And now, Capgemini, another large Indian tech company, has also announced that they'll be laying off some employees soon. This simply cannot be a co-incidence or a trivial thing that can be written off as just another business event. In fact, this is the result of a very old and systemic problem which was slowly and gradually eating these companies from the inside, a problem which was ignored for so long that it has become a chronic migraine now. Yes, I'm talking about the work culture problem in these large IT companies.
The state of creative people like programmers and coders is quite appalling in most of these tech companies. To begin with, the typical shift duration consists of 9.5 hours per day which is too long by any kind of employment standards, be it national or international. Then there is apathy, neglect and cruelty by many supervisors and project managers who are supposed to guide and lead these creative people. They don't generally approve any long leaves without making them feel like pathetic beggars, for instance (unless they are in their good books which is a whole new kind of nepotism problem to deal with!).
They also promote a kind of work culture where the work is measured by quantity rather than quality. The one who sits late until 11:00 PM while doing all the "hard work" should automatically deserve the promotions and appraisals whereas the lowly programmer who finishes off the work by 04:00 PM is always looked down upon and isn't appreciated at all. These oppressed dudes should ideally quit that company rather than suffering such a toxic work culture but most likely they cannot - India has only a handful of good paying tech companies and chances are that the next company the employee lands on will also have a similar toxic work culture. So, its a catch-22 situation.
In a very weird kind of way, I think its a good thing that happened if the senior employees which Infosys has decided to fire are the kind of project managers or supervisors who were responsible for sustaining this toxic work culture. If that were the case, its a good thing to happen to both Infosys and their clients. I think all tech companies should plan and devise a similar strategy to finish off this toxic work culture from their organizations once and for all. Just as the body cannot be happy without a happy soul, a company and their shareholders cannot be happy without a wholesome work culture and satisfied employees.
The state of creative people like programmers and coders is quite appalling in most of these tech companies. To begin with, the typical shift duration consists of 9.5 hours per day which is too long by any kind of employment standards, be it national or international. Then there is apathy, neglect and cruelty by many supervisors and project managers who are supposed to guide and lead these creative people. They don't generally approve any long leaves without making them feel like pathetic beggars, for instance (unless they are in their good books which is a whole new kind of nepotism problem to deal with!).
They also promote a kind of work culture where the work is measured by quantity rather than quality. The one who sits late until 11:00 PM while doing all the "hard work" should automatically deserve the promotions and appraisals whereas the lowly programmer who finishes off the work by 04:00 PM is always looked down upon and isn't appreciated at all. These oppressed dudes should ideally quit that company rather than suffering such a toxic work culture but most likely they cannot - India has only a handful of good paying tech companies and chances are that the next company the employee lands on will also have a similar toxic work culture. So, its a catch-22 situation.
In a very weird kind of way, I think its a good thing that happened if the senior employees which Infosys has decided to fire are the kind of project managers or supervisors who were responsible for sustaining this toxic work culture. If that were the case, its a good thing to happen to both Infosys and their clients. I think all tech companies should plan and devise a similar strategy to finish off this toxic work culture from their organizations once and for all. Just as the body cannot be happy without a happy soul, a company and their shareholders cannot be happy without a wholesome work culture and satisfied employees.
2 comments:
Excellent blog.....Clearly brought out the exact culture what I went thru in my previous organization (under my NEW boss)....When I requested for leave (via email) the response to it was bizarre... I will post it when I am able to find it...My NEW boss had something against me(even though I was a top performer in the previous years) and in the end I ended up being harassed and he spread false information about my performance to everyone and he chucked me out of his vertical/unit....while all this was happening, HR is just an onlooker and even though I raised my concerns with HR, I was told to look for another JOB (outside of the Organization)....There many more who may in the same boat as me, but somehow people are mode to shut up against raising their concerns via proper channel...BUT VICTIMS, PLEASE SPEAK UP, SO THAT YOU CAN PREVENT OTHERS FROM GOING THRU THE SAME....I HAVE TAKEN UP MY CASE TO DEPT OF LABOR
First of all, whatever the reasons these companies says are "Bullshit", there wont be any performance issues with such a massive number of employees. If at all there are poor performing people, it will be handled by project managers and HR time to time. IT is not the place, where you get a relaxing time to work on your performance, either you do it else get out of there; So, whoever is surviving must good performing people, if not the top-notch ones.
The reason for all these pink-slips would be nothing but to reduce the cost and improve the profit margins, all these are to prove you are successful in front of share holders. But, one thing they are missing is: they are dealing with people with emotions, for some they can handle it and find another job, for few others it will be a nerve wrecking experience. Managing house-hold expense is another thing.
There will be opinions supporting these fire-drills, up to a point we can agree that, this is a competitive industry and only the fittest survives, but massive firing when the company performance is not acceptable.
All these firms comes to top tech colleges throughout India and hire the best minds by luring them with high salary and colorful dreams such as American travel etc, but when their full energy and potential has been sucked out, they become redundant for the organizations.
Its easier to rebuild the career if employees are just out of college or done just handful of years, but most of the cases it will mid-level to senior people these organization targets. So, for them its humongous task to find an equivalent job opportunity.
Whatever the reason be, people who are getting affected should be compensated equally (at least an years pay) and all the support to find another job, else these organization should be banned from recruiting people from college.
There has to be a monitoring committee on this, so that there are transparency at both ends. If something is not done sooner than later, this is going to be a graveyard for Indian techies.
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