Telenor Fires One Whole Department, in a Single Go

Telenor Pakistan, the most sought after employer, as claimed by the company, has fired its whole Network Security and Maintenance Department in a fickle, told us sources close to the situation.

Our sources further confirmed us that the decision was sudden and without any prior notification whatsoever. Perhaps Telenor did not want its other employees to feel insecure about their jobs – who, as a matter of fact, should feel insecure – that’s why no internal memo was circulated.

When we asked Telenor the details about the incident, Aamir Izhar, a company spokesperson confirmed that company recently outsourced its network maintenance and security contract to a multinational vendor.

“As part of the contract Telenor Pakistan’s network security team has been absorbed by the vendor to ensure the existing high standards of network security for Telenor Pakistan infrastructure”, added Mr. Izhar.

This apparently means that whole Network Security and Maintenance Department was given away to Huawei, and employees will have to work under new employer and of course with new contracts, terms and maybe the pay scales.

This has happened amid the mist of recent vendor change. Telenor Pakistan’s contract with Nokia Siemens Networks ended this month and now its Huawei that will be looking after Telenor’s Network Maintenance and Security across the country.

On other hands, we are told that some of the terminated employees, including Babar Ghayoor Khan, Network Security manager, is not joining Huawei as a protest against sudden termination.

Even after repeated attempts, we could not establish a direct communication with Babar Ghayoor to know his viewpoint.

This is not only unprofessional and unethical on Telenor’s part, but also bears a testimony to the unstable and uncertain culture perpetuating in the private sector too. One can concatenate this to the earlier incidents of the strike by PTCL’s employees, the outburst of KESC’s employees and later the bout of PIA’s workers. It is indeed a sad moment.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • — This is not only unprofessional and unethical on Telenor’s part

    Excuse me but what is unethical about it? As long as the employer laid them off according to their contract and according to the laws of the country, there isn’t anything unprofessional or unethical here.

    I have never seen or had an employment contract in Pakistan that did not have something similar (let people go immediately with compensation). Perhaps there are detailsa bout this case that you have left out in above story.

    — One can concatenate this to the earlier incidents of the strike by PTCL’s employees, the outburst of KESC’s employees and later the bout of PIA’s workers. It is indeed a sad moment.

    From PIA insiders, I get the impression that the CEO who was forced out was DOING THE RIGHT THING and that there are too many employees in PIA. If you compare PIA’s employee figures against their flights and planes, then according to other world’s airlines, PIA HAS TOO MANY WORKERS. PIA was Asia’s Star in 1960s, now it is sick, cannot work without help from government. Same with Ufone, needs injection of capital from PTCL every so often. I cannot speak for KESC or PTCL.

    • Put Aamir Atta and Telenor in one sentence and you can find yourself reading a tabloid.

      Mr. Atta, when you are running a website then kindly do some fact-checking. You know it helps.

      KESC Employees were asked to exercise the option of Early Retirement Scheme or else, they would be laid off. Under the scheme, they were offered compensation.

      And if these guys think something is wrong, hire a lawyer. Take it to the court. If the case is strong, they would get their jobs back.

      • If it wasn’t Pakistan, these guys would have bring Tlenor on their knees, YES. In any job contract employee or employer has to give prior notice before resignation or termination. If there was a provision in a Job contract of these people then Telenor might be taking advantage of flu in laws of the country which makes sure rights of every individual should be protected. If you think it wasn’t their right, then you are wrong. They had every right to know so they could search for a job before termination from a company they lays off its employees without any notice.

        • All I can say is instead of speculating and speculating, read the labour laws. Permanent type employees are different from contract employees in Pakistan.

          If Telenor followed the law (and they are visible large MNO) then the only problem left here is that the law is unfair. Not telenor fault.

    • It is unethical in the sense that this had done instantaneously, without prior notice or something like this.
      u know, this dept not only constitutes the professionals but also office boys and such lower staff, u don’t think of them….. company must inform their employees about dissolution of dept atleast 1 month before so that the employees may try for other income sources.

  • Actually Aamir companies have contract with their employes that they can fire them with one day notice with 1 month advance salary.

    I think this is very positive part on Telenor that they didn’t fired their employees but only changed their employer.

    I think this is good at part of employees that they got a chance to work with a good multinational company.

    furthermore Simple Rules of Life is you don’t have any money and you are doing a job in IT sector it means you are like a whore selling your services to your customer and your customer can sell you to another one on profit.

  • There is now law in Pakistan. Job is job but when life is not secure than what you think Job will be.

    You don’t know Gora mind & Arab mind. They think we are like ant. they can crush us any time.

    This is what we need to think in next election. We have to bring a True Muslim & real Politician empire who can rule & do betterment for Pakistan & can show eyes to peoples of Gori Skin.

  • @Aamir

    My internal sources tell otherwise. Made some calls. They tell me that it is a simple issue of contract-expiry and the new contract has been setup with Huwawei so the employees need to move.

    The term “fired” kind of goes in a very negative connotation don’t you think.

    • They (permanent employees of Telenor) were sacked from their current jobs, and were asked to get new contracts from Huawei, under their laws and terms…

      Now Huawei and Telenor are different entities with different policies towards their employees.

      • Permanent Employees can be fired as well. Under the law, they would be given one month’s full compensation and all their benefits.

        • Not under the law, but yes you can say under the contract between employee and employer. Private entities run under their rules and regulations and they have to abide by Law of the country as well. And law of the country protects and suggests rights of everyone including employees, be it of a private organization. If there is a provision of 1 day prior notice with one month salary this should change, as 90% won’t find a job in a month. There should be a month notice, and after that termination with atleast 3 months salary if the termination isn’t on disciplinary grounds.

  • Not good for employees of other companies afterthis being posted on Propakistani as Senior management of other companies have got another green signal…
    I am afraid this will trigger another wave of Layoffs in Telecom/IT sector after last year.

  • Thats really sad :( whatever they should not do this as if something is wrong they should see and find the person or persons involved, not the whole dept.

    This also means that their HR hire whole wrong team.

    Shame on you Telenor

    What you doing now is that no one did before – Bad Employeer , indeed very bad HR.

  • Hey Aamir,

    A word of advice, please get your facts straight before throwing accusations, you are losing credibility with each such story.

    The whole team was transferred to a vendor in relation to a strategic development on part of Telenor. The whole is employed by their vendor now.

    I would love to hear the feedback of Telenor’s PR or HR team on this one.

    • “As part of the contract Telenor Pakistan’s network security team has been absorbed by the vendor to ensure the existing high standards of network security for Telenor Pakistan infrastructure”, added Mr. Izhar.

      Get your spectacles straight…

      • I was referring to their views on the said article, see the statement Izhar gave & the whole context of this post.

    • Agree with Observer..
      Aamir please dont twist the facts. Telenor did not fire its whole Network Security and Maintenance Department and all of the guys are still on job!!
      So there is no point in discussing if its right or wrong; or referring to laws of pk.

  • Hi all,

    i heard Huawei is looking Sub con for some regions.

    if they took team why they looking! this is the question anyway.

    In my personal views, each company have different policies. we all must have to think how Labour Law can be improve.

  • I don’t see anything wrong with outsourcing a part of your work to an external vendor whom you feel is much more capable of doing the relevant stuff.. If you do a little bit of research, companies all around the world, do this sort of stuff, to stay competitive. More and more companies around the world are moving towards specialization and bringing focus in their operations. This allows the company to focus on its core operations.

  • Depends on the contract these guys have signed with Telenor. Usually, contracts have a notice period clause. If the notice period is not given then salaries are given.

  • Yes, companies can terminate the employments with immediate effect by giving compensation to the employees and yes the aforementioned employees were given appropriate compensations.

    But the thing is, working for a prestigious company like Telenor is a whole different thing then working for Huawei and it is a big upset for employees (plus families) who have been engaged in this scenario.

    Unfortunately, security professionals are already underpaid in our country and especially Civilian Security Professionals find it hard to make their way up because they face very tough competition from ex-army personnel. Now these employees were civilian professionals (and they were definitely were paid good not to mention other perk & remuneration) will try to find their career path from another scratch.

    So, the million dollar question is that “will they be able to continue their work on the same level as they were doing in Telenor? & will they feel their future secure at new positions with lesser recompense then Telenor?”

  • It is not healthy footprint for others. One should behave like a good multinational company and compensate the affectees in a professional manner. Otherwise, it will create a bad impression in customer mind too. For sake a good reputation in Telecom market, Telenor should not let those employees off without doing something special for them.

    • They probably will, or probably have already. I have innumerable friends in Telenor and not one has ever wanted to leave at even double salary offers. That does say a lot about their HR practices, why would they throw away their employees today? I’m sure they won’t.

  • The fact of the matter is, terminating a Telenor employee in itself is a crime enough. Telenor themselves claim to be the best employers in Pakistan and they handed over their department to Huawei, well-known in the industry to be a very ruthless employer. Though I’ve never worked for either of the companies (and please excuse me if my concepts are not crystal clear about either of the companies’ internal operations) but I am aware that Telenor Pakistan’s employee base is highly respected across the Telenor group, globally, giving them an excellent opportunity for rocket booster vertical career growth at an international level. In Huawei (or anywhere else for that matter), that level of growth and in such short periods would be significantly difficult to achieve.

    Nevertheless, the people didn’t lose their jobs. Thats an act of kindness in it self. They should consider it to be a ‘grace period to find better opportunities while exploring a new employer’.

    Good luck to the Security Team.

    • Worst part of all this is now I dont feel my Telenor connection is as secure. Who will be tracking my phone calls and SMS and stuffs like that? Does Huawei have same employee monitoring facilities and quality control in hiring as Telenor?

      Big issue.

  • It could be bad if Telenor just fired them, but as it is clearly mentioned in above post that these employees are adjusted on new positions under that outsourcing company, I think it is a good move by Telenor that they didn’t made their employee totally jobless.

  • What the (bleep) is a permanent employee ?

    If such an employee exists and such companies exists, then the employee cannot be fired. Has to be paid a salary and maybe does not need to do work and does not need to be qualified.

    By qualified I mean, in an area like network security if you do not study for 6 months you are disqualified.

    Some one please screw their heads on right in this industry.

    You got fired. So you are fired. Have a contract on paper, then go to court and slug it out there.

    Why waste time of discussing it in the media ?

    Khawar


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