With emotions running high among Mindtree’s employees following a hostile takeover bid by the L&T Group, the CEO and Managing Director of Mindtree, Rostow Ravanan, had a 30-minute teleconference with his top 300 leaders — levels of General Managers to Executive Vice Presidents — across the globe, with a message to continue to do what the company does best — serve customers with commitment and deliver value.

Mindtree founders too asked their senior managers to stay focussed on work and not bother with what’s going on with regard to the hostile takeover bid, sources said. “Overall it is only an emotional battle for now. It is a parent trying to protect,” said a senior manager at Mindtree.

In the telecon with CEO, emotions were running high among senior managers as they were worried about their roles if L&T succeeds in acquiring a larger stake. However, as of now, all of the senior managers are showing commitment to management but the overall sentiment is that of “what does it mean to me or the employees?”

The takeover bid was an emotional issue not only for the management but also for the employees. There is no immediate visibility or threat of attrition at the senior managers level but everything depends on how this develops in the next few weeks to months, said a senior company official, who was on the call but did not want to be identified. Feelings are mixed among employees and senior management. The current strategy is on getting shareholders’ commitment and focus on work, he added.

“The bottom of the pyramid is confused. Top of the pyramid is emotional, closer to the top of the pyramid at least on today’s call and private corridor discussions sound pragmatic,” the official said.

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