitudes towards affirmative action for women
are influenced by their gender and are moderated by how they see the world, how they
feel about themselves as women, and how they feel working women are treated
unfairly. The implications for practice and research are discussed.
• Stumpf, S., & London, M. (1981). Management promotion: Individual and
organizational factors influencing the decision process. Academy of Management
Review.
The decision-making process, the characteristics of the decision-maker and
the maker(s), the organization's promotion rules and support systems, and other
aspects of the organizational and environmental context are all factors that could have
an impact on a promotion decision.

12
 CHAPTER- 3

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF STUDY

13
Transparency has become a top priority in organizations around the world. Not just because
the open and candid sharing of information between superiors and employees creates
openness and accountability which is rightly performed, but instead to see things more clearly
which has been shown to boost employee engagement and performance.
leaders who practice transparency and positivity are seen as trustworthy and more effective as
per the studies which state that management transparency is the most significant predator of
employees’ happiness. Why are transparency and fairness such a strong force in employee
experience?

If you want to understand what motivates and engages employees in the workforce, the first
thing you need to know is that human beings are Socially inherited. Our brains are highly
interconnected to social information, and we’re responsive to five categories of social threats
in specific. These five domains are Autonomy, Creativity, Relatedness, and Fairness.

Research shows that when the brain registers a social threat in one of these five domains, it
responds just as it does to physical pain, triggering changes in the prefrontal cortex that
undermine our ability to collaborate with others and forge trusting relationships. When the
brain perceives a social reward in one of these domains, on the other hand, we not only find it
incredibly motivating, but our ability to engage in problem-solving, collaboration, and
creative thinking is enhanced.

TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS

The other reason transparency is so motivating is that it creates a sense of fairness — the F in
SCARF. We all have an innate desire for equitable treatment, and a lack of transparency can
threaten that need — a particular risk when it comes to performance management. Employees
can feel that the performance evaluation process is unfair, for instance when they don’t
understand how a decision about a promotion was made, the factors that contributed to it, and
how they were assessed against their performance objectives.

The good news is that leaders and managers can demonstrate fairness in a performance
evaluation by articulating the reasoning behind their decisions so employees have the full
picture. Signal transparency and openness in this way create that sense of fairness — a state
that’s deeply rewarding for the brain and highly motivating for employees.

14
Related to management transparency is radical transparency, which means not just keeping
employees in the loop, but making all decisions in public and sharing as much information as
possible.
Radical transparency can increase engagement and improve recruiting talent, and research
shows that firms that are transparent in how they report earnings do perform better. And
when companies publish their employees’ salaries, it certainly helps ensure that underpaid
groups like women and people of color are compensated fairly.

But unlike management transparency, pay transparency can make employees feel like they
are being treated less fairly because they see that others are making more money —
especially since illusory superiority bias ensures that we all overrate our own abilities. In fact,
a 2015 study found that pay transparency reduces productivity and increases
absenteeism among the lowest-earning employees.

The nature of the work is transformed by two mass forces. Automation and field global
competition. In order to maintain its pace from disruptive and painful changes the business
has to rebuild its workforce strategies. In the long-term employee engagement and company
profitability are damaged by its erratic reshuffle and routine layoffs. Some companies have
realized they need a new approach.

Tech job cuts are on pace to reach early pandemic levels

Twitter made headlines by cutting half its workforce. Meta slashed 13% of its staff a
week later. Yet the social networking companies are far from the only businesses—
and not just in tech—that have made big reductions this year.

Although this year's surge in layoffs isn't isolated to Silicon Valley, it’s rarely a good sign
when several of the world's largest companies reduce their headcounts all at once. Lurking
behind those decisions: the ever-growing threat of a recession.

Now companies are dealing with the costs of all that hiring, and the wave of job cuts
indicates that keeping payrolls low is the priority. More than 105,000 people have lost their
jobs at private startups this year, and Bloomberg reported that the pace of tech layoffs is
approaching early pandemic levels. Other companies that haven't laid off staff masses, such
as Apple, have imposed hiring freezes.

15
Below are the 10 U.S. tech companies that have made the largest job cuts in 2022:

• On Nov. 9, Mark Zuckerberg told employees that Meta would be reducing its staff
by approximately 13%. That amounts to more than 11,000 employees, and the
company will be extending its hiring freeze through next year's first quarter
• Peleton has had three separate rounds of layoffs this year, the first on Feb. 8,
followed by another in July, another on Aug. 12, and the most recent on Oct. 6. They
totaled more than 4,600 employees.
• On Nov. 4, a week after Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, the social
networking company said it would cut 50% of its staff or 3,700 people.
• On Oct. 26, Seagate Technology announced a restructuring plan that would include
reducing its workforce by about 8%, or 3,000 employees.
• Carvana let go of 12% of its workforce, or 2,500 people, on May 10.
• Gopuff, a consumer goods and food delivery company, had four rounds of layoffs
this year. The first two came on Jan. 26 and March 29 and accounted for 100 and 450
employees, respectively. The largest, at 1,500 employees, took place on July 12,
followed by another 250 on Oct. 19.
• Snap let go of 20% of its workforce on Aug. 31, cutting 1,280 employees.
• Microsoft has made several job cuts this year, though the exact numbers are difficult
to track. On July 12, per CNBC, the technology corporation announced it would be
laying off less than 1% of its workforce. On Oct. 17, it cut 1,000 jobs, according to
Axios.

According to a Dec. 5 article from Bloomberg, cryptocurrency exchanges Bybit and Swift
announced within the past two days that they’re laying off 30% and 35% of their staff,
respectively.

16
THE EXPLANATION OF DISCHARGE OF WORKERS
The limitation seems to be more common or gardens these days for ruin and boosting gains.
Thus, discharges are an unfortunate reality of the ultramodern pool each locally, nationally,
as well as internationally. It's hard-bitten to accept the fact that companies apply their
downsizing in delicate moments of slumps or facing reaches of penurious performances, but
in fact, numerous people reduce for strategic purposes. Organizations take the option of
layoff, reduction- in manpower, limitation, etc. As labor charges play a huge part in
companies’ grand costs, Organization is appearing to reduce costs as this is a seductive
expressway to a fresh launch. enterprises can significantly lower their charges snappily,
depending upon the quality and volume of the company’s pool by reducing laboring charges.
This reduction in manpower might only give the establishment a temporary competitive
advantage to shake ruin as with smaller labor charges a company can vend its productions at
a lesser freight than challengers; allowing it to boost request share. The preface of new
technologies can reduce the want for a voluminous number of workers. As we can know from
literal data of the once four decades, technological creations have negatively affected
manufacturing and artificial employees by furnishing whirlwind robotization at a downgraded
cost for repetitious tasks. Another argument why enterprises are completing employees is to
transfer manufacturing or other business needs to an overseas position (principally
offshoring) where productions can be completed with budget coffers. Accordingly, jobs are
moving from one country to another that's near to the coffers demanded at budget classes,
performing in rightsizing in the nation that exports the jobs. Eventually, we can epitomize
the advantages or vantages of a layoff as follows Enables mortal coffers professionals and
directors to ensure that the company has stylish workers on its platoon. Allows the company
to get relieved of tedious jobs.

17
PROS AND CONS OF DISCHARGE
Pros of discharges (Reasons) Cons of discharges (Externalities) adding gains, profitable
outlook, and common company competitiveness. Cutting charges by reducing hand
advantages and incommodity. Laying off high-paid workers and replacing them with lesser-
paid workers. Getting relief from disentangled employees that cannot “draw their cargo”
(“dead lumber”) exclusively increases the workload for other workers. Stockholders might
admit a better return on their leaguers. Strategically budgeted discharges are conducted to
smarter associations when tasks are duly revamped and reassigned. Workers might be in a
pickle when knowledgeable and professed employees are laid off. Accordingly, client
indulgence may suffer. Current employees and laid-off workers may chance to suffer from
occupational, cerebral, and other health effects that restricted workers within a company/
office and may conduct to further unhappy employees, which in turn may lower company
profit. Laying off professed employees may decelerate product and damage quality within the
company. stations come inhospitable because of workers' studies of the potentiality of
fluently being displaced and precisely being a number to the company. Provides an occasion
to revise the cultivation of the association. utmost directors agree that the association’s
cultivation drives plant productivity, originality, profitability, firm value, and indeed
excrescency classes. As similar, discharges can give the company the luck to not only retain
its stylish workers, but to also develop organizational cultivation that's comprised of the right
stations, valuations, and gifts leveled at icing that the company is competitive. This causes
workers to come engaged and more productive. As the company begins to make new
cultivation for the future, leaders must encourage their people to take the power of their time
to exclude gratuitous work and to be innovative in nonstop enhancement (Perlman, 2014).
Helps to reduce labor charges. utmost associations are appearing to reduce charges, and
because payroll is considered an incommodity on the balance distance, having the right
workers can make the company slender and further competitive (Reddy, 2018). The charges
or disadvantages of discharges can carry Causing remaining workers to have further
liabilities. While special positions are excluded during a downsizing, the volume of work
usually remains harmonious. The remaining workers are ladened with fresh liabilities and
conditions that can affect the quantum of work they're anticipated to perform. However, the
appended pressure due to workload raises can corrode any productivity boost (Acevedo,
2017), If not played duly. numerous workers may have low morale because of panic about
losing their jobs.

18
PRACTICES TO SHAKE WHEN LAYING OFF

While downsizing can be an applicable device in some cases, making the following
miscalculations nearly guarantee that an association won't reap the intended advantages from
a reduction in manpower.
Employment Downsizing and Its Alternatives utilizing downsizing as a first reaction
preferably than a last haunt.
When denting is a knee-haul response, it has long-tenure charges. workers and labor charges
are infrequently the true sources of the cases facing an association. Employees are more
likely to be the source of invention and replay. Anyone can lay off the labor force, slash
budgets, and revise an association map. It takes true genius and originality to grow a
business.
Failing to revise the expressway that work is done.
Enterprises that slash employees without changing business processes in trouble to come
more effective exclusively take the same quantum of work and cargo it onto smaller
employees. Collapse and pressure are true derivations of this path, which does nobody to
break more abecedarian cases facing a business — and investors see it.

Failing to involve employees in the hunt for ways to reduce charges, waste, and
inefficiencies.
Workers on the ground may know more easily than the CEO where implicit savings are. For
illustration, as the portion of thick trouble to reduce charges at Commercial Vehicle Group,
Inc., the CEO asked four workers to concoct a plan to save fresh. The group linked in implicit
savings, involving department inventories and cell phones.

Forgetting the goods of other stakeholders.

The ripple goods of employment downsizing are physical — touching guests, suppliers, and
the original community. Try to shake some of those goods by working out with guests,
suppliers, and indeed vocational- training providers to unite on chancing results.

Undervaluing the damage to a strong company cultivation.

Hand morale is the first fatality in a downsizing. When an establishment institution its first
loop of denting, workers’ original response is generally a sense of treason. Long-tenure
consequences of revamping the work terrain carry swelled voluntary development and
dropped invention. This is one of the reasons why enterprises similar to Aflac, SC Johnson,
Synovus Financial, and Southwest Airlines have Norway-lowered workers.

19
CURRENT SITUATION: WHY ARE THE LABOUR MARKETS
IMPORTANT

The COVID-19 epidemic, which has formerly infected nearly, people in 148 nations,
performing in further than, 500 deaths, has the implicit to reach a voluminous proportion of the
global population. Some evaluations suggest that 40- 70 percent of the world’s population
could come infected. The extremity has formerly converted into a profitable and labor request
shock, influencing not only force (product of goods and services) but also demand
(consumption and investment). Dislocations to products, originally in Asia, have now been
broadcast to supply progressions across the world. All companies, anyhow of size, are facing
serious expostulations, especially those in the aeronautics, tourism, and hospitality diligence,
with real trouble of significant declines in profit, bankruptcies, and job losses in special spots.
Sustaining business missions will be especially delicate for Fragile and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs). Following trip bans, rim closures, and counterblockade measures, numerous
employees cannot remove to their places of work or bear out their jobs, which has smashed-
on goods on inflows, especially for informal and casually assumed employees. Consumers in
numerous husbandries are unfit or reticent to buy goods and services. given away the current
terrain of query and panic, enterprises are likely to detention leaguers, purchase goods, and the
hiring of employees. Prospects for frugality and the volume and quality of employment are
descending fleetly. While streamlined vaticinations vary vastly-- and largely underrate the
situation they all point to a significant inhospitable jolt on global frugality, at least in the first
half. These troublesome numbers show off growing gesticulations of a global profitable
depression. Swift and coordinated procedure responses are demanded in public and global
situations, with strong multinational leadership, to limit the direct health goods of COVID-19
on employees and their families, while mollifying the circular profitable fallout across the
global frugality.

IMPACTS: HOW WILL COVID-19 AFFECT THE WORLD OF WORK

COVID-19 will have far-reaching impacts on labor request issues. Beyond the critical
enterprises about the health of employees and their families, the contagion, and the posterior
profitable impacts will impact the world of work across three crucial confines: The number of
jobs both severance and underemployment, The quality of work (e.g., stipend and access to
gregarious security); and goods on special groups who are more liable to the adverse labor
request issues. Jolt on global severance and underemployment original ILO evaluations point

20
to a significant ascent in severance and underemployment in the wake of the contagion.
Grounded on nonidentical scripts for the jolt of COVID-19 on global GDP excrescence,
primary ILO evaluations indicate an ascent in global severance of between 5.3 million low
scripts and 24.7 million high scripts from a base position of 188 million in 2019. The medical
script suggests a boost of 13 million (7.4 million in high-profit nations). Though these
evaluations remain largely uncertain, all numbers indicate a physical ascent in global
severance. For comparison, the global fiscal extremity of 2008- 09 swelled severance by 22
million Underemployment is also anticipated to boost on a voluminous scale. As witnessed in
former heads, the shock to labor demand is likely to restate into significant downcast
adaptations to stipend and working out hours. While tone-employment doesn't generally reply
to profitable downturns, it acts as a dereliction option for survival or maintaining profit
frequently in the informal frugality. For this argument, informal employment tends to boost
during heads. Still, the current terminations on the motion of people and goods may
circumscribe this type of managing medium. The decline in profitable exertion and
constraints on people’s motions is influencing both manufacturing and services. The most
recent data shows that the grand value appended of artificial enterprises in China was refused
by 13.5 percent during the first two months of 2020.

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT THE WORLD WILL MITIGATE

ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON WORK

In moments of extremity, International Labour norms give a strong foundation for crucial
procedure responses that concentrate on the pivotal part of decent work in scoring a sustained
and indifferent reclamation. These norms, espoused by representatives of governments,
employees, and employers’ associations, give a mortal-concentred path to excrescency and
evolution, involving driving procedure regulators that both stimulate demand and cover
employees and enterprises. procedure responses should concentrate on two immediate
pretensions Health security measures and profitable brace on both the demand- and force sides.
• First, employees and employers, and their families should be defended from the health pitfalls
of COVID-19. Defensive measures at the plant and across communities should be acquainted
and strengthened, taking voluminous-scale public brace and investment.
• Alternate, timely, voluminous-scale, and coordinated procedure sweats should be taken to
give employment and profit brace and to stimulate the frugality and labor demand. These

21
measures not only buffer enterprises and employees against immediate employment and profit
losses, but they also support help a chain of force impacts (e.g., losses in employees'
productivity capacities) and demand impacts (e.g., suppressing consumption among employees
and their families) that could conduct to a prolonged profitable depression. Pro-active,
voluminous-scale, and integrated measures across all procedure areas are necessary to make
strong and sustained impacts. Since the extremity is evolving fleetly, careful monitoring of the
direct and circular goods of all interventions is pivotal to ensure procedure responses are and
stay applicable. Structure confidence through trust and confabulation is pivotal in making
procedure measures operative. Especially in moments of consolidated gregarious pressure and
a lack of trust in institutions, strengthening reference for, and dependence on mechanisms of
gregarious confabulation creates a strong base for erecting the devotion of employers and
employees to common action with governments. Company position is also pivotal to covering
employees in the plant to minimize the direct goods of the coronavirus, with WHO
recommendations and guidance.

• Encourage applicable adjustable working out arrangements similar to teleworking

• Expand access to inclusively- capitalized paid sick leave, illness advantages, and maternal/
care to leave to ensure profit screen for those who are sick, quarantined, or minding children,
seniors, or other blood ingredients. Stimulate the frugality and labor demand through profitable
and employment programs to improve profitable exertion.

• Active financial programs, especially gregarious security measures, involving targeted

transfers and spontaneous stabilizers, similar to severance advantages, along with public
investment and duty relief for low-profit earners and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs)

• Employment retention tricks, involving short-time work arrangements partial severance

advantages, and other time-set braces for enterprises, similar to pay envelope subventions( and
temporary cuts to payroll duty/ immunity from gregarious screen benefactions), qualification
of paid leave and elongation of being entitlements to employees, and training leave.

22
ALTERNATIVE MEASURES TO DOWNSIZING

Employees that were laid off, especially if a large number of them are from any protected
minority-status categories based on gender, race, religion, age, etc. During layoffs, companies
can face potential discrimination lawsuits if the

layoffs are not supported by solid data to support the financial or economic benefits in a clear
and transparent manner. Lawsuit settlements or defense of legal claims can get expensive and
further hurt an organization. It should be noted that the human resources department is
morally, legally, and formally tasked with the responsibility of hiring, compensating, training,
developing, monitoring, retiring, coaching/counseling selecting the right positions and/or
employees to be laid off when the organization has to reduce its workforce (professionals can
play particularly important to align with the business needs and to avoid negative
consequences.
According to the University of Washington, human resources responsibilities can include the
following:

1) Evaluate the reasons for layoff to ensure that they are consistent with an employment
program or contract requirements.

2) Assist all managers with planning and managing complex layoffs.

3) Determine rehire list and/or bumping options for classified staff.

5) Ensure that the signed layoff notice is properly delivered to the employees.
One of the purposes of HR is to protect a business’s finances, along with its employees so it
can effectively serve all stakeholders as per the stated policies. While employees are usually
laid off as a means to reduce costs, it should be noted that employers are still legally and
ethically responsible for paying some unemployment benefits to the employees that are laid
off. According to research, laid-off employees are usually without work for about 26 weeks
(5 - 6 months). In addition, even while laid-off workers are no longer employed by the
company. Employees are the most significant asset and investment of any company, not only
when they are employees but even laid off afterward.
As evidenced thus far, the HR department can play a vital leadership role in various functions
of an organization, especially in layoffs. Therefore, according to experts, it is HR’s
responsibility to:

23
1) Review the downsizing decision: HR’s first responsibility should be to identify the
specific problems that downsizing is to solve, and then assess the resources that can be
devoted to it. In addition, HR must consider how downsizing

will affect the company in the longer term.

2) Explore alternatives: It is HR’s responsibility to explore all the available alternatives so

that decision-makers have all the facts needed to make the best possible judgment.

4) Plan the downsizing process: Professionals should work with executives and managers to
establish and document the criteria for deciding which employees should be laid off based on
a fair and legal process considering critical skills

as well as job performance.

5) Manage the process: HR professionals must have supervision responsibilities for the
layoff process and should keep employees in the loop. HR must explain the reasons and the
anticipated effects of the restructuring and keep employees up to date on the progress while
maintaining law and order.

Research indicates that surviving employees suffer the negative effects of downsizing just as
profoundly as those who are laid off. Survivor syndrome is the emotional and attitudinal
characteristics of those employees who have survived a downsizing.

24
VSO IN PRACTICE

After observing and observing the early withdrawal of 21 educated associates from the
Council of business in South Florida in May- June of 2018, I can especially punctuate that
regular and transparent message with those who remain in the association is extremely
important for their morale, devotion, and provocation. These faculty ingredients retired as a
portion of a levy separation option (VSO) package offered by the university in order to bring
the council’s financial account into alignment. From a legit standpoint, it's first intriguing to
note that the VSO package wasn't stated as an offer to certain faculty to accept, but preferably
as an “assignation” to make an offer by the university, which the university could also accept
or reject, thereby giving away the university control as to who exactly would have the
separation senses. Secondly, the university made it veritably clear, as well as it should, that if
not enough faculty ingredients took the separation package there might be charged. still, the
discharges would not be presumed on time and/ or senility (for the egregious argument of not
breaching the time demarcation act or ADEA) but preferably on similar “neutral” procurators
similar as course, class, and subject matter as well as publications. The professors didn't have
to leave the institution; a severance package was offered to all eligible individualities and
these faculty ingredients “donated” to take it (indeed though, in tours of time, numerous
weren't ready for withdrawal yet). nevertheless, losing consequently numerous educated and
reputed associates (around 20 of the council’s professors) during the same two-month period
was a veritably delicate process for the utmost of the remaining faculty. Despite the fact that
the institution’s principal administrative bobby and mortal coffers office professionals
regularly communicated with all the staff and faculty ingredients, many individuals smelled
dismayed, confused, and shocked, while some smelled angry and uncertain about their future
in the council. Accordingly, in the months and times to follow, seven other youthful and
bright faculty ingredients freely abnegated from the council after they covered showy tutoring
positions at other institutions. Two times latterly in early 2020, some of those terminated
positions are being filled through public replenishments, interviews, and lot visits of new
campaigners. During the VSO period, in order to try to meliorate any inhospitable passions
as well as recoup some of that lost professorial gift, the university handed that the faculty
ingredients who took the separation consensus could come to go to the university and educate
as assistant professors.

25
PRE-PANDEMIC WORKFORCE

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the economy, including the IT sector.
In terms of downsizing rules, the pandemic has led to some changes in the way that companies
approach workforce reductions.

Pre-pandemic, companies may have relied on traditional downsizing methods such as layoffs
and restructuring to cut costs and improve efficiency. However, the pandemic has forced many
companies to rethink their approach to downsizing in order to adapt to a rapidly changing
business environment.

One notable trend in the IT sector has been an increased focus on remote work and flexible
work arrangements. As many companies have shifted to remote work during the pandemic,
they may be more willing to consider alternative downsizing methods such as reduced hours,
furloughs, and voluntary existence. By allowing employees to work reduced hours or take time
off, companies may be able to avoid permanent layoffs while still cutting costs.

Another trend has been an increased focus on upskilling and reskilling employees. As the
pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new technologies and digital transformation,
companies may be more willing to invest in training and development programs to help
employees acquire new skills and stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry. By investing in
their existing workforce, companies may be able to avoid layoffs and improve overall
performance and efficiency.

Overall, the pandemic has forced companies in the IT sector to be more flexible and adaptive
when it comes to downsizing rules. While traditional methods such as layoffs may still be
necessary in some cases, companies may be more willing to consider alternative approaches
such as reduced hours and upskilling. By taking a more flexible and employee-centric
approach, companies can help to mitigate the negative impacts of downsizing on their
workforce while still achieving their business objectives.

26
IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES IN IT SECTOR

Downsizing in the sector can have both positive and negative impacts on the economy,
depending on the specific circumstances and the broader economic context.

On the positive side, downsizing can help companies cut costs and improve efficiency, which
can ultimately benefit the economy as a whole. By reducing their expenses, companies may be
able to invest in new technologies, research, and development, or other areas of the business
that have the potential to drive growth and create new jobs.

In addition, downsizing can help to shift resources to more productive areas of the economy.
For example, if a company downsizes in response to changing market conditions or
technological advancements, the freed-up resources can be used to invest in new industries or
emerging technologies, which can create new jobs and drive innovation.

However, downsizing can also have negative impacts on the economy, particularly in impacts
on the economy, particularly in the short-term. When companies downsize, they may lay off
workers, reduce wages or benefits, or close facilities, which can lead to a decrease in consumer
spending and economic activity. This can have a ripple effect throughout the economy, leading
to job losses in order industries and a reduction in overall economic growth.

In addition, downsizing can have long-term impacts on the workforce, including a loss of skills
and experience that can be difficult to replace. If highly trained and skilled IT workers are laid
off or leave the industry as a result of downsizing, it can be challenging for companies to find
suitable replacements, which can lead to a slowdown in innovation and productivity.

Overall, the impact of downsizing in the IT sector on the economy will depend on a variety of
factors, including the specific circumstances of the downsizing.

27
IT DOWNSIZING RULES

When a company downsizes, it means that it is reducing its workforce in order to cut costs or
restructure the organization. Downsizing can be a challenging and stressful experience for
employees, and it is important for companies to follow certain rules and guidelines to ensure a
fair and smooth process.

In the IT sector, some common downsizing rules include:

1. Prioritize performance: When determining which employees to let go, companies may
consider factors such as job performance, skill set, and contribution to contribution to
the organization employees who have consistently demonstrated strong performance
and valuable skills may be more likely to keep their jobs.
2. Follow legal requirements: Companies must comply with relevant labor laws, and
regulations when downsizing, such as giving notice to employees and providing
severance pay where required.
3. Offer outplacement services: Companies may offer outplacement services to employees
who are being let go, such as career coaching and job search assistance.
4. Be transparent: Companies should be transparent with employees about the reasons for
the downsizing, the criteria being used to select employees for layoffs, and any other
relevant information.
5. Treat employees with respect: Downsizing can be a difficult time for employees, and it
is important for companies to treat them with respect and dignity throughout the
process.

28
 CHAPTER – 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

29
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of data collection of data with the help
of a questionnaire. Analysis of data is the most skilled task in the research process. Data
analysis means studying the tabulated material to determine inherent fact or meaning. The
present study is intended to analyse Employee downsizing rules in the IT Sector. The data is
analysed and presented as a table with the necessary interpretation. Various types of
statistical methods are used for the analysis of data. Explanations, tables, and diagrams
supplement this analysis.

ANALYSIS WITH REFERENCE TO THE DATA COLLECTED

THROUGH THE QUESTIONNAIRE:

• WHAT IS YOUR GENDER?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Male 64 64.00%

Female 36 36.00%

Total 100 100.00%

30
INTERPRETATION:
We can interpret that about 64% (64) of respondents are Male and about
36% (36) are Female. This shows that males are involved in termination
in IT Sector more than females. The consistency of females is more
reluctant than males.

31
 • WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED AGE GROUP?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

15-20 5 5.00%

20-25 45 45.00%

25-30 40 40.00%

30 above 10 10.00%

Total 100 100.00%

PREFERRED AGE GROUP

2%
23% 15-20
50% 20-25

20% 25-30
5% 30 above
Total

INTERPRETATION:

The most preferred age group by the company is 20-25 which consists of 45%,
then 25-30 is preferred by the company comprises of 40%, only 10% is
preferred from the 30 & above group, the least preferred group is of 15-20
which consist of 5%.

32
 • WHAT IS YOUR INCOME (PER MONTH)?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Below 10,000 25 25.00%

10,001 - 20,000 28 28.00%

20,001 - 40,000 28 28.00%

Above 40,000 19 19.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

We can interpret that the majority of the respondent’s income ranges are from
10,001-20,000 (28%) and 20,001-40,000 (28%). The group is Below 10,000
(25%), and only 19% are in the group Above 40,000.

33
 • WHAT IS YOUR AREA OF SPECIFICATION?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Technology 24 24.00%

Quality testing 19 19.00%

Programming 28 28.00%

Computer science 18 18.00%

Coding 11 11.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

It is apparent that the majority of respondents are being laid off from
Programming (28%), followed by Technology (24%), meanwhile, we can see
reasonable downsizing in Computer science and Quality testing with (18%),
(19%), and only 11% being laid-off from Coding Sector.

34
 • WHAT IS YOUR RESIDUAL LOCATION?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Rural 17 17.00%

Semi-Urban 29 29.00%

Urban 54 54.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

From the above data, we can interpret that the majority of downsized employees
belong to the Urban sector (54%), followed the by Semi-Urban region of (29%),
with only 17% of the rural areas performing consistently.

35
 • HOW TRANSPARENT WAS THE COMPANY IN
COMMUNICATING THE REASON FOR THE LAYOFF?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Very transparent 46 46.00%

Somewhat transparent 25 25.00%

Not transparent at all 29 29.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:
46% of the people think the company was very transparent to them regarding
the layoffs while 25% people thought that the company was somewhat
transparent and 29% of people thought the company was not transparent to
them.

36
 • ARE THE EMPLOYEES INFORMED OF THEIR RIGHTS
DURING THE DOWNSIZING PROCESS?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Never 25 25.00%

Sometime 28 28.00%

Quite often 28 28.00%

Frequently 19 19.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:
Regarding the downsizing process, 25% of the employees didn't inform of their
rights, while 28% were aware of their rights sometimes & 28% of them knew
about rights quite often, but only 19%of the employees were informed
frequently about their rights.

37
 • WAS THE COMPANY’S SEVERANCE PACKAGE FOR LAID-
OFF EMPLOYEES FAIR AND ADEQUATE?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

The severance package was very fair and
adequate 36 36.00%
The severance package was somewhat fair
and adequate 34 34.00%
The severance package was not fair and
adequate 30 30.00%

Total 100 100.00%

SEVERANCE PACKAGE
PERCENTAGE FREQUENCY

The severance package was not fair and 30.00%

adequate 30

The severance package was somewhat fair 34.00%

and adequate 34

The severance package was very fair and 36.00%

adequate 36

INTERPRETATION:
36% laid off employees’ severance package was fair, while 34% severance
package was somewhat fair but 30% of the employees’ severance package was
not fair.

38
 • HOW SATISFIED WERE EMPLOYEES WITH THE SUPPORT
PROVIDED BY THE COMPANY DURING THE LAYOFF
PROCESS?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Very satisfied 36 36.00%

Somewhat satisfied 43 43.00%

Not satisfied at all 21 21.00%

Total 100 100.00%

EMPLOYEES SATISFACTION
Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Not satisfied at all

21%

21%
36%
36%

43%

43%

INTERPRETATION:
Of the support provided by the company during the process, 43% were
somewhat satisfied, 36% were very satisfied but 21% of them were not
satisfied.

39
 • DOES THE COMPANY HAVE A CLEAR AND
COMMUNICATED POLICY FOR DOWNSIZING?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 42 42.00%

No 26 26.00%

Maybe 32 32.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

According to the 42% of the employees' company communicated the policy for
downsizing but 26% were not communicated properly and 32% were maybe
communicated.

40
 • WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED AGE GROUP?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

15-20 5 5.00%

20-25 45 45.00%

25-30 40 40.00%

30 above 10 10.00%

Total 100 100.00%

PREFERRED AGE GROUP

2%
23% 15-20
50% 20-25

20% 25-30
5% 30 above
Total

INTERPRETATION:

The most preferred age group by the company is 20-25 which consists of 45%,
then 25-30 is preferred by the company comprises of 40%, only 10% is
preferred from the 30 & above group, the least preferred group is of 15-20
which consist of 5%.

41
 • HOW FAIRLY WERE EMPLOYEES SELECTED FOR LAYOFF?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Entirely based on merit 31 31.00%

Based on a mix of merit and other factors 38 38.00%

Not based on merit at all 31 31.00%

Total 100 100.00%

EMPLOYEES SELECTION

15%
Entirely based on
merit
Based on a mix of
merit and other factors
50% 19%
Not based on merit at
all
Total
16%

INTERPRETATION:

The company lay off 38% of the employees based on the mix of merit and other
factors, while 31% of the employees were layoff based on merit but 31% of the
employees were layoff based on other factors.

42
 • WAS THERE A TRANSPARENT AND FAIR PROCESS FOR
APPEALING THE DECISION TO LAY OFF?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes, a clear and fair process was in places 33 33.00%

There was a process, but it was not clear or
fair 40 40.00%
No process for appealing the decision was in
places 27 27.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

According to 33% of the employees' the process was clear and fair but for 27%
was no appealing decision and for 40% the process was there but it was not fair.

43
 • IS THE POLICY AVAILABLE TO ALL EMPLOYEES?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Never 16 16.00%

Occasionally 25 25.00%

Sometimes 23 23.00%

Often 23 23.00%

Always 13 13.00%

Total 100 100.00%

EMPLOYEES POLICY
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
Never Occasionally Sometimes Often Always Total

INTERPRETATION:

According to 25% of the employees, the policies were occasionally available,

often, or sometimes 23% of the policies employees disclosed, then comes
16%(never), where the least only 13% of policies were made available.

44
 • DOES THE COMPANY PROVIDES CLEAR CRITERIA FOR
DETERMINING WHO WILL BE IMPACTED BY DOWNSIZING?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 38 38.00%

No 34 34.00%

Maybe 28 28.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

According to 38% of the respondents, the criteria of anyone’s layoff is positive,

while there maybe would be a shake among 28% of respondents considering
34% of employees defending the statement.

45
 • IS THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR DOWNSIZING
TRANSPARENT?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 34 34.00%

No 27 27.00%

Maybe 39 39.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

The decision-making process for 39% downsizing may be transparent, whereas

34% respond yes to the statement following the very least for accounting only
27%.

46
 • DOES THE COMPANY INVOLVE EMPLOYEES IN THE
DOWNSIZING PROCESS?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 37 37.00%

No 33 33.00%

Maybe 30 30.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

37% of the respondents agreed to the employee’s layoff process but 33%
disagreed with the fact by overtaking doubtful (maybe) employees involved in
the downsizing process.

47
 • ARE EMPLOYEES GIVEN SUFFICIENT NOTICE BEFORE
BEING IMPACTED BY DOWNSIZING?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Strongly disagree 18 18.00%

Disagree 18 18.00%

Neutral 27 27.00%

Agree 24 24.00%

Strongly agree 13 13.00%

Total 100 100.00%

EMPLOYEES NOTICE PERIOD

PERCENTAGE

FREQUENCY

0 20 40 60 80 100

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

INTERPRETATION:

Sufficient notice is largely neutral among 27%, followed by 23% agree but the
respondents who strongly disagree and disagree are 18% with the least 13% of
the people Strongly agreeing.

48
 • DOES THE COMPANY PROVIDE SUPPORT AND RESOURCES
TO AFFECTED EMPLOYEES DURING AND AFTER THE
DOWNSIZING PROCESS?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 59 59.00%

No 24 24.00%

Maybe 17 17.00%

Total 100 100.00%

SUPPORT AND RESOURCES TO AFFECTED EMPLOYEES

29%

50%

12%

9%

Yes No Maybe Total

INTERPRETATION:

Regarding the companies’ support and resources out of 100 people, 59% said
yes, but 24% of respondents do not agree, and a minimum of 17% of employees
may support the statement.

49
 • ARE AFFECTED EMPLOYEES BEEN ALLOWED TO
CHALLENGE THE DECISION TO DOWNSIZE?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Strongly disagree 15 15.00%

Disagree 32 32.00%

Neutral 21 21.00%

Agree 18 18.00%

Strongly agree 14 14.00%

Total 100 100.00%

DOWNSIZE AFFECTED EMPLOYEES

14% 15% Strongly disagree

Disagree
18%
Neutral
32% Agree

21% Strongly agree

INTERPRETATION:

As 32% disagree with challenges to downsize for affected employees,

meanwhile you will see a range of employees from 15%, 18%, and 21%,
whereas 14% strongly agree.

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 • DOES THE COMPANY PRIORITIZE RETAINING EMPLOYEES
WITH THE MOST SENIORITY?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Yes 49 49.00%

No 19 19.00%

Maybe 32 32.00%

Total 100 100.00%

Retain Seniority of Employees

32%
49% Yes
No
19% Maybe

INTERPRETATION:

Almost 50% accept that the company prioritizes retaining employees with the
most seniority along with 32% of respondents may be to support but 19% do not
agree with the statement.

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 • DOES THE COMPANY PRIORITIZE RETAINING EMPLOYEES
WITH THE MOST VALUABLE SKILLS AND EXPERTISE?

ANSWER FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE

Strongly disagree 22 22.00%

Disagree 19 19.00%

Neutral 28 28.00%

Agree 21 21.00%

Strongly agree 10 10.00%

Total 100 100.00%

INTERPRETATION:

Most of the respondents prefer to stay in a neutral state 28%, others with 19%,
21%, and 22%, while at least accepting only 10% of the population.

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 CHAPTER – 5

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, SUGGESTION, AND

CONCLUSION

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 5.1 FINDINGS

▪ We can interpret that about 64% (64) of respondents are Male and about 36% (36) are
Female. This shows that males are involved in termination in IT Sector more than
females. The consistency of females is more reluctant than males.
▪ From Q6 and fig6 it can be studied that the most preferred age group by the company
is 20-25 which consists of 45%, then 25-30 is preferred by the company comprises of
40%, only 10% is preferred by 30 & above group, the least preferred group is of 15-
20 which consists of 5%.
▪ We can interpret that the majority of the respondent’s income ranges are from 10,001-
20,000 (28%) and 20,001-40,000 (28%). The group is Below 10,000 (25%), and only
19% are in the group Above 40,000.
▪ It is apparent that the majority of respondents are being laid off from Programming
(28%), followed by Technology (24%), meanwhile we can see reasonable downsizing
in Computer science and Quality testing with (18%), (19%), and only 11% being laid-
off from Coding Sector.
▪ From the above data we can interpret that the majority of downsized employees
belong to the Urban sector (54%), followed by the Semi-Urban region of (29%), with
only 17% in the rural area performing consistently.
▪ Q1 shows 46% of the people think the company was very transparent to them
regarding the layoffs while 25% people thought that the company was somewhat
transparent and 29% of people thought the company was not transparent to them. This
can be interpreted from fig1.
▪ Q2 shows that Regarding the downsizing process, 25% of the employees didn't inform
of their rights, while 28% were aware of their rights sometimes & 28% of them knew
about rights quite often, but only 19%of the employees were informed frequently
about their rights. This may be due to variations in their position, trust, needs, and
requirement.
▪ From the data acquired according to Q3, 36% laid off employees’ severance package
was fair, while 34% severance package was somewhat fair but 30% of the employees’
severance package was not fair.
▪ The data shown in fig4 indicates that with the support provided by the company
during the process, 43% were somewhat satisfied, 36% were very satisfied but 21% of
them were not satisfied.

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▪ Q5 indicates that 42% of the employees' company communicated the policy for
downsizing but 26% were not communicated properly and 32% were maybe
communicated.
▪ Q7 shows that the company lay off 38% of the employees based on the mix of merit
and other factors, while 31% of the employees were layoff based on merit but 31% of
the employees were layoff based on other factors.
▪ From Q8 it can be concluded that according to 33% of the employees' the process was
clear and fair but for 27% was no appealing decision and for 40% the process was
there but it was not fair.
▪ From Q9 and according to fig9, it can be studied that according to 25% of the
employees, the policies were occasionally available, often, or sometimes 23% of the
policies employees disclosed, then comes 16%(never), where the least only 13% of
policies were made available.
▪ From fig10 of the Q10, we can easily study that according to 38% of the respondents,
the criteria of anyone’s layoff is positive, while there maybe would be a shake among
28% of respondents considering 34% of employees defending the statement.
▪ According to fig11 of Q11, it can be understood that the decision-making process for
39% downsizing may be transparent, whereas 34% respond yes to the statement
following the very least for accounting only 27%.
▪ Q12 chart shows that 37% of the respondents agreed with the employee layoff process
but 33% disagreed with the fact by overtaking doubtful (maybe) employees involved
in the downsizing process.
▪ The Q13 data shows that sufficient notice is largely neutral among 27%, followed by
23% agree but the respondents who strongly disagree and disagree are 18% with the
least 13% of the people Strongly agreeing.
▪ The data in Q14 highlights the regarding the companies’ support and resources out of
100 people, 59% said yes, but 24% of respondents do not agree, and a minimum of
17% of employees may support the statement.
▪ According to fig15 of Q15, it can be understood that 32% disagree with challenges to
downsize for affected employees, meanwhile, you will see a range of employees from
15%, 18%, and 21%, whereas 14% strongly agree.
▪ The data in Q16 highlights that almost 50% accept that the company prioritizes
retaining employees with the most seniority along with 32% of respondents may be to
support but 19% do not agree with the statement.

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 5.2 SUGGESTIONS

Employee downsizing can be a difficult and stressful process for both employers and
employees. Here are some suggestions to help manage the process as smoothly as
possible:

• It's important to plan the downsizing process carefully, taking into account legal
requirements and other considerations. Communicate clearly and transparently with
all employees about the reasons for the downsizing.

• Downsizing can be a traumatic experience for employees, so it's important to treat

them with respect and empathy. Offer support, counseling, and other resources to help
employees cope with the transition.

• Downsizing decisions should be based on clear, objective criteria such as job

performance, skills, and experience.

• Provide adequate notice to employees who will be affected by the downsizing, in

accordance with legal requirements and company policy. This will give them time to
prepare and seek other employment opportunities.

• Provide support and assistance to employees who are being downsized, such as job
search assistance, resume writing workshops, and networking opportunities.

• Explore alternatives to layoffs, such as offering voluntary early retirement or reducing

work hours. This can help minimize the impact on employees and maintain morale.

• After the downsizing process is complete, follow up with remaining employees to

address any concerns and maintain open lines of communication. This can help
maintain morale and ensure that remaining employees feel valued and supported.

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 5.3 CONCLUSION

Most People don’t mind change, but they mind being changed.” Consequently, ownership of
the change is more difficult to create for a layoff, especially if employees are not involved in
the decision-making process from the outset. Therefore, the lesson is to involve and engage
both managers and employees as early in the layoff process as possible. Layoffs and
downsizing can provide senior managers and human resources professionals with options that
can significantly improve the company’s competitive position in the industry.

Downsizing allows the company to clear up the organization for restructuring as well as for
bringing fresh and innovative new ideas. Many times, layoffs can be beneficial to purge the
entire organization of excessive, redundant, disengaged, and/or underperforming employees
in order to establish some form of control and stability moving forward. Layoffs and
downsizing may be most necessary or useful for organizations that have experienced scandals
or are not competitive. Finally, through effective management, leadership, and
implementation of layoff policies, human resources professionals can demonstrate how
valuable they can be to the overall strategic direction of the company moving forward.

Overall, human resources professionals can and must play a vital leadership role in
structuring and implementing an organization’s layoff process and downsizing policies. As
mentioned before, sometimes it is crucial for managers to make necessary cuts in the
workplace while keeping in mind the needs of the organization in order to remain competitive
in the market. Human resources and organizational managers should also be responsible for
meeting with remaining employees that are having a difficult time adjusting to the new
culture and providing relevant support that those individuals may need. An important job of
human resources professionals is to boost the morale and commitment of employees who
remain after the reduction.

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 5.4 BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES
• www.google.com
• www.linkden.com
• www.bing.com
• YouTube
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▪ Appelbaum, S. H., Delage, C., Labib, N., & Gault, G. (1997). The survivor syndrome:
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▪ Stumpf, S. A., & London, M. (1981). Management promotions: Individual and
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APPENDIX

61
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Sir/Madam,

This questionnaire is a part of the research project being carried out by AKASH S, a final

year B. Com (Accounting & Finance) student, studying at SRM Institute of Science &

Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, 603203. The topic being studied is A STUDY ON

AWARENESS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND FAIRNESS IN EMPLOYEES

DOWNSIZING RULES AMONG IT SECTOR.

Please read all questions carefully before answering. Answer the questions as completely and

honestly as possible. All your answers are kept confidential and are very important to my

research. Your cooperation in completing this study by responding to the following questions

would be greatly appreciated.

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