Verizon Extends Voluntary Severance Offer to U.S. Employees Affected by Infosys Outsourcing Deal

By Sarah Krouse 

Verizon Communications Inc. on Thursday changed the exit package offered to about 1,000 of its U.S. workers who were set to move to outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd.

After telling those information-technology workers in late September that they weren't eligible for severance, the wireless carrier is now giving them the option of taking the exit package or moving to Infosys with a guarantee of comparable pay for two years.

A spokesman for Verizon said the offer reflected the carrier's final agreement with Infosys. Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers, recently signed a $700 million information-technology outsourcing agreement with the Indian company.

About a dozen employees affected by the move to Infosys said they were initially surprised and disappointed that they were being transferred to a new company, rather than being offered the same severance packages many of their colleagues received.

Their frustrations stemmed in part from the timing of the outsourcing agreement and a separate voluntary separation package offered to more than 44,000 management employees.

In late September, Verizon told about 2,500 information technology workers globally that they would be transferred or "rebadged" to Infosys.

Initially, those workers were told they could accept the new job offer with a guarantee of similarly valued benefits for one year or refuse and forfeit access to their 2018 bonus and a special share award granted after this year's tax overhaul, according to materials distributed to workers and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

"We appreciate and respect the concerns you have raised regarding the transition to Infosys," Verizon executives wrote to affected staff in a memo Thursday reviewed by the Journal.

"Everyone's really happy. They're happy that it's fair," said Kathlyne Le, 44, who has worked at the carrier for 13 years.

Write to Sarah Krouse at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 11, 2018 18:23 ET (22:23 GMT)

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