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Middle-level telecom employees should be the most worried

As debt-laden telecom sector—weakened by deadly price wars—consolidates, job losses will mount. After a month, a number of Reliance Communications (RCom) employees could be looking for another job. The company is believed to be closing down major parts of its wireless business. 

The Tata Group is selling its mobile business to Bharti Airtel, which might lead to thousands losing jobs. According to an estimate, nearly 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs in telecom sector could vanish in near future. 

While telecom companies will lay off employees at all levels, the most at risk could be those at the middle level. Automation and emerging skills sets not only make many jobs at the middle level redundant, but the laid-off employees might find it difficult to get appropriate new jobs, again, for lack of new skills or jobs having been made scarce by automation and other new technologies. 

According to a staffing expert, most of the cuts will be in the technical and engineering side, which typically command monthly salaries between Rs 40,000 and a few lakhs. 

The jobs crisis in the telecom comes at a time when middle-level employees are already facing twin challenges of their jobs being made redundant by technology and companies preferring employees with knowledge of emerging skill sets. Reskilling of employees does not work very well as the employees at the middle-level are perceived as resistant to change. 

Randstad India CEO Paul Dupuis told ET that those in HR, accounting and finance could expect to see job cuts, their roles becoming redundant thanks to automation. Many of those in consumer sales can also expect to be let go as companies would need fewer feet on the street. 
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