Having burnt its fingers with e-commerce major Flipkart, which deferred the joining dates for 18 of its management students, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is now mulling to bring new norms for recruiters to avoid a similar crisis in the future.
Read: IIM Ahmedabad takes on Flipkart for delaying students' joining
Speaking to BusinessLine on the issue, Asha Kaul, chairperson, placement committee at IIM-A, said, “For the first time, such a long deferment of joining date has happened. We are planning to review our policies for the recruiters and make suitable additions.”
Raising concerns
At present, the institute does have norms for recruiters that which respect and build trust and alignment between the recruiter and the student, Kaul adds.
“The placement committee will meet after the student internships are over. We will conduct consultations with faculty and students and finalise recruitment norms that will be shared with the future recruiters.”
IIM-A has already raised its concerns with Flipkart about increasing the compensation amount for the deferment, but the e-commerce giant seems to be in no mood to change its stand. The stand-off remains at the two issues.
With the deferment of joining continuing, Flipkart has offered a ₹1.5 lakh bonus for the six months of deferment.
'Should have notified students'
Amidst all this, IIMA believes that the relations with the e-commerce giant haven’t soured. “There is nothing like IIM-A versus Flipkart. Had this letter not been leaked, the matter would have been resolved amicably. Decisions on corporate restructuring are not taken overnight. Even if they had an inkling of the same they should have given the students a heads-up,” Kaul said, adding that the students of the institute were capable of dealing with such situations.
Read: Flipkart’s flip on job offers has B-schools scrambling
Speaking about the Flipkart issue, Kaul says she believes it to be more of a sectoral phenomenon than an isolated case. Meanwhile, other companies have begun offering jobs to students based on their preferred roles.