For 75,000 employees of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam, the news about the imminent merger brought both excitement and a sense of fear and concern.

Excitement because they can now put the gory past behind them completely. Fear and concern because they are afraid of change of roles and loss of jobs in case of redundancies.

‘Power of one'

To celebrate the merger news and dispel fears, the two firms have launched ‘Power of One' campaign.

Though they heard Mr C.P. Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Satyam, giving assurance in the press conference, a good number of employees were seen discussing at the firm's Infocity headquarters here – the future.

Mr Gurnani said there would not be layoffs as there is no scope for redundancies since two firms had varied competencies. “There are no overlaps by and large,” he said.

“I am ready for change in roles. But if you want me move (out of Hyderabad), I cannot,” Ms Mythili (name changed), told Business Line .

A couple of employees said that they, in fact, were expecting a message from the management intimating them about change of roles.

Soon after announcing the decision of both boards, Mr Vineet Nayyar, Chairman of Mahindra Satyam and Vice-Chairman of Tech Mahindra, wrote letters to all the 75,000 employees in the two firms and their subsidies. Though he has not indicated any plans to downsizing the staff numbers, he has not given any firm assurance on retaining them – a hope they have been anticipating with bated breathe.

Virtual pool

Their worries are not without a reason. About 10,000 of Satyamites were put in Virtual Pool soon after the new management took over and shown the door.

“Now that the three-year transformation journey has played out in line with our plans, we are poised for a full and formal integration and acceleration in the growth phase, going forward,” he said.

“The combined entity will continue to rely on your trust and support as we scale up our operations,” he added,” he said.

> kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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