A viral video from HCLTech’s 50th anniversary celebration in Chennai shows employees chanting “We want hike” as chief executive C Vijayakumar took the stage.
The video, shared widely on social media platforms including X and Instagram, shows a packed auditorium erupting into the chant as Vijayakumar arrived.
Employees can be heard repeating the chant while the CEO remained on stage during the celebration.
The event formed part of HCLTech’s golden jubilee celebrations marking the company’s 50th anniversary.
Reactions to the video have been mixed, with some social media users finding the moment humorous, while others said it reflected broader concerns around compensation in India’s IT sector.
Some commenters praised the employees for openly voicing their views, while others said the chant was inappropriate for a company celebration event.
The clip has continued to circulate online since the celebration, drawing sustained commentary and discussion.
The chant broke out as part of HCLTech’s golden jubilee celebrations in Chennai, an event that also featured other planned elements to mark the company’s fifty years in business.
Social media users were divided in their reactions, with some praising the employees for candidly expressing workplace concerns in a public setting, while others felt the moment undercut the tone of a company milestone event.
The episode has been widely shared and discussed as part of a broader conversation around compensation trends and employee sentiment within India’s information technology sector this year.
HCLTech, one of India’s largest IT services companies, employs hundreds of thousands of people globally, making internal sentiment around pay and benefits a recurring talking point whenever such moments become public.
Similar viral moments involving employees publicly airing workplace grievances at corporate events have periodically surfaced from other large companies in India in recent years, often prompting comparable debates online about appropriate conduct versus genuine expression of concerns.
(Image: Itsbilluid (CC BY-SA 3.0))
