LTIMindtree clarifies purpose of IGNITE amid criticism over delayed on-boarding

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LTIMindtree sent a clarification on April 10 to Training and Placement Officers (TPOs) at various colleges regarding their latest training initiative called IGNITE.

The move was in response to criticism faced by the company from freshers who have experienced significant delays of over 14 months in their onboarding process. The letter aimed to provide more context and clarity on the purpose of the training program.

A copy of this email was accessed and seen by Moneycontrol.

In an attempt to clear the air with colleges, LTIMindtree referring to the offers rolled out by erstwhile Mindtree, said, “With the purpose of better utilizing the waiting time for onboarding, we are pleased to bring LTIMindtree's Learning and Training Program - "IGNITE" to left-shift the overall training curriculum.”

“The IGNITE program facilitates a unique opportunity to sharpen and acquire the skills required for transitioning into the corporate world of technology solutions. Attached is the list of candidates, who expressed their interest to join LTIMindtree,” the company said in the email, adding that a detailed email with the required guidelines and enrolment procedure has been sent to the said students.

Around 600-700 campus hires who had received offer letters in January 2022 and await on boarding are expected to join this programme, multiple sources told Moneycontrol.

On April 9, these freshers through IT-employee union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), called out the training and assessment programme. They alleged that the new training is a pretext to get rid of them as their offer letters automatically stand cancelled if they don’t participate in the programme.

Moreover, even if they qualify in this programme, it won’t guarantee them immediate joining dates. They will only be "considered for onboarding in batches based on business demand," a previous email sent to the campus hires by LTIMindtree said.

LTIMindtree declined to comment on Moneycontrol's queries, citing their "Silent Period" ahead of their earnings announcement.

Harpreet Singh Saluja, president, NITES said in a statement, "We strongly condemn the latest justification provided by LTIMindtree company regarding their new training program IGNITE. We believe that the company's attempt to cover up their unethical practices is unacceptable, and we stand in solidarity with the freshers in their criticism of the program."

What is IGNITE?

The IGNITE programme will grade these freshers after completing a training programme involving 80 percent self-paced learning and 20 percent instructor-led training. In the assignments, about 40 percent weightage will be given to multiple choice questions (MCQ) and 60 percent to coding assignments. Freshers will get two attempts at each assignment and will be deemed eligible only if they score 60 percent or more.

LTIMindtree is not the first IT services company to take such measures. Peers including Wipro and Tech Mahindra too reported having delayed on-boarding of campus hires in 2022, amidst a challenging business environment and global headwinds.

Wipro, recently, asked candidates to whom it had offered Rs 6.5 lakh per annum (LPA), if they would join at Rs 3.5 LPA.

(This article was updated to include NITES' statement.)