The newly formed BSNL’s most acute problem is the absorption of 362,440 employees of DoT and DTS, which are under deemed deputation in BSNL. Out of this, the Ministry of Telecommunications has retained around 600 employees and the rest have been transferred to BSNL. Presently, BSNL has not a single employee of its own as everybody is under deemed deputation and in a month’s time, the process of transfer of employees to BSNL will be initiated. According to Kranti Kumar, director, HRD, BSNL, the complete process of the transfer of employees in all the grades (B, C, and D) will be completed by end of 2001, if there is no hindrance. Once the employees are inducted, the job of the HR department will increase multi-fold, as employees will have to be trained to acquire new competitive skills by acquiring new technologies.

Transfer of People

In December, the consultants, AF Fergusson, are submitting the final report on BSNL restructuring which will initiate the process of absorption of employees in BSNL. Kranti Kumar says that we will finalise on general terms and conditions along with the option form where the employee will make their choice The process will start with group C and D employees. After fixing the terms and conditions, it will be discussed with the representatives of the union and it will be finalised.

Since there was an increase in the salary of employees by as much as 70 percent when MTNL was corporatized, there is a feeling that the employees will ask for the same or higher percentage when negotiations with the union take place. It is expected that there would be friction in terms of salary and perks, as the expectation of the employees may not match the paying capacity of BSNL, says Kranti Kumar. "If we offer higher salaries to our employees, then our financial viability might be threatened, however we know that this may happen, so we are changing our business line and are looking for more a profitable business, so that we have the capacity to pay to our staff," added Kranti Kumar.

Keeping group A employees from being absorbed in BSNL is not a right step as there would always be a feeling that they are on deputation and that they cannot contribute to the maximum as the sense of belonging is lacking, say many experts.

Training

It is a huge task to train around 362,000 people coming from diverse backgrounds and different fields. Kranti Kumar feels that their weak point is training though they have 44 training centres that come under the umbrella of BSNL. To convert this huge manpower into becoming a competitive force will take BSNL at least a couple of years if the training modules are devised in a proper way.

After transforming into a corporate entity, BSNL’s biggest challenge would be to train the accounts people right from the top to the bottom about corporate accounting after the government accounting that they were doing a few months ago. People have to be trained in corporate law. Employees have to be trained at the customer interface point with respect to corporate culture and new technologies to give them a competitive edge. Whenever there is a need for trainers, guest faculties and experts, help will be sought.

Freeze in Recruitment Process

To keep the number of employees under check, DoT and DTS have not been recruiting people for the last 15 years, as the ratio of employees to the number of DELs was on a higher side in comparison to the global benchmarks. Kranti Kumar feels that their employee to DEL ratio has improved by 500 percent in recent times and is likely to improve further in a couple of years. The international benchmark can be achieved as the number of lines is being increased and there is a minimal or no increase in the number of employees.

Even for new projects like cellular telephony, into which the company plans to jump, there are no plans to recruit a large number of staff, as the existing staff will suffice. There would be some recruitment whenever there is a necessity so that the division is handled properly. Even for overseas projects, Kranti feels that the company has enough skilled manpower as they used to supply skilled manpower to TCIL.