It happened to my group about 5 years ago in Canada. I left shortly after I was rebadged and found a great job. Everyone who was fooled to remain was outsourced 6 months later when HCL offshored the jobs.
The re-badge is a temporary stop gap which means HCL hasn’t had their people learn your job yet but once they do you’re gone. Don’t fool yourselves and look for new work immediately if you are in this position or be prepared.
2 replies (most recent on top)
I hung in for 12 months at HCL. As a parting gift they paid me the 25% bonus (ie 3 month severance), 6 weeks of unused vacation pay (there was no work to do, so why take vacation) and then they contributed an additional 4% of my salary and severance into my 401K. Definitely helped bridge my transition out of Xerox and into some place much more stable and secure. Honestly, HCL treated us far better than Xerox ever did!
I too was in the same boat. Wierd thing is after about 2 months I received a letter from HCL telling me that if I stayed for 12 months, EVEN IF I WAS LET GO (except for cause), I would receive a 25% Bonus.
My wife asked "For what?", you aren't doing anything! (Since we were now 'contractors' to Xerox, we weren't authorized to visit customers!)
I had an offer from another company, and I told then "I'd love to come over but I have these "Golden Handcuffs" (The 25% bonus offer). My new employer asked if I had it in writing (I did), and he said I'll match that and paid me in 3 installments over 6 months. Later he turned in into a raise, so now I'm making 125% of what i made @ Xerox.
Stupidest thing I ever did was actually quit HCL. I could've stayed there any continued collecting paychecks (AND that bonus!) until everyone was let go after 6 months (they were). They had NOTHING for us to do!