Onboarding delay: How long should you wait and what is your recourse if the company declines?

Once the offer letter is issued to the candidate and he/she accepts the same, it becomes a valid and enforceable contract (Letter of Appointment), said Abhinay Sharma, Managing Partner at law firm ASL Partners. (Photo: Jeshoots via Unsplash)

When IT giant Wipro delayed onboarding and later changed the terms and conditions for job offers that it had already extended, freshers were taken by surprise. The development is a sign of the larger impact the economic slowdown has had on companies’ hiring plans. Given this reality, candidates need to do a bit of due diligence before signing up.

Though it's hard for candidates to judge what lies ahead after getting a job offer, Moneycontrol interacted with HR and legal experts to understand the options before new recruits.

Is there an ideal wait time before boarding? 

In January, Wipro’s Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil told Moneycontrol that the company had delayed onboarding but that it would honour the commitments it had made.

“Very clearly, when we went to the campuses and made offers in the middle of last year, at that time the industry was much more bullish; the demand environment was much more bullish. It is not as bullish right now, but given it’s a large company, we will continue to onboard every quarter and take it forward,” he had said.

Also Read | Wipro cuts down salary offers to freshers amid delay in onboarding

This came after the company laid off 452 freshers it had made offers to but hadn't onboarded because they "performed poorly in assessment repeatedly, even after training”. There are instances where candidates were made to wait for more than a year to be onboarded.

So, is there an ideal wait time to get onboard?

Daya Prakash, Founder of HR firm TalentOnLease, believes the waiting period depends entirely on the candidate as the candidate is the best judge to decide how much value an offer holds for him/her.

“If it is a dream company that the candidate wishes to join at any cost, they may wait for a longer period. Else in my opinion, they shouldn’t wait for more than a quarter or so,” he said. Prakash highlighted that waiting longer would also result in it appearing as a gap at the beginning of the career in their CV, which may unnecessarily raise doubts among potential future employers about their capabilities.

Meanwhile, he said, candidates should make the best use of the waiting period. “Apart from paid internship projects in their area of interest to gain industry experience, candidates can even look for gig work opportunities to build the right connections in the industry,” Prakash said.

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What are your options if you are not onboarded?

Once the offer letter is issued to the candidate and he/she accepts the same, it becomes a valid and enforceable contract (Letter of Appointment), said Abhinay Sharma, Managing Partner at law firm ASL Partners.

Per the terms of the contract, he explained that candidates are given their joining letters. However, in most cases, Sharma highlighted that this is a ‘Standard Form Contract’ or ‘Dotted Line Contract’, wherein parties are not on a level playing field, with one party having higher bargaining power. But this may be under greater scrutiny.

“Since the contract becomes binding after the candidate accepts the offer letter, if recruitment is delayed, it can be said that there is a breach on the part of the company and action could thereby lie (be taken) against the company,” Sharma said.

Further, he said that candidates who have already accepted the offer can litigate and ask the company for compensation for the delayed period, as it not only affects their income but also leads to the loss of the corresponding period of experience.

Despite what Sharma says, it is extremely unlikely a fresher would sue a company, as the move would likely be very detrimental to his or her career, killing it before it has even begun. Litigation also takes money and even people with years of experience balk at the prospect of going down that road.

Nevertheless, Suyash Srivastava, Partner at law firm DSK Legal, said much would depend on the nature of the agreement executed between the company and the candidate. “Since the candidate has not yet commenced employment, there is not much protection available under the applicable employment laws,” he said.